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Mitford Years #6
A Common Life: The Wedding Story
The sixth novel in the beloved Mitford series, by the bestselling author of At Home in Mitford and Somebody Safe with Somebody Good
Laughter and wedding bells ring as Jan Karon takes her millions of fans back in time to the most cherished event in Mitford! Mitford's Lord's Chapel seats barely two hundred souls, yet millions of Jan Karon's fans will be there for the most joyful event in years: the wedding of Father Tim Kavanagh and Cynthia Coppersmith. Here at last is A Common Life, and the long-awaited answers to these deeply probing questions: Will Father Tim fall apart when he takes his vows? Will Cynthia make it to the church on time? Who'll arrange the flowers and bake the wedding cake? And will Uncle Billy's prayers for a great joke be answered in time for the reception?
All the beloved Mitford characters will be there: Dooley Barlowe, Miss Sadie and Louella, Emma Newland, the mayor; in short, everybody who's anybody in the little town with the big heart.
A Common Life is the perfect gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, anniversaries, and for a bride or groom to give to his or her beloved. In truth, it's perfect for anyone who believes in laughter, relies on hope, and celebrates love.
Laughter and wedding bells ring as Jan Karon takes her millions of fans back in time to the most cherished event in Mitford! Mitford's Lord's Chapel seats barely two hundred souls, yet millions of Jan Karon's fans will be there for the most joyful event in years: the wedding of Father Tim Kavanagh and Cynthia Coppersmith. Here at last is A Common Life, and the long-awaited answers to these deeply probing questions: Will Father Tim fall apart when he takes his vows? Will Cynthia make it to the church on time? Who'll arrange the flowers and bake the wedding cake? And will Uncle Billy's prayers for a great joke be answered in time for the reception?
All the beloved Mitford characters will be there: Dooley Barlowe, Miss Sadie and Louella, Emma Newland, the mayor; in short, everybody who's anybody in the little town with the big heart.
A Common Life is the perfect gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, anniversaries, and for a bride or groom to give to his or her beloved. In truth, it's perfect for anyone who believes in laughter, relies on hope, and celebrates love.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
498 people are currently reading
3654 people want to read
About the author
Jan Karon
139 books2,601 followersBorn Janice Meredith Wilson in 1937, Jan Karon was raised on a farm near Lenoir, North Carolina. Karon knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a writer. She penned her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. Karon married as a teenager and had a daughter, Candace.
At 18, Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte, N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss, who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field, winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time, she became a creative vice president at the high-profile McKinney & Silver, in Raleigh. While there, she won the prestigious Stephen Kelly Award, with which the Magazine Publishers of America honor the year's best print campaign.
During her years in advertising, Karon kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. At the age of 50, she left her career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to pursue that dream. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway, Karon awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious about him, and started writing. Soon, Karon was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper, The Blowing Rocket, which saw its circulation double as a result. "It certainly worked for Mr. Dickens", says Karon.
The Father Tim stories became Karon's first Mitford novel, At Home in Mitford. That book has since been nominated three times (1996, 1997, and 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers, and the only book ever nominated for three consecutive years. The fourth Mitford novel, A New Song, won both the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000. A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherds Abiding have also won Gold Medallion awards. Out to Canaan was the first Mitford novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list; subsequent novels have debuted on the New York Times list, often landing the #1 spot.
Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed.
Karon says her character-driven work seeks to give readers a large, extended family they can call their own. Though Light From Heaven is officially the final novel in the series, there's yet another Mitford book in this prolific author. Karon urges her millions of ardent fans to look for the Mitford Bedside Companion, releasing in the Fall of 2006. "It has everything in it but the kitchen sink", says Karon.
At 18, Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte, N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss, who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field, winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time, she became a creative vice president at the high-profile McKinney & Silver, in Raleigh. While there, she won the prestigious Stephen Kelly Award, with which the Magazine Publishers of America honor the year's best print campaign.
During her years in advertising, Karon kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. At the age of 50, she left her career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to pursue that dream. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway, Karon awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious about him, and started writing. Soon, Karon was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper, The Blowing Rocket, which saw its circulation double as a result. "It certainly worked for Mr. Dickens", says Karon.
