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Shadows and Images
One of the major characters in this novel of a Protestant young woman, and the Roman Catholic she marries, is the inspiring figure of Blessed John Cardinal Newman. In the story of Clem and Augustine, their courtship and marriage, and Clem's conversion to her husband's faith, the reader sees the vital, influential, and holy Cardinal through the eyes of friends. Like Newman, the fictional character Clem was born in the Protestant faith, and their acquaintance begins before he or she becomes a Roman Catholic. The novel charts their ongoing friendship as it spans many years during which pivotal historical influences, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Oxford Movement, are shaping Victorian England. Many important events, personages, and ideas in the life of Newman appear in the story--his reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic, his differences with Cardinal Manning, his work in the Birmingham Oratory, and his being made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. The author, a renowned biographer of Newman, used Newman's actual correspondence as the basis for his parts in the dialogue.
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1960
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Meriol Trevor
58Ìýbooks21ÌýfollowersThe prolific Meriol Trevor, BA, FRSL was a writer of novels, biographies, and children's books. A convert to Roman Catholicism, Trevor wrote a two-volume biography of John Henry Newman (The Pillar of the Cloud and Light in Winter) which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1962.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 18, 2015
I would like to give this 3.5 stars. The story starts out a little slow and it took me a little while to gain a connection with the characters. However, once Clem meets Augustine, I really really started to enjoy the book more. I sometimes had a hard time following the current events of the times. I felt as if the author referred to a lot of other people that I did not recognize quite frequently, and I got a little lost. However, overall, I did enjoy this book and it made me want to learn more about John Henry Newmann. The author created a lot of his dialogue from actual correspondence so I felt like I really got to know this amazing man.
December 25, 2018
Written in the 1960s, this novel tells the story of a British Protestant governess and her improbable marriage to a Catholic from a wealthy family, and eventually her conversion to Catholicism under the guidance of Rev John Henry Newman. The book is well-written, but the characters are not very well drawn, and the book seems more polemical.
May 28, 2024
very interesting historical fiction, telling the life-story of Cardinal John Henry Newman through the lens of a fictional couple. very well-written and enjoyable. The idea behind the book reminded me of Louis de Wohl, in that the author sticks mostly to historical truth, except for making of a character in order highlight traits of the true subject of the book. I read Loss and Gain a long time ago, but reading this made me want to read Newman's other writings.
November 30, 2017
I found it very interesting though some parts quite complicated.
December 29, 2019
Profound and engaging.
June 15, 2020
Although I struggled in the beginning of the book with the different characters, I soon loved following the lives of Clem and Augustine and was hooked!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 27, 2012Clem is the daughter of a minor clergyman. As a teenager, she meets John Henry Cardinal Newman and remains in his circle--sometimes tangentially, sometimes closely--for the rest of her life. The novel is half Clem's own story--her adorable relationship with the man she marries and then falls in love with, and her conversion to Catholicism--and half the story of Newman. This aspect is particularly pronounced in the second half of the book, where Clem's story mostly retreats to the background as she and her husband discuss the latest news about Newman in particular and the state of English Catholicism in general. So if you're not interested in either of those subjects, the book probably won't work for you.
But this is not just a fictionalized history lecture. Trevor's prose is exquisite, and she weaves into her narrative quiet meditations on time and mortality: how people's lives don't have neat little happy endings, and all love is carried on in the face of death.
But this is not just a fictionalized history lecture. Trevor's prose is exquisite, and she weaves into her narrative quiet meditations on time and mortality: how people's lives don't have neat little happy endings, and all love is carried on in the face of death.
"He always did make her laugh in the end, and when they went home and he opened a bottle of wine for dinner, she was happy again. But later, as she lay in bed and heard the sea outside, so soft, but always breathing over and over its perpetual sighs, hollow echoes of the heart that beat and beat, even asleep, drawing up time and throwing it away, then she felt how deep was the shadow under the shining surface of the sea, how small their vanishing words, sketched like ripples by the passing winds, their passing lives.
"Augustine was asleep. She laid her hand very lightly on him and felt his heart beating. It was so strange to feel that little throb and know that if it stilled all that she knew of him would be gone. But curiously, as she lay there with her hand on his side, she felt quieted; there was no reason that she could discover for the peace that came to her, but still it came, rising like a deep tide out of hidden ocean wells, unseen, far off, the secret springs. She too slept."
July 23, 2012
I liked this book a lot. While it is a love story - the story of Clem and Augustine and their marriage - it is also a book about John Henry Newman and the state of English Catholicism. Trevor is a good writer, and there were several points in the book that brought me to a standstill with the beauty of her words and thoughts. And you cannot lose when you are writing about Newman! A beautiful picture of faithful lives.
December 19, 2016
Really interesting novel about a woman's lifelong friendship with John Henry Newman and her own journey into the Catholic faith. While I prefer Trevor's teen books, this one was also beautifully written, and it made me want to read more about Newman, and about the way Catholics were perceived and treated in this particular setting (19th century England.)
January 21, 2016
My daughter polished it off in just a few days. She says it was well writen.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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