What do you think?
Rate this book
Margaret Bonner #2
Evensong
To read Gail Godwin is to touch the very core of human experience. With inimitable grace and aching emotional precision, Godwin probes our own complexities in characters whose lives oscillate between success and struggle, stoic resolve and quixotic temptation, bitter disappointment and small, sacred joys. Now with Evensong, she again translates our everyday existence into soul-touching truths as she brings to brilliantly realized life the people of a small Smoky Mountain town--and a woman whose world is indelibly altered by them.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
40 people are currently reading
2169 people want to read
About the author
Gail Godwin
51 books415 followersGail Kathleen Godwin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has published one non-fiction work, two collections of short stories, and eleven novels, three of which have been nominated for the National Book Award and five of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 269 reviews
November 27, 2013
Congress wrote God onto every dollar bill, but it's always been hard to find that statement of faith written in American literature. The Puritans had no use for such light diversions as fiction. And those 19th-century classics that still bedevil high school students ("Walden," "The Scarlet Letter," "Moby Dick") were composed by nonconformists who thought of themselves as outside the temple gates.
In our own century, the triumph of irony, ambiguity, and downright cynicism has made America's highbrow fiction either oblivious to traditional religion or hostile to it. Even the few recent exceptions seem to prove the rule. The protagonist in Anne Tyler's "Saint Maybe" (1991) seeks salvation in a quirky cult obsessed with the avoidance of sugar. John Updike's "In the Beauty of the Lilies" (1995) opens with a Presbyterian minister losing his faith and closes in the flames of Waco. Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" (1998) rails against the arrogance of Christian missionaries. The blustering real estate tycoon at the center of Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full" (1998) is finally "saved" by turning to Greek stoicism and worshipping Zeus in a comic conclusion that seems as much a satire of modern-day evangelicalism as an endorsement of classical theology.
Despite a national literature strongly devoted to portraying ordinary people, writers seem unable or unwilling to include elements of faith and religion that are part of most Americans' lives. Tens of millions of Americans go to church every week, read the Bible every day, and pray all the time, but that would surprise anyone learning about 20th-century life from our literature.
For readers waiting for a literary novel that treats traditional religious issues with wisdom, wit, and compassion, Gail Godwin's "Evensong" is an answer to prayer. Here, finally, is a thoroughly post post-modern book that doesn't worship irony and ambiguity to the exclusion of all other values.
The story takes place in High Balsam, a small mountain town in North Carolina during the final months of the millennium. Margaret Bonner, the young pastor of an Episcopal church, can't wait for all the hoopla to pass. She's more concerned about the rising tensions between wealthy professionals and recently laid-off workers. She knows how much delicate work will be required to preserve this community, while rousing some members from complacency and dousing others' millennial extremism.
The story opens on the evening that three strangers drop in on Margaret's quiet contemplation of the Advent season. First, Tony, an 80-year-old monk, steps off a Greyhound bus and suggests he needs a place to stay the night. Then, Grace Munger, a large, rude woman in a voluminous red cape, swoops in to reveal God's plan for a Millennial Birthday March for Jesus. And finally, the aptly named Chase Zorn, an alcoholic student at her husband's reform school, gets expelled and must move in with them.
Each of these visitors promises a short stay, but instead, they hover around for months, bringing frustrations no one would want, but at the same time deepening and blessing Margaret's sense of family more than she could have imagined.
There's so much to admire about this sensitive, perfectly paced novel, but what's particularly striking are Godwin's insights into a busy marriage between people wholly devoted to helping others.
Margaret guides her church flock with humor and humility. Her husband struggles to hold the school together in the wake of its founder's death and his own sense of inadequacy. With so many people pulling at them, they know how easy it is to neglect each other. Struggling to figure out the monk's real purpose, save Chase from his self-destructive impulses, and fend off Grace Munger's incendiary birthday plans proves almost more than Margaret and her husband can handle.
It's fascinating to see the kind of intimacy possible in a novel concerned with the spiritual requirements of marriage between two very smart, religious people. In her charmingly self-conscious narrative, Margaret's prayers and conversations about God with her husband seem a hundred times more revealing than the predictable sex scenes that too often pass for intimacy in fiction.
Comforting a new widow, rousing her husband from depression, parrying with an outrageous fundamentalist, or wrestling with her own doubts, Margaret is the minister many cherish in real life but never get to see in fiction.
"Evensong" is a story full of fresh, spiritual wisdom, yet entirely free of cant or saccharine truisms. Smashing one of the strangest taboos in American literature, Godwin may have finally brought religion back from the wilderness and made it a safe subject for literary fiction.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0318/p1...
In our own century, the triumph of irony, ambiguity, and downright cynicism has made America's highbrow fiction either oblivious to traditional religion or hostile to it. Even the few recent exceptions seem to prove the rule. The protagonist in Anne Tyler's "Saint Maybe" (1991) seeks salvation in a quirky cult obsessed with the avoidance of sugar. John Updike's "In the Beauty of the Lilies" (1995) opens with a Presbyterian minister losing his faith and closes in the flames of Waco. Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" (1998) rails against the arrogance of Christian missionaries. The blustering real estate tycoon at the center of Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full" (1998) is finally "saved" by turning to Greek stoicism and worshipping Zeus in a comic conclusion that seems as much a satire of modern-day evangelicalism as an endorsement of classical theology.
Despite a national literature strongly devoted to portraying ordinary people, writers seem unable or unwilling to include elements of faith and religion that are part of most Americans' lives. Tens of millions of Americans go to church every week, read the Bible every day, and pray all the time, but that would surprise anyone learning about 20th-century life from our literature.
