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How Far to Bethlehem?
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How Far to Bethlehem
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Dec 11, 2009 04:58PM
How Far to Bethlehem?Did we discuss this last year? I am thinking of starting on it again. I like to read it around Christmas time.
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I love this book. I am a dues-paying, card-carrying, born-again Christian, and as such, I appreciate that NL went by the Bible totally, and then "fleshed out" in between. I think the relationship between Mary and Joseph was just exactly as NL wrote it. As a side note:did you ever wonder, could it have been, that Joseph was unable to find a midwife, and got help from a very young Doctor Luke? Luke wrote at the beginning of his gospel that he "understood prefectly from the very first", regarding Jesus' birth. As a physician, he would know she was a virgin.Just a thought; not important in the general scheme of things.
Rita
I love it too Rita, though from the historical and literary viewpoint rather than a faith one. I must go again to my Gospels, I hadn't realised that anywhere talked about there being a professional attendant at The Birth. Even if there were, I would think, however, it being a male attendant of any sort would be very, very unlikely. In Jewish society at the time ( and indeed in all known cultures, men attending at births are unknown. Not until the 19th Century do male professionals appear as birth attendants. Birth was very much women's business and beneath the status of male professionals. Perhaps though, a truly exceptional young man might have broken precedent - it would be nice to think so anyway!
Mind you, not even the most exceptional man , doctor or not, could have detected virginity in a women in labour - I assume you are thinking of the presence of a hymen? Well, the process of birth would have put paid to that I think .
Anyway folks, does this mean we are taking up Alice's suggestion to discuss the wonderful R to R?
Barbara, I was not saying that the gospels mentioned professional attendants. They do not. And you are totally right about the culture of the day, but rememberthat almost everything surrounding this birth and life was unorthodox. For instance, Jesus spoke with women, and even immoral women at that. Jewish rabbis never did that publicly, I think I have read. What made me wonder about Luke, the Beloved Physician, was that very strange comment he made, that he understood perfectly from the very first. I'm too squeamish to study about anything medical so I just supposed a doctor could tell about virginity. I defer to your knowledge!
I always enjoy your comments so much.
Rita
Hi Rita - ah, I see what you mean, and also about what might have been done NOT publically.I love the term Beloved Physician , don't you?
At Christmas time I love to read "How Far to Bethlehem?" It never fails to stir me! I love the individual stories of each character, and writing in the "first person" always gives it more depth and personal touch. I just love Norah Lofts!
I just read all your comments and now am thoroughly confused! I had to take an early retirement this past year due to illness, and my big comfort from this shock is finally having time to reread all of the NL books. I think I have the next one chosen, and then I read all your amazing insights and keep changing my mind! My only comment re: How Far To Beth. is that I think Bible scholars don't know much at all about the wise men (even the names are traditional) or even if there were three (only 3 gifts), BUT NL's incredible mind takes the possibilities down such creative paths that their lives do become very endearing. I would never have considered remote Korea as a starting place for one of them!I still have 2 titles to find: Domestic Life in England and Walk Into My Parlor. Anyone ever heard of Walk Into My Parlor?
Susan, I think my favorites are the trilogies, too, and Martin Reed is still my favorite character, probably because he's the first one I met. (My first post here. Sylvia)
Having (re)discovered that the library where I work has it, I started reading How Far to Bethlehem yesterday. I'd been planning to read Women of the Old Testament; and Barbara, I still plan to, before the end of spring! But I decided that reading this book first would give me a better handle, in approaching and understanding the other one, on where Lofts was coming from in terms of her own beliefs --a factor of some importance when an author writes about Biblical topics.
Hi Werner I think you'll really like How Far to Bethlehem.It's one of my favourites ( mind you I'm always saying that!) partly because the subject matter itself is, of course, fascinating .
I think her treatment of the Magi and their origins is very interesting indeed, And the Holy Family itself. Plus that never-failing NL benefit, the minor characters. For instance , the inkeeper and his wife ....or the shepherds
I'm not far into it yet, Barbara, but I'm definitely enjoying it so far!