The Father Tim stories became Karon's first Mitford novel, At Home in Mitford. That book has since been nominated three times (1996, 1997, and 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers, and the only book ever nominated for three consecutive years. The fourth Mitford novel, A New Song, won both the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000. A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherds Abiding have also won Gold Medallion awards. Out to Canaan was the first Mitford novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list; subsequent novels have debuted on the New York Times list, often landing the #1 spot.
Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed.
Karon says her character-driven work seeks to give readers a large, extended family they can call their own. Though Light From Heaven is officially the final novel in the series, there's yet another Mitford book in this prolific author. Karon urges her millions of ardent fans to look for the Mitford Bedside Companion, releasing in the Fall of 2006. "It has everything in it but the kitchen sink", says Karon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 658 reviews
January 24, 2025
I think this one is more of a novella, but I adore it so much more than I can say. It’s so beyond good. I never appreciated it enough when I was young, perhaps because the themes went over my head, but now that I’m a crotchety old woman this is the first book in the series to truly make my heart sing. Perfection. Absolutely perfect.
November 19, 2022
4.5 stars. I love this series so much. Don't read the book description if you don't want to be spoiled.
It's impossible to talk much at all about this book without big spoilers but suffice it to say that I continue to love these books with my heart and soul. They provoke tender tears and all kinds of smiles and I love these people thoroughly.
When you're looking for comfort reads it's hard to go wrong with this series in paper or audiobook.
It's impossible to talk much at all about this book without big spoilers but suffice it to say that I continue to love these books with my heart and soul. They provoke tender tears and all kinds of smiles and I love these people thoroughly.
When you're looking for comfort reads it's hard to go wrong with this series in paper or audiobook.
March 29, 2022
Another beautiful story from Jan Karon. This one definitely has a slightly different feel—perhaps more like a novella, as it is shorter, jumps back in time, and includes different narrative elements. I absolutely love the way the relationship is written in this book (all the Mitford books, really, but this is just so sweet and real). I also like that this book includes scenes from other characters’ points of view. That’s not typical for the Mitford series, and although I don’t know that I would enjoy it all the time, it was fun to see Dooley’s reactions, Cynthia’s thoughts, and the love stories of other Mitfordians. I don’t always agree with everything in these books, but I simply love them, and that’s all there is to it.
April 4, 2025
I was disappointed to find out that volume 6 of the Mitford series was a backstory. I was really not expecting that the wedding mentioned in the title concerned people who have been married for the past three or four volumes! Partly because of that, I didn’t find this volume particularly interesting.
Oh well, I guess I’ve learned my lesson: never wait twenty years to read the books you’ve once so eagerly purchased, or you risk losing the excitement when you finally pick them up to read. I still have a few dozens of these to go through, but I am slowly tackling them and determined not let it happen again.
Oh well, I guess I’ve learned my lesson: never wait twenty years to read the books you’ve once so eagerly purchased, or you risk losing the excitement when you finally pick them up to read. I still have a few dozens of these to go through, but I am slowly tackling them and determined not let it happen again.
April 16, 2022
To preserve the chronological story of the Mitford series, this book A Common Life: The Wedding Story should be read after #2- and before #3-. It's ridiculous that 카지노싸이트 numbers the series by publication date rather than reading order.
This edition with its beautiful drawings is a joy! Yes, it's much shorter than what readers have come to expect from books in this series but nonetheless it's a wonderful look at love and marriage and a great addition to the story. Lovely.
This edition with its beautiful drawings is a joy! Yes, it's much shorter than what readers have come to expect from books in this series but nonetheless it's a wonderful look at love and marriage and a great addition to the story. Lovely.
June 12, 2009
As a long-time fan of Karon, I must say I was greatly dissapointed in A Common Life and embarrassed that I purchased it before reading more reviews. I would have certainly checked it out at the library and been equally dissapointed but $... dollars richer.
