Anamcara Laura
About
anamcara Laura
anam cara = soul friend
Hello, my friend. My name is Laura (Harper) Prather, and I’m an author, writer, and hopeless creative! Writing and creating from my home studio near Branson, MO is a delight I treasure. The studio has a beautiful view of Table Rock Lake, where I often walk and, in the summer, get in a few paddles on my kayak.
I started Paola Lane in 2021 during a time of transition as my son went off to college and I entered a time of rediscovery. In the spring of 2022, I launched my first “bookazine,” and since then, 11 bookazines have been published, covering a wide range of topics.
At the same time as writing my first magazine/bookazine, I took a course on the early Celtic saints. In doing so, I learned about the concept of an “anam cara,” meaning soul friend. A term used by early Christians to signify a mentoring and lifelong bond of friendship between two souls. It has a strong spiritual connotation, reflecting the relationship between those who are committed to walking the narrow path with Christ, together. This idea of a soul friend greatly impacted me, and thus, I adopted the name Anamcara Laura (@anamcaralaura on social media) because I want to be that kind of friend to others.
After I wrote and published SOUL JOY, I had a deep desire to take what I had learned in the research and studying for that edition and write an in-depth Bible study. As a result, in October 2025, my first Logos Study (Bible study) on The Soul was also published. Afterwards, I felt it was time for a rest at Paola Lane, sensing that this journey I began in 2021 was starting to shift and expand—yet, at the same time, become intentionally focused on exploring what it means to walk the narrow path. To go—as C.S. Lewis wrote in The Final Battle—”Further Up and Further In”.