Goodo, get that Everest of TBR's down a bit!
To go back to what Rita posted before Christmas, there was one not-quite-Scriptural touch in How Far to Bethlehem that I really liked. When Mary learns that she's going to bear the Messiah, she actually tells Joseph and then departs in a slight huff when he isn't sure whether to believe her. But then (and this is the part I really like), as he thinks things over and even has a drink for the jar of wine that was part of his payment for building a house at Cana the previous summer (clever!), he decides that, IF Mary is pregnant, she will need a husband, so he'll go ahead and will marry her as soon as possible. Only AFTER he has made that decision does he fall asleep and receive a visit from an angel. This isn't the way Matthew tells it, but isn't it in the spirit of what we know from other Biblical incidents? First you make the act of faith, and THEN you receive the sign.I actually used passages from How Far as meditations at an evening church service in two successive Decembers.
Mary, I also used How Far to Bethlehem in teaching an older ladies Sunday School class. The response to that lesson was very gratifying. As I said, I think that this books fleshes out what the Bible tells us. I think things probably happened just this way. I felt the same way about NL's book Esther, about the Queen of the same name in the Bible. That book helped me to appreciate Esther more. I had a pretty low opinion of her, and her cousin. It seemed to me that he pimped her out to the King, when I read the bibical account of it
Really enjoyed your emails Mary and Rita. I too loved the humanity NL brings to the characters we 'know' so well in other guises ( and yes the delicious touch about the wine from the Cana wedding !) I feel a bit differently about Esther though, never my favourite biblical heroine anyway, a good girl yes, and a devout one, but not my idea of a heroine.
Vashti to me was the real heroine and I was only sorry that she didn't figure more in NL's novel.
Wonder what NL would have done with Judith of Holofernes fame......
Yes,Barbara, I loved what NL did with Vashti! Before I read Esther,I had pitied Vashti but not liked her much, and after reading it, I felt just the opposite. The incident in which the messengers spreading over the kingdom with the news that the king is looking for a new wife pass her trotting along on her mule is especially cinematic. Can't you envision them galloping past that insignificant-looking woman without looking back, and then the camera swinging around to show that it's Vashti? And she's brimming over with happy excitement because she's going HOME?
That is very sad that your Mom's parents lost their farm, and I am sure many, many people had to turn to bootlegging and all kinds of things just to survive.That is not unusual for men to go around asking householders if they had any jobs. It must have been very hard to see your children crying with hunger. When you think of the richness of some people all over the world, and compare it with the poverty in some countries, especially where there is drought, it makes you want to cry to see those children looking so dreadfully thin and in the end too weak even to cry.
Of course, NL brought this into Martin Reed's tale in The Town House, when he and Kate had to make a home between the buttresses of the Abbey. Seeing their two little boys hungry must have been awful for them. And of course then, he thought about them when his son Richard by Magda had so much and was not satisfied. It really does show that children can have too much, and that is true in today's society where many of them are flooded with toys and possessions by their parents. It is good that there is so much available, but I remember how grateful I was as a child for my Birthday and Christmas presents and I cherished them (specially my books!) The world is changing, but as you quote Soloman "there is nothing new under the sun!"
Reading about Esther and Vashti brings to mind our last Bible Study, when we studied the book of Esther!
It was very interesting and made me see them in a different light! (I have not read NLs Esther for ages!)
Something else I thought of, regarding How Far to Bethlehem: A great many Believers interpret the Bible to mean that Joseph did not "know" his wife until after the birth of Jesus, while another group holds that Mary remained a virgin all her life, that the brothers and sisters of Jesus the Bible mentions were really Mary's stepchildren - Joseph's children from a not-mentioned first wife. NL wisely left this subject alone, as it would be too controversial.And yes, Susan and Sylvia, the Great Depression was a horror. I was a child of that, born in 1932. The Depression in the South was really never over until the War. (WWII)
True, Rita, Lofts doesn't address this topic directly in the book (at least, not in any part that I've read so far). But it's clear in her treatment that Mary is Joseph's first wife, not his second, and in this version she acquires no stepchildren when she marries. The idea of Mary's perpetual virginity is, as I understand it, almost entirely exclusive to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches; Lofts' own upbringing and affiliation would more likely have been Anglican.