I feel cheated as a reader and a fan because it seems as though Karon took advantage of her fan base. This magazine-length story is marketed to "appear" like all her other books, while a quick flick through the pages indicates larger fonts and hyper-margined text pages. While I might have forgiven her for what could have been a publishing decision, Karon obviously left her writing talent elsewhere while penning this story. There was nothing new to add with this addition, and even what there was wasn't written very well. I kept asking myself, "why bother?"
Well, I've learned a good lesson from this purchase, and I have lost some respect for the author. I'll give her another chance, but not on my dime!
I feel cheated as a reader and a fan because it seems as though Karon took advantage of her fan base. This magazine-length story is marketed to "appear" like all her other books, while a quick flick through the pages indicates larger fonts and hyper-margined text pages. While I might have forgiven her for what could have been a publishing decision, Karon obviously left her writing talent elsewhere while penning this story. There was nothing new to add with this addition, and even what there was wasn't written very well. I kept asking myself, "why bother?"
Well, I've learned a good lesson from this purchase, and I have lost some respect for the author. I'll give her another chance, but not on my dime!
June 27, 2021
This was a short one compared to the last. You get not only Tim and Cynthia’s love story, but also several other couples’. Since I just read Titus last week, I’d been pondering what it meant for me, as a spinster, to be, as my pastor puts it, “into husbands and kids.” And as I listened to this book, I realized that enjoying a good romance story is one way of obeying that instruction. Of course there are lots of ways of twisting that—being obsessed with daydreaming, indulging in skeeziness or emotional porn, being discontented or envious, etc.—but there is a good, wholesome, holy way of doing it too. I love best to hear about how real-life couples I know met and married, but I don’t mind a good fictional romance, and this was a decent fictional romance.
John McDonough has been a just-right narrator for the whole series, and he went a notch above in this one by pulling a creditable Maine accent out of his hat.
John McDonough has been a just-right narrator for the whole series, and he went a notch above in this one by pulling a creditable Maine accent out of his hat.
Read
January 9, 2010As soon as I realized that the "sixth book the Mitford series" was just about a wedding that happened in an earlier book, I took it back to the library. It may seem silly, but I felt cheated. I wanted to know what happens after the fifth book leaves off, not more about something that happened books ago. I'm officially finished with the Mitford series.
September 13, 2014
This was my least favorite of the Karon books. It's called #6 but really since it's all about the wedding it would've made more sense to have been read back when the wedding actually occurred. It was very short and shallow - just took a couple of hours to read. I was disappointed in this book.
July 25, 2019
You know you're in for a short book when the large print edition is thinner than the regular editions of the rest of the series.
Despite its briefness, I enjoyed it, even if weddings aren't my favorite topic.
Despite its briefness, I enjoyed it, even if weddings aren't my favorite topic.
February 8, 2020
I just love visiting the small town of Mitford and its endearing inhabitants. Father Tim and Cynthia are getting married, and Father Tim’s self-destructing in the most lovable of ways! I wasn’t expecting this volume to be so hilarious.
Content: a few swears
Content: a few swears
August 24, 2019
reread May 20, 2018 and Aug 2019
4.5 - 5 Stars (although I gave it 4 Stars when I read it back in 2002.
4.5 - 5 Stars (although I gave it 4 Stars when I read it back in 2002.
March 19, 2022
Absolutely charming and endearing. I love this series. Some people may not embrace it because of the wholesomeness and small town feel, and of course the heart of these books is Father Tim Kavanaugh, an Episcopal priest. Let me say that I am not an organized religion person, but I am a small town girl, and I am so glad that I found this series, albeit late! There is a substance to this series. My advice is don’t miss out on it.
May 11, 2018
First, I can't say how happy it made me that the last chapter was titled The Beginning.
As far as stories go, Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding wasn't overly-dramatic. I think it was the quotidian element that captured me. They both faced paralyzing fears before their marriage. That's not uncommon. The work of blending their lives involves decisions and negotiations. No surprise. Their premarital counselling is a tad awkward. Sounds familiar. We see their relationship deepen and open as they approach their wedding day. The letters and prayers are a highlight for me.
The word common is related to community. The magic Jan Karon weaves are the responses and reflections of the community around Father Tim and Cynthia. Several residents reminisce about their own courtship and marriage. The wedding cake, flowers, music, jokes, and food are all gifts from the heart, a way for Mitford to enter into the celebration instead of simply spectate.
