A Severe Mercy

By Sheldon Vanauken

Book Overview

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - THE SPIRITUAL CLASSIC THAT HAS INFLUENCED MORE THAN 500,000 READERS

"A deep, uncompromising story about human and divine love." -- Los Angeles Times

The profoundly moving and heart-rendering classic for anyone who has experienced the depths of love and loss. Reflecting on faith, vitality, and grief, this "spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers" opens our hearts and eyes to the true meaning of life, and death. In A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken stunningly chronicles his marriage to his beloved wife, Davy, his faith-forming friendship with C.S. Lewis and the tragedy that altered his soul and spirit completely.

With heavy passion, "Van" unravels a love story formed by intense romance and commitment, and a bond he refers to as "the Shining Barrier." A bond that is unaltered by the outside world and its influences until he meets C.S Lewis while studying at Oxford. Lewis introduces Davy and Van to Christianity, and their devotion to God quickly becomes as strong as their devotion to one another.

In rapid succession, Davy succumbs to a fatal illness and a grief-stricken Van is left to process this unspeakable loss, and subsequently discover the meaning of "a mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love."

For fans of When Breath Becomes Air and Being Mortal, this impactful masterpiece allows readers of all beliefs to envision life after loss, and the spiritual strength that ultimately leads us forward after unspeakable tragedy. Weaving in 18 original letters from C.S. Lewis himself, A Severe Mercy poetically addresses some of the universal questions that surround faith, and its remarkable role during times of both radiant joy and immense suffering.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060688246
• ISBN13: 9780060688240
• Release Date: July 1987
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Love's Barrier Breached

"I wanted the fine keen bow of a schooner cutting the waves with Davy and me -- just Davy and me. I didn't want God. He was too heavy. I wanted Him approving from a considerable distance. I wanted to be free -- like a Gypsy. I wanted life itself, the colour of fire and loveliness of life. And Christ now and then, like a loved poem I could read when I wanted to. I didn't want us to be swallowed up in God. I wanted holidays from the school of Christ." I read this passage from "A Severe Mercy" over a decade ago. And, each time I read it, it still hits me in the gut....because I see myself so clearly in the words. Upon being published, one reviewer wrote that the book touched him so deeply that, finally, it was like an essay in self-understanding. I echo that sentiment. This book does, indeed, make most books on courtship and marriage seem shoddy....but it also illuminates how great is the mortal capacity for selfishness...and selflessness...and pervasive bliss beyond understanding. This book shall make you cry, and laugh, and revel in the simplicity and profound wisdom of the 18 letters from C.S. Lewis to Vanauken. But, most importantly, it shall make you question your spiritual depth, your tenacity of life, and your definition of love.

A severely merciful God saves author from idolotary.

After putting it off for several years, I finally read A Severe Mercy, between Maunday Thursday and Easter Sunday, 1999. With Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection as the background, along with my wife's yearning to leave our Lutheran exile and join the Roman Catholic Church, I cried my way through the book, simply unable to restrain tears of hurt, joy, compassion, sorrow, and very strong empathy. These tears were also shed in the context of Little Lost Marion, Vanauken's story of finding the child Davy had at age 14, and which she put up for adoption, not aborting. Sheldon and Davy never had children, a pre Christian decision a Christian Vanauken came to regret. Then it hit me. The power of the book doesn't lie primarily in the story of grief and lost love, as poignant and beautiful as it is. Rather, if we stop with Sheldon and Davy's love for each other, we will miss Vanauken's major point: Davy's death as God's "severe mercy" to keep Sheldon in God's love. Davy's death allowed God to destroy the 'shining barrier" of their love, kill that idol, and reclaim Vanauken for himself. Mercy, indeed, if you can handle it, and Vanauken, in God's grace did. Perfect Lenten and Holy Week reading! But also a perfect book to help Christians understand the lengths to which God will go to keep his children and to see that in the great hurts and disappointments of life, God's severe mercy is frequently at work.