Rita, I can't imagine a harder job for a child, except MAYbe coal mining. Have you read the book, "Painted House" by John Grisham? It is about migrant cotton pickers and takes place in the birthplace of our preacher's wife in Arkansas.Werner, out of curiosity, I looked up the beliefs of the Anglican Church on the perpetual virginity of Mary, and Wikipedia states that "most" do accept this belief, except for those who lean toward the Protestant views. The information on this subject that popped up was so mind-boggling, I thought - better just start over with the Bible's words, and forget all the additions of the last 1800 years! It would be so interesting to know what NL's beliefs were.
That's interesting Rita - about differnent groups arguing about the 'extent' of Mary's virginity, if one can put it that way. To me, that kind of epitomises the silliness of the extreme fundamentalist stance ( sorry, anybody who disgrees violently)Very sensible indeed of NL to leave that all aside and concentrate on the central Mystery - while skillfully making it 'everyday' to us all.
Her special skill , I think, making whatever she writes about seem utterly real .
Mary, since 1992 I've lived in southwest Virginia (Bluefield, in Tazewell County) on the WV border. I'm familiar with the Valley, too; my wife grew up in the mountains just west of it, in Rockingham County.Sylvia, thanks for the info on the Anglican beliefs. I knew that some "high" Anglicans (those who see themselves as essentially Catholic, just not Roman Catholic) held that idea, but didn't know it was a majority view. (In the U.S., it's not a majority view among Episcopalians.) So far, I've never run across any definite information about NL's denominational affiliation (if she even had one). But it's quite clear from what I've read already in this book that she was a Christian, if only in holding what C. S. Lewis called "mere Christianity."
(Actually, Barbara, belief in Mary's perpetual virginity comes from a different strand of Christianity --fundamentalists take it for granted that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had a normal marriage, which included kids.) But I know what you mean, and agree with you; and yes, Lofts' concentration on bringing the essentials of the story to realistic life (and forgetting the nit-picking doctrinal quibbles) is absolutely pitch-perfect.
I'll bet NL was Church of England, as it was always called then, I'm not sure now, I've been gone too long and here in Australia they call it Anglican. And I'd go with the CS Lewis 'mere' for her too, lovely phrase. Werner, have you read Barbara Pym? An English novelist whose works have been described as 'high comedy" ? She generally sets her novels in English villages or towns and always the Church (of England) and church goers are featured - for instance people being shocked by the new vicar's 'low' ways and having to travel several parishes away to get 'full Catholic priveleges' . By which they do NOT mean "Roman' of course . Very funny even if one is not au fait with all the various gradations.
I was raised C of E, by my mother's wish, my father being too 'low' (Methodist) for words! I am eternally grateful to her, not for faith but for the wonderful hymns and the King James Version. And to him for an early understanding of the class struggle. Methodists were generally and traditionally very working class - indeed it came as a great surprise to me to find in Australia it is the middle classes who espouse it ( or rather the Uniting Church in modern nomenclature)
And thanks for the info about the 'perpetual virginity" - being a RC /Orthodox strand. My curiosity is piqued, I shall look further
No, Barbara; I'd heard of Barbara Pym, but knew nothing about her work except that she writes fiction. She sounds like a writer I might enjoy! Your description reminded me of the novels of a gifted 19th-century British author, Anthony Trollope; they're set in his fictional cathedral town of Barchester and revolve around the lives of the clergy (with, of course, a lot of attention to the high vs. low church conflict). I can personally recommend The Warden and Barchester Towers; but he wrote a number of other books, as well.
I have never heard of Mary remaining a virgin all of her life, and having step children! That sounds most strange to me!It does say in the Bible, that Mary had other children. I think only brothers for Jesus are mentioned.
The Depression and similar times that were experienced must truly have been awful Rita, and we really do not appreciate what we have today, in comparison with those days gone by. We are so lucky.
