Overview

"In wide-ranging lyrical, prize-winning essays, Anita Mathias writes of her naughty Catholic childhood in Jamshedpur, India; her large, eccentric family in Mangalore, a seacoast town converted by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century; her rebellion and atheism as a teenager at St. Mary's Convent, Nainital, her Himalayan boarding school, run by German missionary nuns; and her abrupt religious conversion after which she entered Mother Teresa's convent in Calcutta as a novice, where she worked for two years. Later elegant essays explore the dualities of her life as a writer, mother, and Christian in the United States- torn between the call to write, her desire for a life of prayer, and the imperatives of domesticity, all the while navigating the experience of being ""an alien and stranger"" as an immigrant in America, yearning to set down roots...somewhere."

Full Product Details

9781789434279

Table of Contents

Reviews

"Beautifully written, thoughtful and insightful. -- Eileen R. Austin Witty, moving and meditative, this is a great read for some cultural eye-openers and faith-filled adventures. Most enjoyable! -- Fuzz Dix Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays of Faith and Art is a collection of eight essays by Anita Mathias that look at the influences of her journey between her native India and her eventual life in the West. First, in ""Holy Ground of Kalighat"" Mathias shares her experiences as part of Mother Teresa's congregation, the Missions of Charity. As one who joined the group she worked her way through aspirancy, postulancy, and novitiate while stationed in Kalighat, a home for people rescued from the streets. Readers receive brief glimpses of day-to-day life in that surrounding. However, this phase of Mathias's life abruptly ends when she herself suffers from what could have been a fatal disease. She is sent home to her family and lived to tell the story. Second, ""Aliens and Strangers"" looks at Mathias's feelings of alienation based on the diverse influences in her life. She was part of a historic Catholic minority in India (her mixed racial background of Indian and Portuguese descent dates back five centuries), she attended a boarding school operated by European sisters, she studied in the United States, and she eventually emigrates to and settles in Oxford, England, with her husband and children. But the essay also examines the struggles of other emigrants Mathias knows. When looking at the difficulties they experience, she concludes: some succeed and some do not. And she acknowledges that although she has succeeded, she continues to draw from the influences of her childhood even as she responds to her life in the West. Personal faith becomes a factor in this essay; she ultimately determines that her identity is established through her relationship to God. Although God was of interest earlier, here He becomes central. Other essays concern the author's family life in India, her rebellion in the Catholic boarding school (where she identifies herself an atheist), her decision to follow Christ (which she thought would be fulfilled by choosing to live a radical lifestyle), her thoughts on establishing physical roots and maintaining a home, and her discovery of similarities between prayer and writing. I initially found the complex sentences of some essays distracting-but they did somehow depict what I felt was the clamour of the Indian culture. Excellent writing. I would recommend the book as a collection of literary essays. -- Solveig Engh I really enjoyed the book. I could relate to so much of what the author wrote about since I grew up in similar circumstances. I would highly recommend it. -- Serena Mehra"

Author Information

"Anita Mathias was born in India and lives in Oxford, England. She has a BA (Hons.) and an MA in English from Somerville College, Oxford University, and an MA in English/Creative Writing from the Ohio State University. Anita has won a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and fellowships from The Jerome Foundation, The Vermont Studio Centre, The Sweet Briar Writers Colony, and The Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts. She has published in ""The Washington Post,"" ""London Magazine,"" ""Commonweal,"" ""America,"" ""The Christian Century,"" ""The Virginia Quarterly Review,"" ""The Journal,"" ""Notre Dame Magazine,"" ""Contemporary Literary Criticism,"" and ""The Best Spiritual Writing"" anthologies. Anita has blogged for Tearfund in Cambodia, and has won awards for her blogging and tweeting at the Premier Digital Awards, London. She blogs at anitamathias.com. Her podcast is ""Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias."" Anita's books include ""Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India"" (2024), and ""Francesco, Artist of Florence"" (2014)."

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available