[No spoiler] There is another wedding written about in great detail at the end of the Mitford series of books. I am eager to set the two weddings side by side and admire both.
As far as stories go, Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding wasn't overly-dramatic. I think it was the quotidian element that captured me. They both faced paralyzing fears before their marriage. That's not uncommon. The work of blending their lives involves decisions and negotiations. No surprise. Their premarital counselling is a tad awkward. Sounds familiar. We see their relationship deepen and open as they approach their wedding day. The letters and prayers are a highlight for me.
The word common is related to community. The magic Jan Karon weaves are the responses and reflections of the community around Father Tim and Cynthia. Several residents reminisce about their own courtship and marriage. The wedding cake, flowers, music, jokes, and food are all gifts from the heart, a way for Mitford to enter into the celebration instead of simply spectate.
[No spoiler] There is another wedding written about in great detail at the end of the Mitford series of books. I am eager to set the two weddings side by side and admire both.
December 30, 2015
I don't understand why people have so much of an issue with Jan Karon going back in time with book #6 and giving us the story behind the wedding of Father Tim and Cynthia. For me, this rewinding of time was not a problem. I loved seeing various Mitfordians as they remembered sweethearts who they had loved...and in some cases, lost.
One of my favorite parts is when a lovestruck Father Tim sends his fiancee a letter...by way of his stubborn dog...and as a result we see Cynthia, usually so bubbly and outgoing, as this missive strikes deep within her soul, and she is moved to tears. Cynthia has not been without loss, she has been divorced and her first husband scorned her for not being able to bear children, but she has found her missing piece, her soulmate, within the episocopalian rector.
This is a beautiful story, that any fan of the Mitford books will zip right on through, and it comes complete with a picture-perfect ending <3
One of my favorite parts is when a lovestruck Father Tim sends his fiancee a letter...by way of his stubborn dog...and as a result we see Cynthia, usually so bubbly and outgoing, as this missive strikes deep within her soul, and she is moved to tears. Cynthia has not been without loss, she has been divorced and her first husband scorned her for not being able to bear children, but she has found her missing piece, her soulmate, within the episocopalian rector.
This is a beautiful story, that any fan of the Mitford books will zip right on through, and it comes complete with a picture-perfect ending <3
June 28, 2011
I really liked the part where got to experience the other character's ponts-of-view. Especially Cynthia and Dooly's. This was a great little addition to the series, and it only took me a day to get through it. I'm reading through the series for the second or 3rd time and read this book in between the second and third books even though it was written far later in the series. It fit very well.
May 12, 2024
Quick, easy, cute. I rather feel like Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding story should have been tucked into one of the books. I don't know the reason that it wasn't. My guess is the popularity of the Mitford books at the time left fans clamoring for her to tell their story and she gave in, much like Montgomery gave in to writing more about Anne than she was initially willing to do. I dunno. Maybe another reader can speak to that?
Nevertheless, it was charming and a quick afternoon read. Onto Mitford #7 in my re-reading of the series.
Nevertheless, it was charming and a quick afternoon read. Onto Mitford #7 in my re-reading of the series.
April 25, 2023
At 186 pages with double-spaced type, this book is about one-fourth the size of the average Jan Karon novel, and I gulped it down in one sitting.
At first I wondered if I should have read it in correct chronological order (after the second novel), but I ended up enjoying it as a trip down memory lane, especially the scenes with Miss Sadie.
Not a lot of drama in this one, but lots of people reflecting on their relationships. A very pleasant visit to Mitford.
At first I wondered if I should have read it in correct chronological order (after the second novel), but I ended up enjoying it as a trip down memory lane, especially the scenes with Miss Sadie.
Not a lot of drama in this one, but lots of people reflecting on their relationships. A very pleasant visit to Mitford.
December 31, 2023
I only wish it was longer. A Common Life is what most of us lead, me at least. But God is present and there are miracles in the common everyday of life. Train your dull eye to look for them.
This book was so full of joy. I finished it on my 22nd anniversary and I loved listening to the joy that Father Tim and Cynthia had on their wedding day and remembering my own. I loved the stories from the other inhabitants of Mitford and getting to know them a little better.