For readers waiting for a literary novel that treats traditional religious issues with wisdom, wit, and compassion, Gail Godwin's "Evensong" is an answer to prayer. Here, finally, is a thoroughly post post-modern book that doesn't worship irony and ambiguity to the exclusion of all other values.
The story takes place in High Balsam, a small mountain town in North Carolina during the final months of the millennium. Margaret Bonner, the young pastor of an Episcopal church, can't wait for all the hoopla to pass. She's more concerned about the rising tensions between wealthy professionals and recently laid-off workers. She knows how much delicate work will be required to preserve this community, while rousing some members from complacency and dousing others' millennial extremism.
The story opens on the evening that three strangers drop in on Margaret's quiet contemplation of the Advent season. First, Tony, an 80-year-old monk, steps off a Greyhound bus and suggests he needs a place to stay the night. Then, Grace Munger, a large, rude woman in a voluminous red cape, swoops in to reveal God's plan for a Millennial Birthday March for Jesus. And finally, the aptly named Chase Zorn, an alcoholic student at her husband's reform school, gets expelled and must move in with them.
Each of these visitors promises a short stay, but instead, they hover around for months, bringing frustrations no one would want, but at the same time deepening and blessing Margaret's sense of family more than she could have imagined.
There's so much to admire about this sensitive, perfectly paced novel, but what's particularly striking are Godwin's insights into a busy marriage between people wholly devoted to helping others.
Margaret guides her church flock with humor and humility. Her husband struggles to hold the school together in the wake of its founder's death and his own sense of inadequacy. With so many people pulling at them, they know how easy it is to neglect each other. Struggling to figure out the monk's real purpose, save Chase from his self-destructive impulses, and fend off Grace Munger's incendiary birthday plans proves almost more than Margaret and her husband can handle.
It's fascinating to see the kind of intimacy possible in a novel concerned with the spiritual requirements of marriage between two very smart, religious people. In her charmingly self-conscious narrative, Margaret's prayers and conversations about God with her husband seem a hundred times more revealing than the predictable sex scenes that too often pass for intimacy in fiction.
Comforting a new widow, rousing her husband from depression, parrying with an outrageous fundamentalist, or wrestling with her own doubts, Margaret is the minister many cherish in real life but never get to see in fiction.
"Evensong" is a story full of fresh, spiritual wisdom, yet entirely free of cant or saccharine truisms. Smashing one of the strangest taboos in American literature, Godwin may have finally brought religion back from the wilderness and made it a safe subject for literary fiction.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0318/p1...
December 9, 2022
This is beautifully written and a poignant narrative of Margaret's early married years and life as a female rector. I enjoyed it so much more than Father Melancholy's Daughter; reading it during Advent was a plus as well.
Read
December 24, 2023This is the kind of literary fiction I love. It's very much like Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It has the same themes: parents and children, how our pasts affect us, how we connect with God, how we make sense of human life and suffering. There were so many thoughtful, beautiful sentences that I wrote down and pondered over as I read. Margaret, the main character, and I think so much alike. She's very introspective and has a kind of wisdom and steadiness that I want for myself. This would make an excellent book club read. There is so much depth. This book and its characters will linger with me long.
March 4, 2010
This book was very readable but ultimately very disappointing. The main disappointment is the main character, a young female Episcopal priest. She is basically the Reverend Mary Sue. All of her emotions are told, not shown. She is ever-serene and quietly musing, regardless of the chaos around her, and has a calm, wise answer for every question. She's just very unsatisfying. Her compliant is that her husband withdraws from her, but she's very withdrawn herself in my opinion and is virtually never shown confronting him and trying to draw him out. She just QUIETLY MUSES about it.
Also, she's an Episcopal priest and seems uncertain about whether Jesus was God. Wait a minute: WHAT?! She reads with approval a seminary candidate's application stating that Christianity and Hinduism can both be true at the same time. WHAT?!!!!! NO THEY ACTUALLY CAN'T!!! Believe them or not, Christianity makes very explicit and very EXCLUSIVE truth claims.
My final objection to this book was that there were multiple sub-plots that didn't come together in any satisfactory way in the end. All the way through the book the author drops hints about the fundamentalist character, Grace, possibly being an arsonist. But at the end when a church finally burns down, it's because SOMEBODY LEFT AN IRON ON! Again: WHAT?!! Grace is a way more interesting character than Margaret (aka Rev Mary Sue) but she doesn't ultimately get to play any role in the denouement and in the epilog has completely dropped out of sight. Remember what Chekov said "If you show a gun in Act One it had better be fired before the end of the play." Grace is the gun that was never fired.
It's frustrating to me that it seems so hard for anyone to write a serious book about people of faith. I generally dislike "Christian fiction" because it is so shallow (All Christian characters are good, all non-Christian characters are bad, Jesus solves everybody's problems, the end), and mainstream literature either ignores faith or only deals with wacko fundamentalists.
It's a shame this wasn't a better book, because I think it was a brave attempt and there were some really good theological and philosophical nuggets in it.
Also, she's an Episcopal priest and seems uncertain about whether Jesus was God. Wait a minute: WHAT?! She reads with approval a seminary candidate's application stating that Christianity and Hinduism can both be true at the same time. WHAT?!!!!! NO THEY ACTUALLY CAN'T!!! Believe them or not, Christianity makes very explicit and very EXCLUSIVE truth claims.
My final objection to this book was that there were multiple sub-plots that didn't come together in any satisfactory way in the end. All the way through the book the author drops hints about the fundamentalist character, Grace, possibly being an arsonist. But at the end when a church finally burns down, it's because SOMEBODY LEFT AN IRON ON! Again: WHAT?!! Grace is a way more interesting character than Margaret (aka Rev Mary Sue) but she doesn't ultimately get to play any role in the denouement and in the epilog has completely dropped out of sight. Remember what Chekov said "If you show a gun in Act One it had better be fired before the end of the play." Grace is the gun that was never fired.