I don't believe that the Bible ever says explicilty that Mary had other children--only that Jesus had brothers, who are mentioned by name, and sisters, who aren't. I've read more than once that Aramaic has (or had then) no word for "cousin" and referred to cousins as brothers and sisters. (So when Mary went to try to take Jesus home, she was accompanied by her nephews?) I also once read a column by a Catholic priest who pointed out the fact that Jesus, on the cross, entrusted Mary to the care of John, a fact that the author took as indicating that she had no other children of her own. Maybe.
Yes, you are right Mary, the Bible does not state explicitly that Mary gave birth to other children, and I know the brothers were named, not sisters! They used to refer to "brothers and sisters" as anyone who was close to Jesus and each other, I seem to remember one point where it was asked "who is my brother, or sister"? Jesus did indeed ask John to look after his mother when he was on the Cross, and I must admit It has not struck me before that she may in fact not have had any children of her own. That is food for thought!
The Bible does not say so, but it is commonly thought that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him until after the resurection, and I have heard it taught that he entrusted Mary to John, who was his number one. The Bible does say that He showed himself to his brother James after he arose. That;s the James who has a book in the Bible and who was the leader of the first church at Jerusalem. I do not know how it was all done,. I am a Christian but I did not check my brain in at the door when I became one! I can still consider all opinions.
However, in the gospels, whenever the unbelieving neighbors in Nazareth tried to point out Jesus' origin, they mentioned his well known family. Jesus' own family didn't believe in his divinity, so possibly on the cross, Jesus left His mother in the care of John, a devoted believer, "whom Jesus loved." Isn't James, the author of the letter named "James" believed by scholars to be written by Jesus' brother in later years? Also, translators clearly point out that John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus.
There is so much in the Bible that is puzzling, and of course, there are many interpretations of events in the Bible. I know that it is said that "A prophet is never recognised in his own town" and I remember Jesus left hurriedly, as they did not believe in him. I know that John was one who he did indeed love and would have trusted his mother too. He loved all of his disciples of course, even Judas Iscariot, who it was fortold would betray him. John the Baptist was indeed a cousin of Jesus.
It is good to ask ourselves questions, and even if we have good faith, it is right that we pursue all avenues in the Bible to fully understand it.
Re Susan's mention of "brothers and sisters" (#62), when I read the Bible online, I see that every time the phrase "brothers and sisters" is used, there's a footnote explaining that the original says only "brothers." (Every time! It's as reliable as that note in the comic strip The Phantom explaining that the Phantom's name Walker is for "ghost who walks.") I thought wryly that those who object to "inclusive language" as less than accurate might make an issue of that translation, until an idea popped into my head and I checked the Greek. Yep, the word for "brother" is "adelphos," and the word for "sister" is "adelphe." And anyone who has studied a language in which everythig has gender knows that the masculine plural can be used to refer to a mixed group. (How Far to Bethlehem? Pretty far at this moment, I suppose!)So to get back to those people who may or may not have been Jesus' blood relatives, I have also read that in the early Church there was a group of people known as the Desposyni, meaning the Lord's kin. Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desposyni Other sites I noticed just now seem a bit farther out, and I'm certainly not pushing The DaVinci Code! (As for Mary Magdalene, all I have to say is that it would be fun to be her lawyer, because she has one lulu of a libel case!)
Anyway, marvelous story, isn't it? I also got a kick out of the little delinquent whom the Wise Men encountered near the end of their journey.
Thanks Werner , I hope you like Barbara Pym. I guess she is a little in the vein of Trollope ( of whom I am, of course, aware - you forget I am an Englishwoman 'of a certain age' !)
Pym is far lighter and lighter hearted and however and would have giggled to be compared I think.
Meanwhile, I have enjoyed my little sortie into research on the nature of Mary's virginity, despite having forgotten how intolerable the Early Christian fathers were in their harping on unspottedness and immaculateness and unsulliedness and all the words that suggest that even the most modest of marital sex is somehow wallowing in dirt!