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried
- Oswald Chambers
This book was so full of joy. I finished it on my 22nd anniversary and I loved listening to the joy that Father Tim and Cynthia had on their wedding day and remembering my own. I loved the stories from the other inhabitants of Mitford and getting to know them a little better.
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried
- Oswald Chambers
June 30, 2021
Might just be my favourite of the series and definitely the one I would be most likely to rereads. Such a sweet story of Father Tim and Cynthnia's wedding.
February 13, 2025
Why on earth did the author wait to tell the story of the Kavanaghs’ wedding until book 6?
I wish she had included it earlier instead of almost completely ignoring the event in the correct chronological order!!! I would have appreciated and enjoyed this in the more appropriate sequential order…!!!
I wish she had included it earlier instead of almost completely ignoring the event in the correct chronological order!!! I would have appreciated and enjoyed this in the more appropriate sequential order…!!!
February 8, 2022
This volume had the potential for five stars but for its length— just too short! Granted a wedding is just a single event, rather than multiple events as a novel may contain, but I was left longing for more Mitford. A bit more from, say, the supporting characters such as the florist, the cake baker, and especially the soloist, Dooley. And the honeymoon had such an environment that I could read a whole book about it. But never mind, this is a sterling novella about the couple of the century in Mitford, long live the Kavanaghs!
December 24, 2010
Well I said I needed an antidote to the gritty reality of my last read. This certainly fitted the bill.
Although the 6th in the Mitford Years series - this story is chronologicaly out of time. It is the story of Father Tim and Cynthia's marriage. Father Tim 62 years old, marrying for the first time, his neighbour, children's writer and illustrator Cynthia Coppersmith. We see Timothy contemplating his marriage, thinking about his feelings for Cynthia as composes a letter, and we see what the marriage of these two lovely people mean to the other characters of Mitford, including of course the adorable Dooley Barlow, the troubled boy Father Tim took into his home a couple of years earlier. It was also wonderful to encounter again the marvelous Miss Sadie - who of course died in an earlier book.
As with the other Jan Karon books, this is gentle, moral and uplifting, a bit twee prehaps, but ever so lovely and very definitely good for the soul.
Although the 6th in the Mitford Years series - this story is chronologicaly out of time. It is the story of Father Tim and Cynthia's marriage. Father Tim 62 years old, marrying for the first time, his neighbour, children's writer and illustrator Cynthia Coppersmith. We see Timothy contemplating his marriage, thinking about his feelings for Cynthia as composes a letter, and we see what the marriage of these two lovely people mean to the other characters of Mitford, including of course the adorable Dooley Barlow, the troubled boy Father Tim took into his home a couple of years earlier. It was also wonderful to encounter again the marvelous Miss Sadie - who of course died in an earlier book.
As with the other Jan Karon books, this is gentle, moral and uplifting, a bit twee prehaps, but ever so lovely and very definitely good for the soul.
March 7, 2022
I loved listening again to the wedding story of Father Tim and Cynthia. Not only do we get the details of the proposal, but the planning and details of the wedding itself, along with vignettes of the various participants as they prepare for their parts in the wedding. We look in on Esther Bolick and the preparation of the OMC, Uncle Billy as he searches for the perfect joke, and Dooley Barlowe as he contemplates how his life will change when Cynthia moves in with him and Father Tim. Then of course, we are privy to the wedding itself - how Cynthia gets locked in her bathroom and has to be rescued by Father Tim and they are late to their wedding; the vows, the reception, the jokes, and finally the honeymoon - in a remote cabin in Maine, without electricity!
May 24, 2007
My least favorite of the Mitford Books. This one is a flashback to Father Timothy and Cynthia's wedding. Kind of fills in some gaps, but not as good as the rest. It is a fast read, and kind of sweet, but only true lovers of the Mitford series will enjoy.
April 17, 2022
Book - 5 stars
Narration by John McDonough - 5 stars and a 💖!
Narration by John McDonough - 5 stars and a 💖!
