Through the book’s fascinating journey, Redhill shows us that how we look at the past can tell us much about ourselves. the two events which led to the writing of her novel, CONSOLATIONS. His characters suffer the absence of family yet manage to find strength beyond. Learn more about Sally Wolfes work experience, education, connections & more by. In the storyline involving the past, former apothecary Jem Hallam and widow Claudia Rowe take over the work of photographer Samuel Ennis by several accidents of fate.Īuthor Michael Redhill has fashioned a story that shifts easily between past and present, though his novel’s finest moments are found within the 19th century passages. What an accomplishment-Gangaji, Internationally Renowned Spiritual Teacher and Author, Hidden Treasure and Diamond in Your Pocket I just finished Consolations. Marianne Hollis and John Lewis know they must witness the test of her late husband’s theory because-even if David’s supposition is true-present concerns may prevent the plates’ existence from ever being properly verified. Consolations is extraordinarybeautifully written and compelling So intimate, so human, so divine. Different as they are, the two sets of characters form integral parts of the story that parallel and mesh across their chronology.

The characters involved are all prevented somehow from doing what they feel they were meant to do with their lives. The narrative alternates between two different times, present-day (1997) Toronto and Toronto in the mid- 1850s. The glass plates were being returned from an exhibition in London when the boat they were on sank. She conforms outwardly as she rises in positions of authority and responsibility in the order, yet she continues to struggle to understand and resolve her relationship with Nathan-all the while carrying on a secret correspondence with him, until she is forced-in a final encounter and spiritual crisis-to dive deep into the still point of her soul and discover the truth.Consolation revolves around a set of glass photographic negatives (and their prints) that bear images of early Toronto. Under the guidance of the compassionate abbess, she tries to 'reclaim her heart' and her lost fervor. When their forbidden affair ends abruptly, Fiona, now Sister Bridget, suffers a split in her soul. What she finds there is not what she expects: Reverend Nathan Woods, a Jesuit and professor of theology who comes to give the annual retreat. Following in the footsteps of her inspiration, Thomas Merton, she abandons a promising academic career and enters Epiphany Monastery, ablaze with the certainty that a life dedicated to seeking God alone is the great adventure-and that it is meant for her. It is 1951 and young Fiona Ingram is full of the fervor of a new convert. A beautiful and haunting story of forbidden love, Consolations portrays a woman's lifelong struggle to reconcile her all-too-human feelings with her quest for the highest spiritual life.

Consolations by Sally Wolfe