The Heart of the Family (1953)

This may be my favorite book of all time. Although it is the 3rd of a series, it stands alone well. What are a person's gifts? How do you know what your gifts are? How hard do you persue them? What is your experience of the horror of war -- a victim or victor or bystander -- and does it ever leave you? Should it? Where is God -- in granting rich gifts to one person and humble gifts to another -- or appearing that way to our imperfect eyes. Can we find our way to connect with each other, and with God, and make life rich with healing and wholeness? The various characters, so beautifully realized, experience to different degrees these questions and find their own peace.

The action involves David Elliot coming home to Damrosehay and his family after being away for several months acting on Broadway in America. His family is thrilled to have him return and yet he feels isolated and ashamed. What happened to him in America? His new secretary, Sebastian, is a brilliant man struggling with a confused mental state and weak physical health who lost everything in the war and suffered in a concentration camp. He thought he hated every fornuate person in the world. But who could hate innocently loving four-year-old Meg or her beautiful young mother Sally? Sally has her own fears and is expecting her and David's third child soon and is tired and worn. Mrs. Wilks, Zelle, all their family from grandmother to aunts and uncles and cousins are all richly drawn and confront variations of the problem of connection, of finding a way to live in this world.

Ultimately, whether gifted with genius or with the humble yet vital skill of cleaning up, each character finds their place and their turn in the sun. ( )