The Light In The Window

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I still have in me a great love for the agrarian — for what this country was, for what we still are. People say, “Oh well, I guess there’s no such thing as Mitford.” Well, the good news is there are Mitfords all over the country, and there are still great stretches of open land and pastures and meadows and fields. It’s not all bad news. There’s so much left of this country that is reasonable and moral and strong. And that’s the part I relate to. As for her husband's part in this? Also a medically trained man, whose protests against this institution went as far as a few cross words, tuts, eye rolls, and slight indignation at the sight of pregnant women doing manual labour...by tarring the hot road round the corner from the home. June does very little to paint him in a good light in this respect, but he must have been worth it as she managed to buy him gold cufflinks on Christmas, while buying nothing at all for any of own family, instead guiltlessly swanning past the working mothers in the greenhouse to collect dozen chrysanthemums with the Sister to take for her mammy. ETA 2023: I think I paid more attention this time to Father Tim and Cynthia's love story. Each of them was afraid (in different ways) to fall in love. She, because she had been hurt big time when her then-husband had a series of affairs. He, because he had been single all his life and was afraid of sharing his heart and his inner life with someone else. I could identify with both. The older we get, the more difficult (for me at least) it looks to share life with another person. I've been divorced for 22 years, and lived alone for 12. I can't imagine how it would be to try to integrate another person into my life, or me into theirs. And having been abused and severely hurt during my marriage, I don't think I have enough trust to allow someone else to know me again. So it was with understanding that I watched these two characters struggle to give up their fears and take a chance on love again.

Come away to Mitford, the small town that takes care of its own. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Mitford is a crazy quilt of saints and sinners — lovable eccentrics all. Seen through the eyes of Father Tim, the long-suffering Village Rector, Mitford abounds in both mysteries and miracles, compelling readers to return again and again to this beloved series. It was society's fault," she says now. "No one wanted to know, not clergy, politicians, families. It was the times that were in it: there was no crime worse than having an illegitimate child. I worked in the hospital, with the new mothers and their babies, but I went to Mass in the convent where they lived after their confinement, and I counted at least 300 women in the church. I was personally vested in this story for two reasons: a close relative of mine was adopted out in 1949 at two years of age; and another close relative was physically abused by nuns in a Catholic school. This memoir helps the reader to gain greater insight into what they went through. My books are about relationships. With rare exceptions, the scenes are all one-on-one relationships: Father Tim and Dooley, Father Tim and Cynthia, Father Tim and Emma. There are times when I step away to the Grill where three or four people are in a relationship. Basically, I try not to waste the reader’s time with descriptive narrative, details of what people are wearing, how they look, how tall they are. They were so vulnerable and alone and without hope. This was the worst aspect of this place. It was all tears and toil and no help or hope and then the final amputation between mother and child, and the mothers never ever knowing where their beloved children went.”Páči sa mi, ako sa zmenil charakter Wilhelma. Na začiatku bol rozmaznaný syn dôležitej rodiny, ale keď sa jeho okolnosti zmenili a on si musel prispôsobiť svoj život, videli sme ho, ako sa pýta, čo robí, a začína mať pocit, že chce Margarete chrániť aj keď okolie ma na židov iný pohľad. Margaretin neustály strach, jej morálne dilemy, ktorým čelila, sa nečítali ľahko a boli srdcervúce. I enjoyed this book, except at times the writing was choppy and hard to follow. There's also some swearing in it, but not so much or else I wouldn't have finished it.

This is the true account of nurse June Goulding who took a position as a newly qualified midwife for a year between 1951-1952 in an Irish “home for unmarried mothers”. In my books I try to depict not a glorious faith with celestial fireworks, but a daily faith, a routine faith, a seven-days-a-week faith. Father Tim’s faith is part of his everyday life. He has simple prayers, not polished, pious prayers. He follows the Apostle Paul’s command that we pray without ceasing. I try to depict how our faith may be woven into our daily life, like brandy poured into coffee. I believe that spirituality needs to be basic, common, everyday. In a split second, a young girl’s life is changed. Margarete Rosenbaum, a maltreated Jewish maid, takes advantage of the results of an Allied bombing of Berlin to become Annegret Huber, the spoiled daughter of her employer, an upper class Nazi family. As Margaret climbs out of the rubble of her past life, she encounters the body of Annegret and, in a split second decision, takes her papers and her clothing, thus beginning a dangerous life of impersonation,

