Joined in 2023 
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Margarete wiederum blieb für mich einfach nur blass und unscheinbar. Selbst in Paris, als sie ein bisschen aus ihrer Reserve kam, fand ich keinen Zugang zu ihr. Ich hatte noch nicht einmal ein Bild von ihr vor meinem inneren Auge. nebudem prezrádzať, ale viem s istotou napísať, že som nič podobné nečítala. Príbeh sa čítal sám a celý čas som bola v napätí, či sa Margarete zachráni, čo sa s ňou stane. Bude jej dopriata sloboda? Láska? Prežije niečo z toho? Pocíti úľavu? Veľa otázok mi vírilo v hlave počas čítania a postupne som dostala na všetko odpoveď. Záver ma prekvapil, nečakala som to… prekvapil, ale zároveň aj upokojil… You’ve often said how important a rural upbringing was for you. How has it influenced your writing? Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed. In addition to the fantastic tension created surrounding the identity switch, the plot is well-paced and the characters well fleshed out. Although the ending might not have been what my heart was aching for, it was representative of the times, and I was pacified with the knowledge that a sequel is in the works.
As June Goulding tells it, things were even worse for those in the hospital where no assistance apart from that of the midwife was allowed - no pain-relief, no episiotomies, no sutures, no healing baths, a doctor who only came to take Wassermann tests or, once, to provide anaesthesia. It's a pity that my dislike for Wilhelm colored my enjoyment of this so much because I liked Margarete and was rooting for her and the writing was lovely but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy this as much as I could have.
Success!
The author tells the story as a memoir without naming the establishment or real names of the nuns and patients, except for a couple of the latter. While the author is brave for doing so, I struggled to understand how she could have limited her involvement to being the merciful one and not gone to greater lengths to fight for these defenseless women. This was especially disconcerting as she had medical connections and could have tried to expose what was going on as soon as she left the place. Of course there is a different social climate towards helping others now than at that time when authoritative figures yielded immense power. It is fair to say that there would be few in her position who would have the stones to stand against the might of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in the fifties, but one would hope that there would be fewer still who would witness the abhorrent treatment of these women by a nun, and then allow that nun to slather her in tanning lotion before she tripped off out to a "dress dance". This is a story of strength, courage and survival. A story of determination against all odds. A story that highlights the prejudices and bigotry whilst reminding us that there is hope. But it is also a love story... While parts of it were compelling, one thing over shadowed the clumsily written memoir - her wait of half a century to write the damned thing.
I would like to thank #MarionKummerow, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #ALightInTheWindow in exchange for an honest review. Why do Father Tim’s deepening feelings for Cynthia frighten him so? What are Father Tim’s fears about marrying? Is it a good idea for Father Tim to marry Cynthia? How might Father Tim’s marriage to Cynthia enhance his role as a priest? How might it detract from it? She speaks of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid who permitted the nuns a kind of moral dispensation so they could falsify the details of birth certificates for children being adopted in the US who would thus be rendered untraceable for ever by their birth mothers. I enjoyed this book, except at times the writing was choppy and hard to follow. There's also some swearing in it, but not so much or else I wouldn't have finished it. I haven't re-read this book for some time and found it as moving and emotionally frustrating as when I first read it.I wouldn’t say that the ending particularly leaves you on a cliffhanger, but it does make you want to find out what happens next. I am glad to have noticed there will be a sequel to this book! In the tradition of James Herriot, Bailey White, and Garrison Keillor, author Jan Karon brilliantly captures the foibles and delights of a hilarious cast of characters. My two stars serve only as a hope that other will be able to read this book and realise the horrors of what women in that place went through, but please borrow this from a library, don't do anything to furnish that woman's estate with any more ill gotten gains. Compare Miss Sadie’s gift of money to build the nursing home with Edith Mallory’s promise of donations to the children’s hospital. What is each looking for in return for her gift? But strangely he doesn’t reveal her true identity right away. Instead he insists she comes and lives with him in Paris, and seems determined to keep her hidden. His only proviso: she must continue to pretend to be his sister. Because whoever would suspect a Nazi girl of secretly being a Jew?
As for her husband's part in this? Also a medically trained man, whose protests against this institution went as far as a few cross words, tuts, eye rolls, and slight indignation at the sight of pregnant women doing manual labour...by tarring the hot road round the corner from the home. June does very little to paint him in a good light in this respect, but he must have been worth it as she managed to buy him gold cufflinks on Christmas, while buying nothing at all for any of own family, instead guiltlessly swanning past the working mothers in the greenhouse to collect dozen chrysanthemums with the Sister to take for her mammy.
Missing lyrics by The Four Lads?
My books are about relationships. With rare exceptions, the scenes are all one-on-one relationships: Father Tim and Dooley, Father Tim and Cynthia, Father Tim and Emma. There are times when I step away to the Grill where three or four people are in a relationship. Basically, I try not to waste the reader’s time with descriptive narrative, details of what people are wearing, how they look, how tall they are. They were so vulnerable and alone and without hope. This was the worst aspect of this place. It was all tears and toil and no help or hope and then the final amputation between mother and child, and the mothers never ever knowing where their beloved children went.” I felt incredibly angry reading this book. As a health care professional I can’t countenance this sort of treatment of anyone, but especially pregnant women, who were alone and scared. A still-birth was no tragedy, and breast-feeding was enforced so that mothers had to accept babies other than their own at the breast.
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