Příběh autorky, dříve zapřisáhlé ateistky, je napsán poetickým jazykem, přičemž svou vlastní zkušenost setkání s Bohem autorka popisuje velmi výmluvně a přesvědčivě. Proměněna je i její zkušenost manželství a rodičovství během života v zahraničí. Intimně prožívá novou lásku k samotnému Kristu a přijímá víru, kterou předtím odmítala jako bigotní a tíživou.
Staunchly atheist Sally Read converted to Catholicism in the space of nine electric months. In 2010, Read was heralded as one of the bright young writers of the British poetry scene. Feminist and deeply anti-Catholic, she was writing a book about female sexuality when, during her research, she spoke with a Catholicpriest. The interview led her on a dramatic spiritual quest that ended up at theVatican itself, where she was received into the Catholic Church. Unsurprisingly, this story is written in the vivid language of poetry. Read relates her encounters with the Father, the Spirit and then the Son exactlyin the way they were given to her—timely, revelatory and compelling. Thesetransforming events threw new light onto the experiences of her past—her father’s death, her work as a psychiatric nurse and her single years in London—while they illumined the challenges of marriage and motherhood in a foreign country. As she developed a close intimacy with the new love thaterupted into her life, Christ himself, she found herself coming to embrace a faith she had previously rejected as bigoted and stifling.
Focusing on the intimate experiences of those close to Christ, this collection of poems explores significant events and tender moments of his life, such as Mary's early motherhood and Saint Joseph's quiet companionship. Written during the author's formative years as a Catholic poet, the work intertwines narrative with lyrical reflections on God and human connection. It seeks to articulate the inexpressible aspects of faith, drawing readers closer to Christ by immersing them in his life and its impact on our own.
Sally Read converted from atheism to Catholicism when her daughter, Flo, was only four years old, but it did not take long for the child to become aware that many friends and relatives did not share her mother’s newfound faith. This consciousness of “two worlds” led to a great many doubts in Flo, and some rebellion. Two nights before her First Communion she suddenly questioned whether she should receive the Eucharist. Sensing the precarious nature of faith in an overwhelmingly secular world, Read began writing down the compelling reasons for holding on to both God and Church. Taking the Annunciation as her template, she explored common experiences of the spiritual life as she meditated on each part of the story recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Drawing on Scripture, the saints, and the lives of people she has known personally or professionally as a nurse, Read shows how God is with us always—even in suffering, spiritual dryness, and depression. Although inspired by a mother’s loving response to a daughter, this book will speak to any believer engaged in the bliss and the bewilderment of a relationship with God.
The Day Hospital is the third book of poetry from one of Bloodaxe's younger poets with a growing reputation for writing close to the bone. Drawn from Sally Read's experiences as a community psychiatric nurse in central London, these twelve monologues are the voices of schizophrenia, dementia, depression, and anxiety.