I did truly like the 'ray of sun through pane of glass' description of Christ's birth . Athanasius and/or St Bernard was it? Goodness, I've forgotten already !
I wonder what NL thought ?
Interesting site Mary. There are so many questions that we would like answered, and I don't think we will ever get them! We have to take things on faith as it were, but it does not stop us from questioning.As regards the little deliquent whom the wise men encountered. Did you mean the son of one of the robbers? This boy's name was Barabbas, who of course gew up to be the man who was released by Pilate instead of Jesus. I thought that was a very good little sideline, and it drew the mind ahead to the Crucifixion.
(It did come into my mind and I wondered whether the boy picked up the coins and food that he threw at them after they left! It came into my mind that maybe he did not, because they had killed his father, and he would not want to take their charity, even if it meant he went hungry. I was also touched by the fact that his father had hidden part of the food in his clothes for his son, which they found when they searched him after he was dead.
Barbara, that "intolerable...harping" on a rabidly anti-sex theme that you picked up in the early Church fathers writing on Mary's alleged perpetual virginity is actually the key to that doctrine, IMO. In the centuries before and after Jesus was born, Gentile intellectuals in the Hellenistic world had ideas --about God, the physical creation, and sex-- that were very different from those of the Old Testament and the traditional culture of the Jews. They actually did think that even marital sex was degraded "wallowing in dirt," and glorified celibacy. As the composition of the Church, and of its leadership and intelligentsia, became more and more Gentile, its interpretation of the Bible (both Testaments) tended to be more influenced by these Gentile ideas, so the stories were read through an intensely anti-sex lens.The basic problem that many of us have with projecting this later view into the Biblical stories is that it would have been radically contradictory and alien to everything we know about actual Jewish religious thought, culture and married life in the time that Mary and Joseph actually lived. Married sex was perceived as normal and a good gift from God; reproducing was a moral duty, and having lots of kids was viewed as a blessing. Conversely, involuntary celibacy and sterility was seen as tragic, and maybe a sign of God's curse; voluntary adoption of either would have been seen as proof of lunacy. The New Testament makes it clear that the Jewish leaders of that day had a lot of disagreements with the Jesus movement, but it's never suggested that they had any disagreements in this area --which would certainly have dwarfed any bones of contention they did have!
Not being directly familiar with Aramaic, I can't respond off the cuff to the suggestion that it can't --or at least couldn't in the first century-- differentiate between siblings and cousins. (Of course, the New Testament was written in Greek; but Aramaic was the common spoken tongue of Palestinian Jews at that time.) I'll need to do more research on that after I go back to work tomorrow and can use the library collection. Initially, though, I'd be skeptical of the claim --developed languages usually are good at clarifying areas their cultures find to be important, and ancient Semitic culture found kinship and family obligations very important.
Yes, Werner, I supppose that the argument that Aramaic had no separate word for "cousin" has to presuppose that there were earlier, now lost, Aramaic texts of at least those portions of the Gospels. Since even the earliest Gospel, Mark, seems to have been written about A. D. 65, it does seem that the authors would have known Greek and written directly in it and would have known how those people who may have been referred to in Aramaic as Jesus' siblings were really related to him--and would have used the Greek word for "cousin" if they had thought it appropriate. Wisely, NL ended her story at the manger!
Werner Yes indeed , good point re the early church fathers and their neuroses concerning sex - and the backward projection of same to the more earthy and and pragmatic Jewish culture . I'll just enjoy 'the ray of sun through the pane of glass' analogy by itself, for it's own sake as it were.I loved the Barabbas allusion too Susan and Mary . And I don't think he would have picked up the offerings either . The poignant bit about the food secreted for him in the robber's clothes is pure NL , isn't it.
Churches in the early centuries really oppressed the people. Even back in the Biblical days, women weren't allowed with the men in the places of worship, and of course later in history, people were not allowed to read the Bible themselves, they had to listen to the priests! Sometimes I wonder if we have actually "moved on" since latter days, as there is so much opposition from men (and sometimes women!) to women becoming Ministers etc!Yes, I think the reference to Barabbas as a boy was wonderful. NL can link things together with a few sentances that can trigger something in your mind and make you say "Ah Yes! I understand" Pure NL indeed!
