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When All Goes Quiet

Name: When All Goes Quiet
Author: Augustinus F. Lodewyks
ISBN: 978-1-4602-6975-6

VISIONS, EPISODES, AND REVELATIONS

by Augustinus F. Lodewyks ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 7, 2015

An accessible story of a man whose quiet moments are filled with heavenly guidance.

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A man recounts a lifetime of divine intercession.

Lodewyks characterizes his nonfiction debut as a Navi, a Jewish scriptural term for a work channeled directly through a human mouthpiece from God. “These promptings by the Holy Spirit,” he writes, referring to his own book, “have come from a place unfamiliar to this author’s capabilities as an English writer.” This relationship as conduit and amanuensis for God began while Lodewyks was still in his mother’s womb: she was pregnant with the sixth of seven sons while she and her husband and other children were moving from Holland to Canada. In quick but vivid detail (“God managed to get me excited about the chiropractic profession,” he writes, for example), Lodewkys recounts his youth growing up in Canada, his family life, his marriage, anecdotes of his parents’ and grandparents’ experiences in Holland during World War II, the death of his father from lung cancer, and so on. But there’s a parallel narrative running underneath this autobiography and often surfacing to overtake it. Lodewyks was in a frequent state of spiritual ecstasy, possessed since childhood by the ability to experience moments when all the day’s surrounding noise suddenly went quiet and God made contact with him directly. These visitations were never visible or audible to anybody else, but they guided, surprised, and often amused him—this is a delightfully playful spiritual odyssey. Angels and spirits were everywhere in Lodewyks’ daily life, watching over his friends and relatives, attending the births of his children, safeguarding those children all through their adult lives. Through it all, Lodewyks stresses that his readers don’t require his supernatural gifts in order to further their own spirituality: “Life does not have to go quiet for you to note the signs that God puts in front of you as he directs you to do His work.” The upshot will of course be lost on Lodewyks’s non-Christian readers, but for his fellow faithful, this will be the ultimate comforting account of a safeguarded existence.

An accessible story of a man whose quiet moments are filled with heavenly guidance.

Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4602-6975-6

Page Count: 232

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.