plot of the earlier work is cleverly alluded to here to fill in the first-time reader. The reader is reminded of Margaret’s mother’s defection when Margaret was a child of six; her mother went to New York with Madelyn Fahey, an artist who centers her work on the debunking of religious beliefs and was killed shortly thereafter in a car accident in Europe. The reader is given glimpses of this, as well as Margaret’s relationship with her father, her original experience with Adrian, and her affair with Ben Macgruder through flashbacks. The reader is also shown Margaret’s experience in New York when, having graduated from college, she chooses to join Madelyn and spend two years as her assistant while waiting for permission to go on to seminary. The reader also learns of Madelyn’s friendship with her other apprentice, Shaun, the death of her father, and Shaun’s decline due to AIDS. All of this helps the reader understand Margaret’s state of mind and spirit at the opening of the novel.

During the Advent season of 1999, the last year of the millennium, a number of major and minor events clarify, inform, and form Margaret’s future life. One central event is the resumption of marital relations between Adrian and Margaret. Prior to the opening of the book, Margaret suffers a miscarriage, plunging Adrian into a deep depression from which he briefly emerges before the death of his friend, the headmaster and founder of his school, prompts a relapse. The result is impotence. However, on this evening, through a series of fortunate and unfortunate events, they are able to come together, and unknown to them, conceive the daughter who will be the recipient of the narrative.

Also important are the discovery of Adrian’s father and the “adoption” of Chase Zorn, despite the alcoholism and destructiveness aimed at both himself and anyone who tries to help him. Then there are interactions with central characters such as Grace Munger and Gus Eubanks, as well as with minor characters such as Helen Britt, a woman passing through the area whose husband dies suddenly of a heart attack, all of which allow the reader to see how Margaret’s faith works (and work indeed it does) and of what it consists. This novel works on at least three levels, as an enthralling story, as the exploration of realistic, interesting, and compelling characters, and as a contemplation of faith for the beginning of the millennium.

What does Godwin seem to be saying in Evensong about how we should live our lives? That is not an unwarranted question for this work, nor is it a side issue, because it is clear that she is, if not preaching, at least making some serious suggestions. Certainly one concept which stands out through the story of Grace Munger is that we should live and let live. Grace is obviously a disturbed woman who must have everyone on her side in order to feel verified. Her harassment of Margaret as she tries to induce her to support her March for the Millennium makes it clear that despite her supposed direct line to God, she doubts her own calling and needs others to validate her importance. Margaret’s steadfast refusal to commit her church to a march she feels is wrongheaded and ultimately destructive proves to be the correct approach; her consistent attempts to refuse gently and with kindness may prove problematic for her but present an ideal for the reader to follow. It is Grace’s insistence on forcing herself on others that creates her problems.

Another related point strongly stressed in the text is that the way to solve the problems facing our communities, nation, and world at this time is not necessarily to demonstrate publicly. As Margaret puts it,

We need less display and more unassuming deeds behind the scenes. . . . Nothing is going to change significantly in this community, or any other, until each of us makes room for God’s kingdom inside ourselves and lets it change us from within.

It is clear that Margaret believes that marches for Christ can only be divisive, whereas working day to day on one’s own spirituality and attempting to do what one can within one’s own range, to cultivate one’s own garden, is how the truly meaningful change will come about. This is demonstrated throughout the novel by examples: Adrian’s work with Chase, Margaret’s and Mrs. Britt’s effects on each other, and Margaret’s quiet listening, which helps each person with whom she comes into contact, such as Gus, Mr. Zorn, Jennifer, and Lois Lord. Godwin illustrates that the small yet meaningful aid that we can give our neighbor is where we can make a difference.

Finally, the novel explores a spiritual quest, the search for answers to the oldest, earliest, yet newest questions in the universe, whatever the millennium. Why are we here? What is our purpose? How should we live? What is God and how can we serve a higher being? What is the meaning of life and the universe? Although the major questor is the narrator, Margaret Bonner, the reader sees this search worked out, positively or negatively, in the desperate destructiveness of Chase, in Grace’s lack of grace, in Jennifer’s attempt to control the world around her, in Adrian’s insecurities and misguided direction of energies, and in many other characters, large and small.

Gail Godwin’s novel is a fascinating tour de force, a powerful, discerning exploration of life, which tells a story filled with compelling characters, spiritual suspense (what is the way to pray outlined in the Charles Williams novel? what is Margaret’s secret that she keeps thinking of sharing with Adrian, yet keeps holding back?), love and death, sex and violence, and on top of it all, some suggestions on how the readers might best live their lives to attain happiness and peace at the end of the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.

Sources for Further Study

Booklist 95 (November 15, 1998): 547.

The Christian Science Monitor 91 (March 18, 1999): 19.

Library Journal 123 (December, 1998): 154.

The New York Times Book Review 104 (April 4, 1999): 8.

Publishers Weekly 246 (January 4, 1999): 69.

Time 153 (March 29, 1999): 216.