It's frustrating to me that it seems so hard for anyone to write a serious book about people of faith. I generally dislike "Christian fiction" because it is so shallow (All Christian characters are good, all non-Christian characters are bad, Jesus solves everybody's problems, the end), and mainstream literature either ignores faith or only deals with wacko fundamentalists.
It's a shame this wasn't a better book, because I think it was a brave attempt and there were some really good theological and philosophical nuggets in it.
April 20, 2022
A lovely read, much like the first, yet different. Some of the best literary examples of prayer I've read, even when referring to other literary examples of prayer. Reading Evensong in the spring wasn't quite right, however, as it is deeply set in Advent. I hope to return to it at the appropriate time of year sometime. Godwin is a new favorite author, one I can't read quickly. I'm sure anyone who is ordained will find much fruit in her works as well; I'm not ordained but worship in a tradition similar to the one Margaret is in. I look forward to more of Godwin's work outside Margaret Bonner's world. Even if it's not quite so religious, her writing is beautiful and her characters' interior lives are memorable.
Read
August 10, 2011I was very moved and touched by this book. I shy away from books like this sometimes, afraid of superficial dabblings in human relationship. But I didn't find that in this book. It is motivated and organized around communion with the Divine, which gives it depth and meaning (at least to me). But it is really the relationships that drive the story. Deep characters, with everyday flaws--things that plague us all--insecurities, regrets, fears, and failures, among others. Its saving grace is the thing that save us all--faith, hope, and love, and like the scriptures say, love is the most important of all.
Written to the narrator's daughter, some of the plot twists are expected, and some are unexpected. The blend of action and introspection allows the reader (or, again, at least me) to reflect and assimilate the new developments, much as is necessary in real life. While perhaps the characters are more forgiving than I could admit to being, they are multidimensional. This has to be one of the best books to blend religion (Episcopalian) and life, with an even focus on the good and the bad. While it doesn't make religion, or religious life, faultless, it certainly gives a glimpse to what attracts, protects, and uplifts those who believe.
A stirring book for those who enjoy thinking about the divine and the love that flows through us all.
Written to the narrator's daughter, some of the plot twists are expected, and some are unexpected. The blend of action and introspection allows the reader (or, again, at least me) to reflect and assimilate the new developments, much as is necessary in real life. While perhaps the characters are more forgiving than I could admit to being, they are multidimensional. This has to be one of the best books to blend religion (Episcopalian) and life, with an even focus on the good and the bad. While it doesn't make religion, or religious life, faultless, it certainly gives a glimpse to what attracts, protects, and uplifts those who believe.
A stirring book for those who enjoy thinking about the divine and the love that flows through us all.
June 30, 2010
There is a quite a satisfying feeling reading Godwin's books. Can't really put my finger on the why. Her topics really meet me where I live deep inside.
February 23, 2011
I really like this, I'm not sure why because it's about a female Episcopalian priest married to a pastor and I'm not religous. But she's a great writer, very down to earth and she addresses some big questions that are big whether you look at them from a religous perspective or not. I guess it's sort of in the vein of those Jan Karon books (which I read a really long time ago) but I'd say there's more depth.
I was struck by a passage regarding advent, again not from a religious aspect, but just in terms of life in general. She's explaining that to prepare for advent you clean your house, and prepare food, and also prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for what might come. You get everything ready, and open your mind and then sit down and say, "Come, God, come." It reminds me of a phrase I drafted for my wedding vows, where I said that my husband and I found each other and fell in love because we opened the door to love and welcomed it when it stepped freely through the door. I felt like it wasn't something you could go out and get, or successfully pursue, but on the other hand, it will never happen if you are not open and receptive, and prepared, in a way.
I was struck by a passage regarding advent, again not from a religious aspect, but just in terms of life in general. She's explaining that to prepare for advent you clean your house, and prepare food, and also prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for what might come. You get everything ready, and open your mind and then sit down and say, "Come, God, come." It reminds me of a phrase I drafted for my wedding vows, where I said that my husband and I found each other and fell in love because we opened the door to love and welcomed it when it stepped freely through the door. I felt like it wasn't something you could go out and get, or successfully pursue, but on the other hand, it will never happen if you are not open and receptive, and prepared, in a way.
March 25, 2019
I really want to go back and read Godwin's entire catalogue, this story continues Father Melancholy's Daughter and is, as that was, a beautiful, quiet, thoughtful read. The only thing that kept it from being a five star read is an uncomfortable thread that is woven in that I found distasteful. I moved books around to put these two gems on my "keeper" shelf.
November 19, 2011
A very interesting sequel to “Father Melancholy’s Daughter” - this relates the next chapter in young Margaret’s life which you will want to know if you read the first book. I definitely recommend reading them in sequence to get the most from this story. Hear, hear.
I particularly liked the religious setting of this story and the way in which the story is presented through the eyes of a faith practice- Episcopalian.There were ideas to think about. Godwin is a very careful writer - she obviously chooses words and structures her sentences with much thought. The vocabulary is enriching. However, the analytical thought and rumination that takes place in Margaret’s mind as she tells us this story and the sense of serenity she exudes sometimes seemed a bit too much. Although I suppose that there are people like her who are always on an even keel, it just sometimes felt as if she was too neat and perfect in her approach and response to everything- kind of like a very measured, calm psychologist. On the other hand, it was this constant, thoughtful pondering in Margaret’s mind that was intriguing and satisfying in its way because it helped to contain and explain all the action. Just saying. Also, some of the conversations, especially for the youngsters - were not totally what you would expect a young teenager to say, but I forgave Godwin the more clever language she put in their mouths because it seems to be her forte.
