Mary's Voice: Advent Reflections to Contemplate the Coming of Christ. Amy Orr-Ewing

For advent this year, I’m preparing for the coming of Immanuel with Amy Orr-Ewing’s advent devotional focusing on Mary - "Centering a woman’s perspective at Christmas is about far more than empathizing with the eye-watering feats of planning that go into pulling off seasonal festivities. Paying heed to a woman’s viewpoint is necessary if we are going to truly celebrate Christmas, because the central character of the Christmas story, other than the baby Jesus, is a woman called Mary."

A beautiful book to treasure and ponder. The 24 daily readings for Advent each have a brief yet profound though about an aspect of the story of Mary, mostly from Luke’s gospel; a prayer; and a gorgeous reproduction of a painting along with notes on the picture and artist. All on glossy paper in a hardback book. Because the medium matters as well as the message. I am finding this to be a wonderful guide to my Advent reflections this year and can highly recommend it. Going deeper into the story of Theotokos, the God-bearer, reflecting on her closeness to and chosen-ness (is that a word?!) by God brings out her love and devotion, her obedience and willingness to be ‘borrowed’ by God. But although it’s Mary’s voice we are reflecting on, she’s not the be-all and end-all of the devotions. She points us to the Lord, she proffers an example to follow and she shows us how to ponder the things of God. Amy Orr-Ewing’s writing help us to understand all this a little bit better and gives much rich food for thought. I think I shall be returning to this Advent book again.

The Household - Stacey Halls

Dickensian London, Coutts bank, 'fallen' women and Urania Cottage. The backdrop to this story is that of real life; Dickens did indeed help to found Urania Cottage, a home where fallen women could be housed/homed, educated and trained, ready for deportation to Australia. Stacey Halls has taken the historical situation and created another novel to intrigue and entertain - and to raise important issues of women, their place in society and what society did to repress those who already had little or nothing. Fact and fiction are blended together to craft an interesting story with intriguing characters such as Angela Burdetts-Coutts, Josephine and Martha, and with brief glimpses of Mr Dickens himself.

Although I enjoyed reading this I wasn't as 'hooked' as I was with Mrs England, and so to a certain extent was a little disappointed that it wasn't as gripping. What has stayed with me however are some of the descriptions of life in England for the least, the lost and the lonely. Victorian England at its lower end was not a pleasant place to live, and Halls includes descriptions of the underlife.

And maybe there's another story line going on here too - reminding us that this level of poverty and desperation still exists in our world today.

I'm glad to have read The Household and am grateful to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. These views are my own.

Coming Home - Rosamund Pilcher

And then I succumbed to The Dreaded Lurgy and retired to bed with a temperature for several days. What better than to pass the time than a familiar family saga, set in Cornwall in the 1930’s & 40’s? Read many years ago and enjoyable to read again. I don’t think it’s as good her book, The Shell Seekers; but it’s very enjoyable, very comforting, and of a satisfying length when faced with hours of inability to move very far. And of course it’s set in the far west of Cornwall, where our own Cornish property is and that’s familiar and comforting too. The book begins with 14 year old Judith Dunbar, brought ‘home’ to England from Columbo where she was born and brought up, to attend school. Persevere beyond what at first appears to be an old fashioned school story, and you are drawn into the world of a ‘raj child’, separated by continents from her family, learning to stand on her own feet, and being adopted into the most glamorous and gorgeous family who live in the perfect house, Nancherrow. But of course the bubbles bursts - Judith’s heart is broken and war is declared. And suddenly you are gripped by the story, the characters, the history and the descriptions of the glorious Cornish countryside.

A good book for ‘wintering.’