Wendy Garling is a writer, mother, Buddhist practitioner, and independent scholar with a BA from Wellesley College and MA in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an authorized dharma teacher and has taught women's spirituality with a focus on the sacred feminine and women's stories for many years.

In this retelling of the ancient legends of the women in the Buddha's intimate circle, lesser-known stories from Sanskrit and Pali sources are for the first time woven into an illuminating, coherent narrative. Interspersed with original insights, fresh interpretations, and bold challenges to the status quo, these stories invite us to open our minds to a new understanding of women's roles in the Buddha's life and in early Buddhism.