Another reviewer pointed out her surprise and dismay that Margaret was intrigued and impressed by the priest applicant who felt that Hinduism and Christianity could both be true at the same time- YES, I felt the same incredulous surprise and wondered exactly what they teach in Episcopalian seminaries these days - perhaps more concentration on making their religion more palatable to all the peoples instead of on a careful reading of the Scriptures. Also, they seem to put a lot of stock in “form”; perhaps this takes the place of some of the substance? I don’t know....
One aspect I enjoyed was the sense of foreboding in the story - I knew that something major was going to happen, but Godwin did not give too much away and this suspense kept me waiting for the climax. There were points where I was very afraid for Margaret. All in all, this was a satisfying story and I plan to read more of Gail Godwin.
I particularly liked the religious setting of this story and the way in which the story is presented through the eyes of a faith practice- Episcopalian.There were ideas to think about. Godwin is a very careful writer - she obviously chooses words and structures her sentences with much thought. The vocabulary is enriching. However, the analytical thought and rumination that takes place in Margaret’s mind as she tells us this story and the sense of serenity she exudes sometimes seemed a bit too much. Although I suppose that there are people like her who are always on an even keel, it just sometimes felt as if she was too neat and perfect in her approach and response to everything- kind of like a very measured, calm psychologist. On the other hand, it was this constant, thoughtful pondering in Margaret’s mind that was intriguing and satisfying in its way because it helped to contain and explain all the action. Just saying. Also, some of the conversations, especially for the youngsters - were not totally what you would expect a young teenager to say, but I forgave Godwin the more clever language she put in their mouths because it seems to be her forte.
Another reviewer pointed out her surprise and dismay that Margaret was intrigued and impressed by the priest applicant who felt that Hinduism and Christianity could both be true at the same time- YES, I felt the same incredulous surprise and wondered exactly what they teach in Episcopalian seminaries these days - perhaps more concentration on making their religion more palatable to all the peoples instead of on a careful reading of the Scriptures. Also, they seem to put a lot of stock in “form”; perhaps this takes the place of some of the substance? I don’t know....
One aspect I enjoyed was the sense of foreboding in the story - I knew that something major was going to happen, but Godwin did not give too much away and this suspense kept me waiting for the climax. There were points where I was very afraid for Margaret. All in all, this was a satisfying story and I plan to read more of Gail Godwin.
March 15, 2012
I am taken with the ability of the writer to evolve the story in the present, through the reflections written in first person narrative of the main character.
I would not normally have picked up a novel with such bible referenced text, for fear that I am being preached to. Quite the opposite, I am engaged on a level which feels so personal and intimate, and might just be helping to change my thinking in a very constructive good way.
I feel happily connected to this book.
I would not normally have picked up a novel with such bible referenced text, for fear that I am being preached to. Quite the opposite, I am engaged on a level which feels so personal and intimate, and might just be helping to change my thinking in a very constructive good way.
I feel happily connected to this book.
December 17, 2016
This was a re-read for me, prompted after seeing a pre-publication review of Gail Godwin's upcoming book, Grief Cottage (not out until June). I love her writing. This book, set on the eve of the Millenium is oddly prescient of today's current political environment. So glad I decided to read again. So many books, so little time--but this one was worth it.
September 25, 2014
Loved it. Will remember the main character for a long time. Loved her view that a marriage should make more of both parties. Loved her musings on faith and human character. Loved her willingness to give of herself in an effort to be a good friend and a good shepherd. Highly recommend it.
December 15, 2023
The great GR blink out is back.
I won’t write a 2nd review.
I’m glad to have read this one at exactly this time and quite by happenstance.
It slowed my brain down and I think my overactive brain was the cause of my string of recent DNF.
I won’t write a 2nd review.
I’m glad to have read this one at exactly this time and quite by happenstance.
It slowed my brain down and I think my overactive brain was the cause of my string of recent DNF.
March 20, 2024
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous book. Gail Goodwin has artfully made the everyday unputdownable.
Although this is a sequel, it’s easy to pick up if you haven’t read Father Melancholy’s Daughter (though I also loved that one). Here Margaret is grown up and now a young female episcopal priest in a small North Carolina mountain town. She’s gone and married a much older fellow minister and their marriage is in crisis, but the duties of her position continue, from mine and major tragedies to surprise monks to radical right wing parades to midnight hospital calls.
There’s something really beautiful about all of it, which at times is heartbreaking and at times hilarious and zany. Godwin centers on the questions of faith that arise in the midst of Margaret’s life and calling while also retracing her life between the previous book and now.
I loved this one and it felt as relevant today as when it was written in the 90s.
Although this is a sequel, it’s easy to pick up if you haven’t read Father Melancholy’s Daughter (though I also loved that one). Here Margaret is grown up and now a young female episcopal priest in a small North Carolina mountain town. She’s gone and married a much older fellow minister and their marriage is in crisis, but the duties of her position continue, from mine and major tragedies to surprise monks to radical right wing parades to midnight hospital calls.
There’s something really beautiful about all of it, which at times is heartbreaking and at times hilarious and zany. Godwin centers on the questions of faith that arise in the midst of Margaret’s life and calling while also retracing her life between the previous book and now.
I loved this one and it felt as relevant today as when it was written in the 90s.