You can just see this young boy in agony from hunger and refusing to pick up the food. Maybe this incident seeing his father killed shaped his future! (in the novel of course, because we do not know that much about him from the Bible only that he was a rebel and murderer!
I remember seeing a film many years ago called "Barabbas" staring Anthony Quinn, and it told the story of what happened to Barabbas after he was freed.
It was very good, and showed his life was full of pain and trouble (one thing was that he was sent to the salt mines (think it was salt!)
If Barabbas took part in rebellions against the Roman occupation, he was probably a hero to many of the Jews. NL made flesh and blood of people you wish you knew more about.
That is true Sylvia! The Jews did want freedom from the Romans, and of course Barabbas and the Zealots fought them and wanted to free the Jews from oppression, and of course they thought that when the Messiah came, he would free them from the Roman yoke! But that was not the way of Jesus, and I think they were angry and disappointed when he too the path of peace, so chose Barabbas. They did not understand that violence is not the way. You are right that NL made flesh and blood of people who you wished to know more about! She had that amazing gift!
I like the Magi best of all, Gaspar and his courage and his fighting against being in love, and Balthazar, so strong in adversity and the amazing Korean astronomer, whose name I have temporarily forgotten. You hear of the city of Pyongyang all the time now, but i think HFTB was the first time I ever had , when he was deemed clever enough as a boy to be sent to University there.
The Magi certainly were wonderfully charactered by dear NL. I agree with all your comments Barbara. (Melchoir was the Korean's name!) (I loved the character of old Senya, who had been in love with him all his life, and was rewarded twice at the end! Once, when he named his camel after her :-)! and then he laid his cheek against hers! (and she was rewarded for everything!)When I finished HFTB, I found myself wondering what happened to all of them, and dearly wanted NL to write another book so we could pursue these wonderful characters when they all returned to Jexel!
I would like to comment on Susan's thoughts way back in message 72 regarding why women have not been permitted to be ministers, etc. to the present day. This is my reasoning, but please rebut - 1. Jesus told the disciples in Matt. 18: 18 that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven (and He told this to Peter a few chapters back); 2. Paul, the late arriving apostle, said in Galatians 1: 8-9 that if anyone preached another gospel they would be cursed; and then in I Timothy 2: 11-12, Paul said, "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man. She must be silent." If you put those thoughts together, it would seem very dangerous to change a teaching accepted as inspired by the Holy Spirit. I think that is why many are reluctant to allow women into public ministry. Until the 20th century, weren't the majority of societies against women being in the public eye? Even actresses and singers were considered loose women.
Some of what Paul said was by permission. He stated that some of this was his own thinking. I think it was right in that day,in that Semitic society, that women did not hold positions of authority. They would not have been heeded. The Bible says God will pour out his spirit on his sons AND his daughters in these days. I think yes to women ministers. But you could be right, Sylvia. I'm no Theologian.
I'm not either! So many questions. And if those customs of the day were to be continued for 1900+ years, what of the cutting of the hair? Many of us will be in a lot of trouble!I just heard from a used book seller, Better World Books, who is willing to look through their collection of Lofts books for the Layer Wood Map! I'm not getting my hopes up, but it is very nice of them to try.
I haven't read "How Far..." for years, but I remember that I ached for Senya. She didn't expect to see Melchoir again, did she? I doubt the Donner party's relatives ever expected to see them again either. Good-byes used to be so unbearable.
No, Senya knew that Melchior ( thanks Susan) was lost to her forever. Do you remember the bit where she says something like " I would have shed my blood for him ...and in a way, I did.." referring to having lost her virginity to him when she was a young slave and he was the Young Master .She never loved anyone else her whole life.
I think HFTB has some lovely-but-tragic themes of sacrifice; Senya's for Melchior, Balthazaar, willing to sacrifice his hard-won liberty again to follow the star. Gaspar sacrifices his kingship and authority likewise ( if only temporarily), Melchior his peace and scholarship for the journey.
