Louisa May Alcott: Illuminated by The Message: “Susan Bailey's new book is part of a series called Literary Portals to Prayer, which is meant to encourage a kind of literary lectio divina, a form of contemplative reading that is a pathway to prayer. An intriguing idea for a book, no? And there’s no better person to write it than Susan Bailey.” Lori Erickson, The Holy Rover on Patheos
“I never fully realized how much spiritual content is integrated into her body of work. Ms. Bailey extracts beautiful and uplifting passages and pairs them with Biblical ones that make similar points. It includes some of Alcott’s less well known works which makes me want to read those that I have missed.” Diane Brandi
Susan Bailey has compiled a remarkable edition of side by side texts, demonstrating a deep understanding of the life, world, and spirituality of Alcott. The matches [with the Bible} are spot on and insightful. Eileen Charbonneau. award-winning author
River of Grace: Susan Bailey’s powerful and beautifully-written book is much more than an insightful spiritual memoir. River of Grace is also a brilliant reflection on the connections between creativity and grace. A book one to cherish. Amy Belding Brown, author of Mr. Emerson’s Wife and Flight of the Sparrow
Susan Bailey is an accomplished researcher of all things pertaining to Louisa May Alcott. I found joy in the way that [she] shares about her favorite authoress. Miss Alcott's books wedged themselves into Susan's soul and allowed her to identify parallels and discover herself again. This is not a story of how to get over grief fast -- but how to deal with it and give your afflictions to the Almighty. Tarissa, In the Bookcase blog
"A very strange and solemn feeling came over me as I stood there, with no sound but the rustle of the pines, no one near me, and the sun so glorious, as for me alone. It seemed as if I felt God as I never did before, and I prayed in my heart that I might keep that happy sense of nearness all my life."
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The Vintage Book of American Women Writers
How about Louisa (and other favorite) authors as Legos? 🙂
Hahaha! I LOVE the Lego authors! Thanks for sharing it!
Me too, I want one! My son would think that was a hoot – at 25 he still asks for Legos for his Christmas stocking. 🙂
You will probably get a link to this. The Nation is reviewing a new book about Fruitlands:
“The Alcott season in heaven is the subject of Richard Francis’s new book, Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia. ”
What I get from the review is that the failure of Fruitlands was Mrs. Alcott’s fault. Insufficient faith? To my mind, she was the only one who kept food on the table.
Unfortunately I can’t read the article because I’m not a subscriber. Any chance you could email the article to me or give more details about it? Thanks.
You will appreciate this! In the introduction to the 1999 printing of Moods, Sarah Elberts writes this of Fruitlands: “Fruitlands failed but the Alcotts miraculously survived as a family, largely because Abigail May Alcott subsequently rallied herself and her two eldest daughters, Anna and Louisa, to become breadwinners as well as breadmakers for the entire family.”
Now didn’t Bronson ultimately think as a Transcendentalist that spiritual perfection began with the family unit? Interesting . . . 🙂