September 30, 2014
I loved this book. I felt the characters were richly textured, leading busy lives layers of relationship and situational complexity that made them authentic. Margaret, almost saint like in her goodness and wisdom. Others have commented that they did not understand why she was passive and did not try to draw her husband out of his negativity. I saw it as her ability to give love and support quietly, and not try to force solutions for others not ready for them. She let the relationship develop between Tony and Adrian and had the grace and wisdom to stand back and not interject herself in the middle. She knew her mind and did not allow Grace to pressure her to do something she did not agree with. I became intrigued to see how the story would end and play out, and it was believable. Human frailties were not glossed over. I look forward to reading more Gail Godwin!
September 10, 2016
A dozen years ago I read this book, but picked it up the other day off my bookshelf and thumbed through it. I realized this is a book worth re-reading. One thing that drew me back to the story was I was still working for the Catholic Church when I quickly read this book for graduate school. Now working and attending an Episcopal church, I have a deeper understanding of the liturgical language contained within the pages.
It's a richly layered novel with many interesting characters. It's a terrific read and I recommend it to anyone interested in a great story, regardless of their faith background.
It's a richly layered novel with many interesting characters. It's a terrific read and I recommend it to anyone interested in a great story, regardless of their faith background.
June 3, 2012
How did this make the New York Times best seller list? Redundant to the point of ad nauseam. Plot points are contrived and characters are soulless.
Read
April 2, 2025One of my area libraries hosts an annual 4th of July used book sale. Last year, they offered a deal where you fill a grocery bag of books for $10, and what I’ve especially loved about that is how I’m being introduced to books I might otherwise have overlooked. Gail Godwin’s “Evensong” is thoughtful and gentle, following the life of an Episcopal priest, her husband, and her village on the verge of the new millennium.
The main character, Margaret Bronner, had many thoughtful insights, and I loved some of the vivid pictures of her community–one that sticks in my mind was when an irreverent theater group decides to recreate the scene of the Last Supper. I don’t know what Godwin intended to convey, but to me, it still held glimmers of holiness and reminded me of how those outside the church sometimes see the beauty of faith more clearly than those within and how Jesus made friends with sinners. (“The Eucharist is eternal companionship,” one man says.) Margaret’s husband, Adrian, was my favorite character, a man struggling with self-doubt and depression and his sense of purpose. I appreciated his vulnerability with Margaret and despite their struggles, the ultimate love they hold for each other.
While I loved parts of this book, I’m torn on whether I would recommend it. I didn’t agree with many theological aspects, like when Margaret and the board accept a candidate for postulancy who believes that Christianity and other religions can all be true, but Christianity makes the most sense for his own relationship with God. I don’t know where the Episcopal church lands on this and other issues (Godwin does mention several church clergy in her acknowledgements). This book read to me like a seeker wrestling with who God is, trying to make sense of her spiritual journey through the characters. It leads to an interesting and somewhat dissonant picture when told through the eyes of a priest.
Originally, I wasn’t super interested in exploring more of Godwin’s work, but after reading some of her personal insights, I’m curious to see how her faith journey has evolved in later writings. Evensong left me with many good things to consider (and takes the trophy for my longest Goodreads review to date lol).
“But you remind us what it’s all about in the first place.”
“And what’s that?” inquired Adrian of his former teacher.
“Love, old fellow, love. [Jesus] is out there cooking their breakfast because he loved them, and they knew it.”
The main character, Margaret Bronner, had many thoughtful insights, and I loved some of the vivid pictures of her community–one that sticks in my mind was when an irreverent theater group decides to recreate the scene of the Last Supper. I don’t know what Godwin intended to convey, but to me, it still held glimmers of holiness and reminded me of how those outside the church sometimes see the beauty of faith more clearly than those within and how Jesus made friends with sinners. (“The Eucharist is eternal companionship,” one man says.) Margaret’s husband, Adrian, was my favorite character, a man struggling with self-doubt and depression and his sense of purpose. I appreciated his vulnerability with Margaret and despite their struggles, the ultimate love they hold for each other.
While I loved parts of this book, I’m torn on whether I would recommend it. I didn’t agree with many theological aspects, like when Margaret and the board accept a candidate for postulancy who believes that Christianity and other religions can all be true, but Christianity makes the most sense for his own relationship with God. I don’t know where the Episcopal church lands on this and other issues (Godwin does mention several church clergy in her acknowledgements). This book read to me like a seeker wrestling with who God is, trying to make sense of her spiritual journey through the characters. It leads to an interesting and somewhat dissonant picture when told through the eyes of a priest.
Originally, I wasn’t super interested in exploring more of Godwin’s work, but after reading some of her personal insights, I’m curious to see how her faith journey has evolved in later writings. Evensong left me with many good things to consider (and takes the trophy for my longest Goodreads review to date lol).
“But you remind us what it’s all about in the first place.”
“And what’s that?” inquired Adrian of his former teacher.
“Love, old fellow, love. [Jesus] is out there cooking their breakfast because he loved them, and they knew it.”
March 23, 2015
Pg 224-227
"Back when I was in seminary in New York, I once heard Raymond Brown, the Roman Catholic priest and scholar, give a talk on preparing for Advent. I was so struck with his insights that I forgot to take notes and could have kicked myself later. But last summer when was away in New York, I came across a monograph of his, A Coming of Christ in Advent in my seminary's bookstore, and guess what? Inside was the 'lost lecture' in the form of an essay. There's no way I can do justice to all of it, but I di want to touch on the points that were so illuminating to me. If anyone's appetite is whetted for more, the monograph will be on the library shelves in the crypt.
"As you know, we have two stories of Jesus' conception and birth. Only two, Matthew's and Luke's, and they are very different from each other. When we read them, it comes as a shock to some of us just how different. Did Mary and Joseph live in a house in Bethlehem where Jesus was born; or did they live in Nazareth and go to register for a Roman census in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born in a stable because the inn was full? Did they flee form their house into Bethlehem into Egypt to escape Herod's child-killing rampage after he's been tipped off by the magi's arrival, or did they return peacefully home to Nazareth after the Bethlehem census-taking with nary a mention of Herod?