Even Senya's poor starving little pig, sacrificing his life to become food.
So satisfying in a story about the ultimate sacrifice
And I love the way NL weaves the story round the gifts , the gold and frankincense and myrrh.
I have read this book every Christmas for years and years, and never get tired of it. I have noticed in so many of her novels, that NL brings in characters who are disabled in some way, and this was no exception. Do you remember the little girl at the Inn where Balthazar was when he met Melchior and Gaspar? She had a hunched back and had been sold by her family to pay debts, and Balthazar gave her money to go back to her family. Even if the character is very minor, and in for just a few pages, there are very few books that does not have a very sad person who you can really feel for. (Another that comes to mind is Lindy Wicks in "Jassy".Also, as well as Barabbas being mentioned in HFTB, if you remember, the shepherd Josodad who lost his son Nathan, also had a son called Lazarus (who Jesus raised from the dead) and daughters Martha and Mary. Again, characters brought into the story who are biblical characters. I love it when this happens!
Mine is very much the worse for wear! I love religious stories anyhow, but NL's HFTB is outstanding!It seems that she creates characters that have so many traits in them, whether they be good or bad, or sad, and it makes you feel that you truly know them!
"Yes, Sylvia, I got cold chills and tears in my eyes when I read about Josodad seeing Nathan with the Heavenly hosts!
NL did indeed include sailors in a lot of her novels, and also the bit of information abaout the sailor who brought a mermaid home, and never had a happy moment thereafter! I think that was in at least two books!
My husband was in the Navy during the war, and spent 15 hours in the Atlantic when his ship was sunk. He comes from a naval family. His Dad and three of his brothers were also Sailors! We watch a lot of Naval history programmes, and it was indeed true how the sailors (and soldiers too!) were ignored once their service had ended, and could end up "beached" as NL says. Remember David the old sailor in "The Lonely Furrow"? He and mistress Captoft ran that home for old sailors! He did well actually, they did get married! I wonder if NL had any relatives who came from a Naval background?
That's a good idea to buy extra copies of HFTB, it is indeed a wonderful book!
As it approaches Easter I shall be looking to write a new story. I have written three already, and read one and some of my poems in Church and Women's Guild.
I like to write my stories in the "first person". NL gave me the inspiration to write more and I enjoy it.
My first one was written by the donkey who carried Christ on Palm Sunday. Second was written by the Centurian who crucified Christ, and third one was written by Judas Iscariot. So must think of a new one for this Easter.
I do the same for Christmas too.
I received the book Anne Boyleyn that Barbara kindly sent me all the way from Australia, so will look forward to reading that!
Hope you are not having too much pain and discomfort Sylvia.
Susan, Congrats! on getting a new computer! Perfect timing for your next writing venture. There are so many "unfinished" stories to choose from in scriptures. One that has always intrigued me is the account of the graves in Jerusalem being opened when Jesus died, and their walking about. But that is it! Did they just make an appearance and then go back into the graves, or did they live on and find their way home to their families? Tabitha's life after her miracle raising would be good; Joseph of Arimathea - there is a legend that he traveled to England with the grail; Martha, Mary, and Lazarus after the crucifiction. I think M & M were Lazarus' sisters, not his daughters (John 11). Just a few ideas! May you receive inspiration from above!Your husband must have been very strong to survive the ocean all those hours! My father in law survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He died in 2008 at age 93.
Thanks so much for your ooncern. I have had some "heart episodes" since the weekend and actually am a health-train-wreck! But I am one of America's uninsured, and we were financially ruined last year, so I don't go in for all the testing, just depend on prayer. I'm certain your hurting family does, too.
"Better World Books" said they would report tomorrow if they found the Layer Wood Map anywhere. I wonder if Werner has heard anything from the British Library? Can hardly wait - even it's a NO! I'm sorry to say that I haven't worked much on my version this past week, but I am slowly searching through the Town House and taking notes. My vision is badly crossed!
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Fans of Norah Lofts
Books mentioned in this topic
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (other topics)How Far to Bethlehem? (other topics)
