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    A Severe Mercy
    A Severe Mercy
    A Severe Mercy
    Audiobook8 hours

    A Severe Mercy

    Written by Sheldon Vanauken

    Narrated by Peter Chanice

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Beloved, profoundly moving account of the author's marriage, the couple's search for faith and friendship with C. S. Lewis, and a spiritual strength that sustained Vanauken after his wife's untimely death.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 28, 2014
    ISBN9780062343697
    Author

    Sheldon Vanauken

    Sheldon Vanauken (1914-1996) was the author of Gateway to Heaven, The Glittering Illusion, and Under the Mercy, the sequel to A Severe Mercy.

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    Reviews for A Severe Mercy

    4.5/5

    342 ratings17 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Masterpiece. I can say no more. ..... . . .

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Beautifully written about a love so complete. I loved it!!!!
    • 5/5
      Emotional, poetic, logical, simple, powerful, raw, funny, and deeply moving
    • 5/5
      Excellent reflection on the nature of earthly love, death, and eternal love. Profound and moving and I think beneficial, at the right time, for those who remain after their true love has passed.
    • 5/5
      A very moving true story from the middle of the 20th century. It's about a married couple, deeply in love, and the way they find Christianity in Oxford. Some letters from CS Lewis are included, and the whole is beautifully written. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      I finished this book several weeks ago and it is still haunting me with its beauty. Sheldon Vanauken ("Van") tells the story of his all-consuming love-affair with his wife, Davy, and how their quest for beauty and truth ultimately led them to Christ. And then how, just in her mid-thirties, Davy became ill and was given the doctor's sentence of death. This is the story of their life together, her passing, Van's experience of soul-wrenching grief, and how his friendship with C. S. Lewis helped him get down "to the bedrock of meaning" — something Lewis was later to experience firsthand with the death of his wife Joy.I was struck by so many things in this story, not least of which was Van's brutal honesty about himself. I don't think I could bare my soul like that — or do it with such clear-eyed grace. The writing style is absolutely superb, with not a word out of place. As soon as I started the evocative first chapter (so reminiscent of du Maurier's "I dreamed I went to Manderley" opening to Rebecca), I felt immediately that I was in the hands of a master. I was also fascinated by how their love seemed to transcend the usual experience and their complex analysis of what makes "in-loveness" stay (the principle of sharing everything [and not having children, from this motive], the Appeal to Love ["what is best for our love?" being the final determining factor in all their decisions], the Shining Barrier, etc.). I loved how Van found it so natural to express his inner life via poetry (and good poetry, at that!). The book's haunting title, which refers to Davy's death, is a phrase from one of C. S. Lewis's letters to Van. On the face of it, it seemed cruel of God to take her, but her beautiful death was actually His kindest grace to them both. In their correspondence, Jack and Van posited the theory that all human love must die somehow and that the "happy old couples" are the ones who have seen it reborn, purified. Converted to Christianity probably a decade or so into their marriage, Van and Davy slowly realized that God had breached the Shining Barrier that protected their love from all else — that she loved Him more than anything, more even than she loved Van. But Van was not as committed. Some time following her death, he examines with stark realism what might have happened if she had lived. Either he would have become as committed as she on his own (not likely) or he would have succumbed to jealousy and ended by hating both her and the God who had claimed her fullest love: a chilling prospect. I can't do it justice, but I was almost breathless as I read the chapter where he lays all this out. And so she died, and he lived on, and suffered and wept and slowly but unhesitatingly saw the unfathomable love of God through everything. The beautiful phrase of Van's, that by her early death "the manuscript of our love was sent safe to the Printer," will stay with me forever. It is not too much to say that this is one of the best and most profound autobiographical works I have ever read. Highly, highly recommended.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      For fans of C.S. Lewis and deep thinking, this spiritual autiobiography is one that will stay with the reader long after he or she puts it down. In it the author relates the events of his life, mainly dealing with his deep love for his wife, Davy, and their resolve to create an unbreakable love. They thought long and deep about what it would take to make their bond unbreakable, even resolving to not have children and to follow one another into death. But that was before their journey to England, to Oxford, and their aquaintance with a vibrant Christian community, and with C.S. Lewis. As they seperately and then jointly begin lives of faith, they also wrestle with what that means for their lives, their careers, their friendships, and their marriage. Nothing tests the author quite so much as when Davy gets gravely ill. It is then that the words of C.S. Lewis in letters help and comfort him as he comes to terms with the "severe mercy" that they have been given.
    • 5/5
      This book is dear to me, as it's one of the first my fiance and I shared. It's the spiritual autobiography of the love between Sheldon Vanauken and his wife Jean ("Davy"), and it is probably the most heartbreakingly beautiful book I have ever read. It tells the story of their love from idealistic courtship days to World War II to graduate studies at Yale and Oxford, to Davy's illness and eventual death in Lynchburg and Charlottesville, Virginia. Most significantly, it recounts their conversion to Christianity and befriending of C.S. Lewis while in England. The sometimes-agonizing transformation of their love after they became Christians has impacted me deeply as I have contemplated marriage. I've read it twice within the past year and come away always with a longing for a cruciform love that is turned outward toward Christ and the world rather than inward upon itself.
    • 4/5
      I read it in 1988, and again in 2013. I liked it better the first time. On the second read, I thought that Sheldon was a bit cloying. I have changed, I suppose.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is a book I need to buy.. and re-read . Thanks to Booklady for reviewing this one. It was a bit tough for me, at the beginning, getting past the affluent, aristocratic culture of the Vanaukens. I always find that sort of lifestyle a bit off putting: the parties, the yacht clubs, the trips to Europe, etc... but I did manage to get beyond that.. and then the rest of the book was fascinating, as he dealt with deep questions of faith, heaven, loss, loneliness,jealousy, grief. The letters from C.S. Lewis were moving, personal. Made me wish I'd known Lewis as an advisor! I lent the book to my mother and have recommended this to others as well.
    • 5/5
      Read the first chapter. The authors mind is like still waters running deeply. Full of words, dreams, and memories. His thoughts of beauty and joy ring true with thoughts that run in my spirit. His aesthetic experience reflects the way I often feel looking at the a sunset or stars. It is good to recognize, even in a book written by someone you never may meet, a kindred heart. I feel great confidence I shall enjoy this book. I stopped myself at the end of the first chapter so I can savor the book rather than burn through it quickly. It lends itself to reflection.