March 4, 2018
I am rereading this wonderful series this year for the third time! Nothing soothes the soul like a Mitford novel. Except Christ, that is. These books have been such a blessing to me over the years! Sometimes I yearn for there to be a real Mitford to which I could go and definitely live. All these precious characters have set down roots in my heart, forever to stay!
This one is the book celebrating the wedding of Father Timothy Kavanagh and Cynthia Coppersmith. Only the wedding. For more, you'll have to read the rest of the Mitford novels. The love between these two, Father Tim is now 62 and Cynthia in her fifties, is just the most precious thing ever. Father Tim writes to Cynthia, "I have given my heart only once, and that was to Him. Now He has, Himself, set aside in my heart a room for you." Any woman receiving a note with that sentence would just feel the most precious woman in the whole world! And their love for each other is just that precious. Through this and the remainder of the Mitford books. I cherish each one! They will be read again, too.
This one is the book celebrating the wedding of Father Timothy Kavanagh and Cynthia Coppersmith. Only the wedding. For more, you'll have to read the rest of the Mitford novels. The love between these two, Father Tim is now 62 and Cynthia in her fifties, is just the most precious thing ever. Father Tim writes to Cynthia, "I have given my heart only once, and that was to Him. Now He has, Himself, set aside in my heart a room for you." Any woman receiving a note with that sentence would just feel the most precious woman in the whole world! And their love for each other is just that precious. Through this and the remainder of the Mitford books. I cherish each one! They will be read again, too.
November 26, 2021
This book is ridiculous, yet it was the mindless read my weary brain needed. Regardless of the ridiculousness there is something rather amusing about a sixtysomething Priest falling in love with his sixtysomething neighbour.. the spontaneous proposal.. sending a love letter tied to his dog, through the hedge then being caught by the neighbour, oh dear. His “perhaps I am having a heart attack” to his secretary when he was just all nerves and a too tight neck tie. Then of all things her being stuck in a bathroom minutes before The Wedding with a fallen of knob and him coming to her rescue and having to watch her get ready. Them galloping down the street 30 minutes late looking rather breathless and young by the time they enter into the church. I do not regret reading it but also, I wouldn’t recommend it.
May 31, 2023
“For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come…”
—Song of Solomon 2:11-12a
“She had long accepted the fact that happiness is like swallows in spring. It may come and nest under your eaves or it may not. You cannot command it. When you expect to be happy you are not, when you don’t expect to be happy there is suddenly Easter in your soul, though it be midwinter. Something, you do not know what, has broken the seal upon that door in the depth of your being that opens upon eternity.”
—Elizabeth Goudge
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
—G.K. Chesterton
*read in chronological (rather than publishing) order of the series
—Song of Solomon 2:11-12a
“She had long accepted the fact that happiness is like swallows in spring. It may come and nest under your eaves or it may not. You cannot command it. When you expect to be happy you are not, when you don’t expect to be happy there is suddenly Easter in your soul, though it be midwinter. Something, you do not know what, has broken the seal upon that door in the depth of your being that opens upon eternity.”
—Elizabeth Goudge
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
—G.K. Chesterton
*read in chronological (rather than publishing) order of the series
February 7, 2024
2/2024:
I read this one after A Light in the Window since it is chronologically next. Perhaps not as substantial as other volumes in the series, but, not only does this one include Timothy and Cynthia's wedding but more detailed love stories of several major characters. I only wonder why Emma was not included. But this one is as funny and heartwarming as one would expect a Mitford book to be. My favorite part is when timothy and Cynthia are "galloping" down the street to the church for their ceremony. Plus, Cynthia has an Elizabeth Goudge quote on her wall! An excellent one, and I wish I knew which book it is from.
I read this one after A Light in the Window since it is chronologically next. Perhaps not as substantial as other volumes in the series, but, not only does this one include Timothy and Cynthia's wedding but more detailed love stories of several major characters. I only wonder why Emma was not included. But this one is as funny and heartwarming as one would expect a Mitford book to be. My favorite part is when timothy and Cynthia are "galloping" down the street to the church for their ceremony. Plus, Cynthia has an Elizabeth Goudge quote on her wall! An excellent one, and I wish I knew which book it is from.
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