"Our Christmas pageants usually combine the two stories, but when biblical scholars attempt to reconcile the conflicting material, they can't. Raymond Brown suggests that we might do better to recognize that the Holy Spirit was content to give us two different accounts and that the way to interpret them faithfully is to treat them separately. Not to try to force a harmony out of some mistaken notion that if scripture is inspired it has to be historical as well."
"We must accept that there is no way of knowing precisely how historical the Infancy narratives are, or where Matthew and Luke for them. Does this limitation of knowledge rob them of their value?
"Not at all. It frees us to concentrate on the inspired meaning of the narratives, what the two evangelists were trying to teach s in their different narrative voices, the religious message on which they agree.
"In this monograph Father Brown writes that he's been conducting a somewhat solitary campaign to urge pastors to preach the Matthean genealogy during Advent. And I'm finally getting around to doing it, now that I'm a pastor myself. He says that those three minutes and ten seconds worth of tongue-twisting names that Jennifer has just read aloud to us contain the essential theology of the Old and New Testaments for the whole Church, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant alike.
"Now that's a pretty bold and sweeping ecumenical statement. But Brown tells us that Zwingli was already preaching it back before the Reformation. Zwingli preached that Matthew's genealogy contained the essential theology of the Reformation: that of salvation by grace.
"The 'story of the origin of Jesus Christ' begins with Abraham begetting Isaac; no mention of that deserving older brother, poor unfairly banished Ishmael. Then Isaac begets Jacob; not a word about older brother Esau whose birthright Jacob stole. Jacob begets Judah 'and his brothers'; why is Judah chosen and not the good and extraordinary Joseph?
"What's going on here? According to Matthew, who is being faithful to Old Testament theology, God does not necessarily select the noblest of the most deserving person to carry out Divine purposes.
"Now that's the interesting part. For reasons unknown to us, God may select the Judahs who sell their brothers into slavery, the Jacobs who heat their way to first place, the Davids who steal wives and murder rivals- but also compose profound and beautiful psalms of praise.
"And what about the five women Mathew chooses to include? Not a mention of Sarah or Rebekah or Rachel, the upstanding patriarchal wives of Israel. Instead, Tamar, a Canaanite, who disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law Judah to get a son out of him. And Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, is name sonly as the wife of Uriah, whom King David killed so he could marry her himself. Every one of those women used as God's instrument had scandal or aspersion attached to her- as does the fifth and final woman named in the genealogy: Mary, the mother of Jesus, with her unconventional pregnancy.
"But this will fit right in with Jesus' coming ministry to tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes and lepers, to 'those who need a physician,' not those who are already righteous.
"Matthew's genealogy is showing us how the story of Jesus Christ contained- and will continue to contain- the flawed and the afflicted and insulted, the cunning and the weak-willed and the misunderstood.
"His is an equal opportunity ministry for crooks and saints.
"And what about that final fourteen generations of unknown, or unremarkable, names Jennifer read to us? Who was Azor, or Achim? Who was Eliud, who was Eleazor? Or even this Matthan, who was, according to Matthew, Jesus' great-grandfather? What did they do? What kind of men were they? We don't know. You won't find their names in the concordance, and in any biblical Who's Who.
"And this is, of course, where the message settles directly upon us. If so much powerful stuff can have been accomplished down through the millennia via the agency of wastrels, betrayers, and outcasts, and through people who were such complex mixtures of sinner and saints, and through so many obscure and undistinguished others, isn't that a pretty hopeful testament to the likelihood that God is using us, with out individual flaws and gifts, in all manner of peculiar and unexpected ways?
"Who of us can say we're not in the process of being used right now, this first Sunday of Advent, to fulfill some purpose whose grace and goodness would boggle our imagination if we could even begin to get our minds around it?
Let me conclude my sermon with Father Brown, since he's been w=both the prod and mentor for it. He suggests that a thoughtful reflection of Matthew's genealogy encourages us during this liturgical season of Advent to continue the story of the sequence of Jesus Christ in this way:
" 'Jesus called Peter and Paul... Paul called Timothy... someone called you... and you must call someone else.' Amen."
"Back when I was in seminary in New York, I once heard Raymond Brown, the Roman Catholic priest and scholar, give a talk on preparing for Advent. I was so struck with his insights that I forgot to take notes and could have kicked myself later. But last summer when was away in New York, I came across a monograph of his, A Coming of Christ in Advent in my seminary's bookstore, and guess what? Inside was the 'lost lecture' in the form of an essay. There's no way I can do justice to all of it, but I di want to touch on the points that were so illuminating to me. If anyone's appetite is whetted for more, the monograph will be on the library shelves in the crypt.
"As you know, we have two stories of Jesus' conception and birth. Only two, Matthew's and Luke's, and they are very different from each other. When we read them, it comes as a shock to some of us just how different. Did Mary and Joseph live in a house in Bethlehem where Jesus was born; or did they live in Nazareth and go to register for a Roman census in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born in a stable because the inn was full? Did they flee form their house into Bethlehem into Egypt to escape Herod's child-killing rampage after he's been tipped off by the magi's arrival, or did they return peacefully home to Nazareth after the Bethlehem census-taking with nary a mention of Herod?
"Our Christmas pageants usually combine the two stories, but when biblical scholars attempt to reconcile the conflicting material, they can't. Raymond Brown suggests that we might do better to recognize that the Holy Spirit was content to give us two different accounts and that the way to interpret them faithfully is to treat them separately. Not to try to force a harmony out of some mistaken notion that if scripture is inspired it has to be historical as well."