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In Paris, Margerete awaits the connecting train that will take her to her destination when she comes face to face with Wilhelm once again. Instead of revealing her true identity, he introduces her to his friends as his sister Annegret citing that she has come to join him for Christmas. Margerete has no idea if Wilhelm will report her to the Gestapo and yet she knows that if he does he faces charges of treason himself for maintaining the deception. Instead, he has a proposition for her. She is to continue to live as his sister so that he can marry her off and gain control of her inheritance. All they have to do is to continue to hide her from his brother Reiner who will spare neither of them should he learn the truth. Wilhelm has his goal of getting his inheritance at the forefront of his mind and as news of Annegret begins to emerge he delves that little bit deeper and discovers the truth behind what Margarete has done. To be honest I found this aspect of the story became implausible and quite far fetched at times. What German officer would do what Wilhelm did given their stance on Jews and the war in general? Would his plan really work? To mention specific details as to what unfolds would give away the main points of the story and this is where things did become a bit confusing but it didn’t always sit right with me that Wilhelm would be so accommodating. He was also placing himself in the firing line given the consequences if what was going on had been discovered. It didn’t bare thinking about if Reiner figured out what was going on but I suppose Wilhelm had his own clear long term goal in mind and was determined to achieve it but I guess he didn’t take into account his human emotions taking over at times. This life-changing moment spins into a fascinating narrative that leads this brave young woman to Leipzig and then to Paris, resulting in narrow escapes and a life-threatening emotional attachment. The story is too complex and interesting to summarize but needs to be experienced first hand. nebudem prezrádzať, ale viem s istotou napísať, že som nič podobné nečítala. Príbeh sa čítal sám a celý čas som bola v napätí, či sa Margarete zachráni, čo sa s ňou stane. Bude jej dopriata sloboda? Láska? Prežije niečo z toho? Pocíti úľavu? Veľa otázok mi vírilo v hlave počas čítania a postupne som dostala na všetko odpoveď. Záver ma prekvapil, nečakala som to… prekvapil, ale zároveň aj upokojil… It sounded amazing and intriguing and the plot was a fascinating idea. I'm just not sure if I liked how it was executed. The story follows Margarete a young Jewish woman in WW2 who takes the identity of her employer's dead Nazi daughter to avoid prosecution and her relationship/connection with the son of the same family who is also an SS member.

The only positive I could take from this book was that these women had June looking after them, by all accounts a kind and caring person. She details some of their stories here and I often think of those women now and what happened to them as the years went on. In the tradition of James Herriot, Bailey White, and Garrison Keillor, author Jan Karon brilliantly captures the foibles and delights of a hilarious cast of characters. I haven't re-read this book for some time and found it as moving and emotionally frustrating as when I first read it. I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Marion Kummerow's heartbreaking A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW. Držala som palce Margarete, aby sa jej podarilo zachrániť sa. Bolo mi jej ľúto, ale fakt som celý čas myslela len na to, aby ju nikto neodhalil. Doslova tancovala po tenkom ľade. Margarete bola Židovka. Slúžila v jednej rodine, ktorej členovia po zbombardovaní zahynuli. Napokon prevzala totožnosť dievčiny, ktorej telo ostalo pod troskami domu. Tak sa z Margarete Rosenbaumovej stala Annegrete Huberová.This was an Ireland in which such abuses involved the collusion of society itself. The most striking message from June Goulding's volume is one of absolutely no questions asked, ever. In addition to the fantastic tension created surrounding the identity switch, the plot is well-paced and the characters well fleshed out. Although the ending might not have been what my heart was aching for, it was representative of the times, and I was pacified with the knowledge that a sequel is in the works. I fell in love with Marion Kummerow's writing style with "Not Without My Sister". While her stories are set within a much written about time period, the concepts with which she portrays them are so unique and wholly original. They are not your usual run-of-the-mill tales re-telling the plight of the Jews. The premise of A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW was certainly an intriguing one that promised a fascinating tale to be told.