WOW.
I am two parts sad that I let so much time go by without taking the time to read these books, yet one part deeply thankful that these books (Little White Horse and Pilgrim's Inn) arrived right when I most needed & was truly capable of enjoying them.
As I read, I found myself wanting to share so so so many quotes from this lovely book...but the one that I have called to mind so many times this past week is this:
"She wholeheartedly loved her father, but he was quite extraordinarily untidy, and she enjoyed a few days on her own getting the flat straight, for she had an innate love of order that made its production from chaos one of the chief joys of her existence. The fact that everything would become immediately disordered again upon his return did not worry her. She took things as they came and knew that everything must be paid for: her father's presence by cigarette ash on the carpet, and order by possessing nothing of him but his old coat hanging behind the door." pg. 8
This quote has hammered away at my heart, partly because I am picking back up in a Bible study I let fall to the wayside earlier in the year (Barb Raveling's Taste for Truth). This truth, the stark realization that everything, EVERY.THING. comes at a price has hit me hard. I cannot, in fact, have my cake and eat it too. Whether it is what I eat, what I spend, where and how I spend my time...it all comes at a price. Sometimes the price is worth paying and I am pleased with my choice. But other times I don't even stop to consider the trade-off and if I did, I would have chosen differently.
Anyway, this book was such a lovely, lovely experience, a sort of shelter from the world, much like being ensconced in a nook at a book store. You know the big fluffy chair, the quiet of the tucked away spot, the deliciousness of a good story?
That is exactly the feeling that this story evoked in me.
The story begins with Sally Adair preparing to spend a few lovely days alone in the flat she shares with her beloved (albeit messy) father and she is ridiculously excited about it (in the best way possible). In the course of the first morning that he's away, she glories in the life laid out before her - the otherwise mundane moments we all are tempted to complain about - she fully lives them.
And loves them.
On her way to the greengrocer's, she happily anticipates crossing path with five lively, lovely children (and their adorable Pekinese) and is aptly rewarded. Until today, she has been happy to just observe, but today, today she actually has an interaction with them that unbeknownst to all of them will begin to unfold in a tale that will change each of their lives in innumerable ways. 💖
Grab yourself a hot cuppa (coffee, tea, chocolate...whatever it is that you love) and find a lovely, quite spot, and lose yourself in this book.
It is beautiful.
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