"We must accept that there is no way of knowing precisely how historical the Infancy narratives are, or where Matthew and Luke for them. Does this limitation of knowledge rob them of their value?
"Not at all. It frees us to concentrate on the inspired meaning of the narratives, what the two evangelists were trying to teach s in their different narrative voices, the religious message on which they agree.
"In this monograph Father Brown writes that he's been conducting a somewhat solitary campaign to urge pastors to preach the Matthean genealogy during Advent. And I'm finally getting around to doing it, now that I'm a pastor myself. He says that those three minutes and ten seconds worth of tongue-twisting names that Jennifer has just read aloud to us contain the essential theology of the Old and New Testaments for the whole Church, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant alike.
"Now that's a pretty bold and sweeping ecumenical statement. But Brown tells us that Zwingli was already preaching it back before the Reformation. Zwingli preached that Matthew's genealogy contained the essential theology of the Reformation: that of salvation by grace.
"The 'story of the origin of Jesus Christ' begins with Abraham begetting Isaac; no mention of that deserving older brother, poor unfairly banished Ishmael. Then Isaac begets Jacob; not a word about older brother Esau whose birthright Jacob stole. Jacob begets Judah 'and his brothers'; why is Judah chosen and not the good and extraordinary Joseph?
"What's going on here? According to Matthew, who is being faithful to Old Testament theology, God does not necessarily select the noblest of the most deserving person to carry out Divine purposes.
"Now that's the interesting part. For reasons unknown to us, God may select the Judahs who sell their brothers into slavery, the Jacobs who heat their way to first place, the Davids who steal wives and murder rivals- but also compose profound and beautiful psalms of praise.
"And what about the five women Mathew chooses to include? Not a mention of Sarah or Rebekah or Rachel, the upstanding patriarchal wives of Israel. Instead, Tamar, a Canaanite, who disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law Judah to get a son out of him. And Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, is name sonly as the wife of Uriah, whom King David killed so he could marry her himself. Every one of those women used as God's instrument had scandal or aspersion attached to her- as does the fifth and final woman named in the genealogy: Mary, the mother of Jesus, with her unconventional pregnancy.
"But this will fit right in with Jesus' coming ministry to tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes and lepers, to 'those who need a physician,' not those who are already righteous.
"Matthew's genealogy is showing us how the story of Jesus Christ contained- and will continue to contain- the flawed and the afflicted and insulted, the cunning and the weak-willed and the misunderstood.
"His is an equal opportunity ministry for crooks and saints.
"And what about that final fourteen generations of unknown, or unremarkable, names Jennifer read to us? Who was Azor, or Achim? Who was Eliud, who was Eleazor? Or even this Matthan, who was, according to Matthew, Jesus' great-grandfather? What did they do? What kind of men were they? We don't know. You won't find their names in the concordance, and in any biblical Who's Who.
"And this is, of course, where the message settles directly upon us. If so much powerful stuff can have been accomplished down through the millennia via the agency of wastrels, betrayers, and outcasts, and through people who were such complex mixtures of sinner and saints, and through so many obscure and undistinguished others, isn't that a pretty hopeful testament to the likelihood that God is using us, with out individual flaws and gifts, in all manner of peculiar and unexpected ways?
"Who of us can say we're not in the process of being used right now, this first Sunday of Advent, to fulfill some purpose whose grace and goodness would boggle our imagination if we could even begin to get our minds around it?
Let me conclude my sermon with Father Brown, since he's been w=both the prod and mentor for it. He suggests that a thoughtful reflection of Matthew's genealogy encourages us during this liturgical season of Advent to continue the story of the sequence of Jesus Christ in this way:
" 'Jesus called Peter and Paul... Paul called Timothy... someone called you... and you must call someone else.' Amen."
January 5, 2019
What a lovely book this was! I loved the main character, Margaret Bonner, rector of a small Episcopal church in the mountains of North Carolina. Margaret is wise, but real. Her husband, Adrian, is also a priest and acting headmaster of a private school nearby. Near the start of the book they unexpectedly make room for two house guests - a traveling monk and a boy recently kicked out of Adrian's school.
The pace of this book is slow. It's not plot driven. But action does build and I cried during pivotal scenes at the end of the book.
I loved the descriptions of Margaret's life as a priest. We get to see behind the scenes as she performs a marriage, preaches for the first Sunday of Advent and conducts a funeral. Evensong doesn't glamorize her life or vocation. Instead, it shows the day to day of her life.
I read this book because I liked the excerpt of it used as a devotion in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. I'm so glad I did. It let me re-live Advent during these last days of the Christmas season.
The pace of this book is slow. It's not plot driven. But action does build and I cried during pivotal scenes at the end of the book.
I loved the descriptions of Margaret's life as a priest. We get to see behind the scenes as she performs a marriage, preaches for the first Sunday of Advent and conducts a funeral. Evensong doesn't glamorize her life or vocation. Instead, it shows the day to day of her life.
I read this book because I liked the excerpt of it used as a devotion in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. I'm so glad I did. It let me re-live Advent during these last days of the Christmas season.
May 23, 2020
This has been on my shelf for a good ten years and I don't believe I've read any of Godwin's other books. There were many things I liked very much about it...the main character, a female Episcopal priest, is a great character. The insight into the everyday life of the clergy was great. She's conflicted about a lot of things and her inner dialogue and her thoughts are very well-done and very relatable. Her husband was also pretty well-written although his insecurities became a bit tiresome. My problems were with the minor characters. They seemed very stereotyped and unrealistic. Many of the conversations between Margaret and others were more like lectures and didn't work for me and I'm sure a lot of the religious references went right by me. This would have been a four star book for me until the melodramatic ending.
