Soul Food: A Book Recommendation

If you are on the lookout for a book recommendation for your spiritual reading, may I suggest, the new book (February 2024), “Come, Have Breakfast,” by Elizabeth Johnston, csj. As a lover of the psalms, beholder of God as creative mystery, and a member of our Federation Ecology Committee I found it a perfect fit for me.

I was pleasantly surprised to find how readable yet profound  this well known, erudite spiritual writer’s insights conveyed nourishment for my soul. I appreciated the author’s use of language laced with poetic and biblical images and the book’s format of individual one-sitting meditations.

Amazon eloquently introduces Johnston’s book to potential readers:

“In her latest work, prize-winning theologian Elizabeth Johnson views planet Earth, its beauty and threatened state, through the lens of scripture. Each luminous meditation offers a snapshot of one aspect of the holy mystery who creates, indwells, redeems, vivifies, and sanctifies the whole world. Together, [the meditations] offer a panoramic view of the living God who loves the earth, accompanies all its creatures in their living and their dying, and moves us to care for our uncommon common home.” -Amazon.ca

To sample Come Have Breakfast and have an opportunity to meet with its author, Elizabeth Johnston, csj I suggest viewing Sister Elizabeth in a one-on-one interview with her book’s publisher, Robert Ellsberg, below.

-Sister Nancy Wales, csj | Avid Reader

Image: freestocks @freestocks

SUMMER READING

If you are on the lookout for an engaging book for backyard, front porch or cottage summer reading,  as one reader to another,  I offer you one of my picks for a good summer read. I suggest you find yourself a copy of The Maid. It was named one of the most anticipated books of 2022 by Glamour, Chatelaine, and Canadian Living among others and was an instant #1 bestseller. Nita Pronovost, writing under the pen name Nita Prose, is a Canadian author living in Toronto. Nita is a long-time book editor who has recently become a multiple award-winning mystery writer. The Maid, her first book, has sold over a million copies and has been published in more than forty countries in over thirty-five languages. Certainly, wanting to avoid being a spoiler, I sum things up as it is a tale of human dynamics, robbery, murder, and matters of the heart. I don’t hesitate to say, you’ll never look on a maid in ever the same way again.

““Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” ”

— Malorie Blackman

If you enjoy the writing style of Prose, you can read The Mystery Guest, Nita’s second mystery featuring several of the main characters you will have met in reading The Maid.

You might also like to read Nita Pronovost’s own article which ran in the Toronto Star in December of 2023. In it, the author reveals in her own words how a novelist takes a tiny nugget from her real life and turns it into fiction.

-Sister Nancy Wales ,CSJ

image: Anna Hamilton @lovingdreamer/Unsplash

Stories within our History

As time passes, more and more of our Canadian story is coming to light. A significant part of our nation’s story encompasses the unique yet not so uncommon stories of individuals.  The historical account of British Home Children is one such little known part of Canada’s history.

You may ask, “Who are the British Home Children?” The Government of Canada’s website answers the preceding  question in the following manner. “Between 1869 and 1939, over 100,000 children were sent from Britain to Canada through assisted juvenile emigration. These migrants are called “home children” because most went from an emigration agency's home for children in Britain to its Canadian receiving home. The children were mostly placed with families in rural Canada.”

Children of all ages, both boys and girls were sent across Canada from England to spend their early life respectively as farm workers and domestics. Although Canadians believed them to be orphans only two percent actually were parentless. Because there was no social system to help parents or sole parents who had fallen on hard times through difficult circumstances these youngsters were often surrendered into the care of organizations. Dr. Barnardo’s Homes was one of the largest of these organization.

Inspired by true events, The Forgotten Home Child is a moving and heartbreaking novel about place, belonging, and family—the one we make for ourselves and its enduring power to draw us home.

Some of these children were blessed to ended up in loving families. Unfortunately, this was often not the fate they experienced.

I learned more about this aspect of Canadian history and the experiences of these children through reading The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham.  An inspired story based on a composite of true events touching the heart and highlighting the phenomenon of finding one’s family identity beyond blood ties.

An enlightening read that I would very much recommend.

- Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Be a Book Nut!

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!” — Dr. Seuss

As an avid bookworm, I once again find myself engaged in beginning a new series of novels set in England during the World War II period.

I just finished reading A Peculiar Combination on my Kindle while taking a few days to visit my friends in Cincinnati. A Peculiar Combination begins Ashley Weaver’s Electra McDonnell four book series, with number four, Locked in Pursuit, yet to be released until May 2024. It follows up on A Peculiar Combination (2021), the Key to Deceit (2022) and Playing it Safe (2023).

In A Peculiar Combination, Ashley introduces us to Electra and her Uncle Nick. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I’ll just say Electra and her Uncle Nick find themselves working with the initially hard to read Major Ramsey to avoid facing imprisonment. Employed by the British government Electra and Uncle Nick find themselves eager to do their bit for king and country. Thus begins their close calls and the novels twist and turns.

You might want to check out your local library’s catalogue. I found A Peculiar Combination is available at the London Public Library.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Worth Losing Sleep Over

I just finished reading “The Circus Train “ by Canadian novelist, Amita Parikh. Her debut novel earned her instant recognition as Toronto Star’s pick as best historical fiction of 2022. “The Circus Train” is a captivating read that kept me up until midnight intent on finishing the last seventy-eight pages.

Not wanting to be a spoiler, I offer the following general comments hoping to spark your reading curiosity. “The Circus Train” introduces us to the daily workings of the travelling circus, World of Wonders, and the daily life of a circus troupe travelling through Europe in the 1930s and 40s on a specially converted steam train. As a sideline, the tale reveals polio therapy in its infancy.

The plot revolves around three main characters, Lena, Theo, and Alexandre. Lena Papadopoulos, the central character, is a young polio survivor. Theo, a renowned illusionist in the circus is the overprotective father of Lena. Alexandre is a young orphan runaway. Alexandre’s Jewish identity within the circus milieu is protected. With Theo’s encouragement, Alexandre becomes Lena’s best friend and supporter.

The story skillfully intertwines the threads of circus life, father-daughter relationships, war time dilemmas, bonds of friendship, secrets, and true forgiveness born of understanding.

I present to you a delightful reading experience!

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