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Fiction. Literature. HTML:Past and present collide in this heartfelt novel of love and loss from the National Book Award�??winning author of A Wrinkle in Time. After the tragic death of her son and the seeming collapse of her marriage, Charlotte Napier flees to Portugal in the hopes of finding guidance from her mentor: her mother-in-law, Violet. Instead, she finds solace in the letters of Mariana Alcoforado, a seventeenth-century nun. Charlotte and Mariana's stories may be different in origin, but they share the same inner turmoil. As she reads the letters, Mariana's spiritual journey sheds light on Charlotte's own crisis. Finding inspiration in the nun's struggles with sin, temptation, and faith, Charlotte gains perspective on her own mind�??and sets out to accept the demanding, challenging nature of love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Madeleine L'Engle including rare images from the author's estate.… (more)
User reviews
I think what I loved about this is definitely the aspect of it that is fairly unique - the two interwoven stories and the messages that are captured within each one. As we read through Mariana's story we are pulled into the present by Charlotte's story running parallel to Mariana's. I think it's the range of the emotions that moved me into the story and perhaps too simply the reminders of what is important in life.
Madeliene L'Engle reminds me in nearly every book of hers that I pick up how I want to live. I somehow generally come to the conclusion that there is a form of Christianity that comes through within her writing that is so basic and essential that I do not really want to try anything else. It's the same Christianity discussed in The Celtic Way of Prayer and I am drawn to the simplicity of thinking and yet realise that it is not truly simplistic and that to live with that inner peace and calm throughout all of the difficulties, uncertainties, and discrepancies that life may throw at you is anything but simple. I believe it's referred to in The Celtic Way of Prayer as peregino (I'm not certain I've got that spelled correctly but I don't have the book on hand to reference and spell check) a type of journeying that requires a calm inner core.
Madeleine L'Engle refers to this some in Love Letters, pulling back around to it as the book reaches the end and as I read this I was reminded once more of my own goals for my life.
Although this title is not perhaps as dynamic or showy as some of L'Engle's works, it is beautifully done and portrays amongst everything else L'Engle's ideas on marriage and love, which is something I can deeply appreciate. There is much in it that I agree with.
This book has a lot of internal agonizing over love relationships, twining 2 separate tales: that of a Portugese nun several
The book switches between the stories of Charlotte, a young
Written in L'Engle's typical emotive style, this was easy enough to get through, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've feeling particularly completist. I'm also looking sideways at the ending, in which