The Glassy Sea
Publisher's The Glassy Sea is a beautifully orchestrated novel of one extraordinary woman's spiritual odyssey, unfolding in the midst of a crisis of faith and emotion, a dark night of the soul that lasts a season and spans a lifetime. There is compassionate mastery in Ms Engel's full-blooded characterization of Marguerite Heber, an Anglican nun who is, first and ofremost, a woman--one who has experienced marriage, motherhood, and the tragic break-up of the family. Her crucible produces a startling and utterly unorthodox resolution, a vision born of her own turbulent experience, geared to the world and embodying all the elements of her singular character. This is an important novel, written with humour, wit, and enduring humanity, a moving, perceptive assessment of the many dimensions of woman's relationship to herself, to man, and to society.