August 23, 2017
I am dissatisfied with the ending of this book. Central conflicts shouldn't be hastily resolved in epilogues! It felt like the book was getting too long and the story needed to wrap itself up quickly...Still, the depiction of marriage here is one of the most truthful and moving I have ever read. There is a lot of honest wisdom here, and it feels real and hard-earned. Plus, the narrative is saturated with the language and liturgy of high church Episcopalianism and The Book of Common Prayer, both of which were the gateway to adult faith for me and both of which will always resonate in my soul. This wasn't a perfect book, but the humanity of the characters and their strength in the midst of brokenness will stay with me for a long time.
January 27, 2022
I’ve just been reading some reviews of this book before I decided to write mine. They were mostly accurate but I think they left out a very important piece at least for me which is that the author brought God down to earth with her candid and pragmatic sentences of faith. She took for instance explaining the Bible to a teenager as a book that explains man’s relationship with God over a long period of time and not a book that tells you how to live your life and be good. Of course I guess that’s obvious but it struck me when she said that or when she wrote that as a profound statement.
One reviewer wrote that she didn’t like the book because the main character was always thinking about her feelings but not really expressing them which is untrue as she expressed her views every time she talk to someone. These views reflected her faith in God and as I mentioned her faith was down to earth not in the clouds and not preachy. Hope you enjoy it.
One reviewer wrote that she didn’t like the book because the main character was always thinking about her feelings but not really expressing them which is untrue as she expressed her views every time she talk to someone. These views reflected her faith in God and as I mentioned her faith was down to earth not in the clouds and not preachy. Hope you enjoy it.
January 8, 2024
It took a while for me to get pulled into this novel, but once I did, I just wanted to keep reading to see what happened. It was initially a bit tricky to keep track of all the characters, but it did come together. I appreciate that the epilogue did a nice job of tying up the ends, too
April 22, 2017
This book might have been written *for me* - a female priest in a Smoky Mountain town where human drama and intrigue and capriciousness are all written from a kind, snarky, pastoral point of view.
September 12, 2020
Loved this sequel to Father Melancholy’s daughter.
January 21, 2025
Set during Advent so it's a good seasonal read. It's slow paced but engaging, and I liked the people. A story about marriage, vocation, faith lived out in action. I feel like if I met Margaret Bonner in real life I'd be friends with her.
July 12, 2020
3.75. When you are out of books and hit up a Little Free Library. I liked this book and its characters. It reminded me a bit of the At Home in Mitford series but less folksy. I didn’t realize it was a follow-up book but it’s not necessary to read the first one.
August 18, 2019
Although not quite as perfect as Father Melancholy's Daughter, this was a very peaceful and gentle read, and I'm glad I took the time for it. By total coincidence, this and the last book I read ( States of Mercy) both turned out to be about spiritual crisis as 1999 rolled into 2000. The two books are very, very different, but once I started noticing the parallels, it was hard to think about anything else. If you have any kind of Y2K challenge going as the 20th anniversary approaches, either of these books would be a perfect read for it.
Although this book is technically a sequel to Father Melancholy's Daughter, it functions as a standalone, as all the necessary details about Margaret Bonner's life story are adequately explained here as they come up. On the other hand, even though the main events of this story take place about ten years after that book left off, readers familiar with that earlier work won't feel they missed anything, as Margaret dramatizes all the most important moments of the ensuing years in flashbacks interspersed throughout the first few chapters. I found Margaret's highly original voice to be exactly the same in both books, and it really did feel like catching up with an old friend, but the tone of the two works is quite different. FMD is highly elegiac in tone, as Margaret looks back on her childhood from a distance and ruminates upon it. This book, after the first few catch-up chapters, is much more immediate, focusing on the events of only a few weeks in December 1999.
Although there is a plot that eventually comes to the foreground, most of the book functions as nothing more than a slice of the life of a female Episcopal priest. The long list of acknowledgements demonstrates that Godwin did voluminous research to get the details right, and it shows. It's hard to believe that this book could have been written by a laywoman, and at many times it read almost as nonfiction.
This probably isn't the Godwin novel to start with unless you're in love with church rituals or Y2K, but if you've already read the first Margaret Bonner book and want to see what happened to her in the future, this is well worth picking up. You'll probably get even more enjoyment if you wait until the Christmas season to begin.
Although this book is technically a sequel to Father Melancholy's Daughter, it functions as a standalone, as all the necessary details about Margaret Bonner's life story are adequately explained here as they come up. On the other hand, even though the main events of this story take place about ten years after that book left off, readers familiar with that earlier work won't feel they missed anything, as Margaret dramatizes all the most important moments of the ensuing years in flashbacks interspersed throughout the first few chapters. I found Margaret's highly original voice to be exactly the same in both books, and it really did feel like catching up with an old friend, but the tone of the two works is quite different. FMD is highly elegiac in tone, as Margaret looks back on her childhood from a distance and ruminates upon it. This book, after the first few catch-up chapters, is much more immediate, focusing on the events of only a few weeks in December 1999.
Although there is a plot that eventually comes to the foreground, most of the book functions as nothing more than a slice of the life of a female Episcopal priest. The long list of acknowledgements demonstrates that Godwin did voluminous research to get the details right, and it shows. It's hard to believe that this book could have been written by a laywoman, and at many times it read almost as nonfiction.
This probably isn't the Godwin novel to start with unless you're in love with church rituals or Y2K, but if you've already read the first Margaret Bonner book and want to see what happened to her in the future, this is well worth picking up. You'll probably get even more enjoyment if you wait until the Christmas season to begin.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 269 reviews