      I'm not sure I knew that love between two people lovers could be this close and dedicated. A beautiful treasure of a book that reminds one of the beauty of the world, of people, and of God. Brought the stars a little closer.

      The author examines what loves really means. What a relationship with God is. Reflections on our place in this world and the next. It was either he or in one of C.S. Lewis's letters that he described us as trans-mortals. Living in one world but made for the next. Musings on time and where we fit in its ebbs and flows. It is not a breathless, edge of your seat read. Rather it is like pausing to consider a rose, watch a sunset unfold, or stopping to watch snow flakes fall from the sky. It's a book of reflections on existence and life. A story of great joy and great sadness and finding the way back to joy. Highly
      recommended.

      "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Tennyson

      Edit to add: Several people have given this book low ratings because they find the relationship between Davy and Sheldon was to close. Suffocating in fact. And for some people a relationship as close as theirs would be outside of their comfort zone. But, to quote Timothy Keller: "Freedom, then, is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature, and liberate us." Their relationship fit them. It fit their needs and filled their lives and they were happy in that. It may not be the template for every love relationship but it something that between Davy and Sheldon was a beautiful fulfilling joy. Few people find that fulfillment in this life. So, my hat is off to them. :)
    • 5/5
      I finished this book several weeks ago and it is still haunting me with its beauty. Sheldon Vanauken ("Van") tells the story of his all-consuming love-affair with his wife, Davy, and how their quest for beauty and truth ultimately led them to Christ. And then how, just in her mid-thirties, Davy became ill and was given the doctor's sentence of death. This is the story of their life together, her passing, Van's experience of soul-wrenching grief, and how his friendship with C. S. Lewis helped him get down "to the bedrock of meaning" — something Lewis was later to experience firsthand with the death of his wife Joy.I was struck by so many things in this story, not least of which was Van's brutal honesty about himself. I don't think I could bare my soul like that — or do it with such clear-eyed grace. The writing style is absolutely superb, with not a word out of place. As soon as I started the evocative first chapter (so reminiscent of du Maurier's "I dreamed I went to Manderley" opening to Rebecca), I felt immediately that I was in the hands of a master. I was also fascinated by how their love seemed to transcend the usual experience and their complex analysis of what makes "in-loveness" stay (the principle of sharing everything [and not having children, from this motive], the Appeal to Love ["what is best for our love?" being the final determining factor in all their decisions], the Shining Barrier, etc.). I loved how Van found it so natural to express his inner life via poetry (and good poetry, at that!). The book's haunting title, which refers to Davy's death, is a phrase from one of C. S. Lewis's letters to Van. On the face of it, it seemed cruel of God to take her, but her beautiful death was actually His kindest grace to them both. In their correspondence, Jack and Van posited the theory that all human love must die somehow and that the "happy old couples" are the ones who have seen it reborn, purified. Converted to Christianity probably a decade or so into their marriage, Van and Davy slowly realized that God had breached the Shining Barrier that protected their love from all else — that she loved Him more than anything, more even than she loved Van. But Van was not as committed. Some time following her death, he examines with stark realism what might have happened if she had lived. Either he would have become as committed as she on his own (not likely) or he would have succumbed to jealousy and ended by hating both her and the God who had claimed her fullest love: a chilling prospect. I can't do it justice, but I was almost breathless as I read the chapter where he lays all this out. And so she died, and he lived on, and suffered and wept and slowly but unhesitatingly saw the unfathomable love of God through everything. The beautiful phrase of Van's, that by her early death "the manuscript of our love was sent safe to the Printer," will stay with me forever. It is not too much to say that this is one of the best and most profound autobiographical works I have ever read. Highly, highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Such a moving story of love and loss, and coming to faith all along the way. It's also a lot of fun to read the correspondence between the author of this book and C. S. Lewis as they struck up a friendship.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely beautiful. And I don't just mean the amazing love story. Sheldon Vanauken's writing is gorgeous and I'm pretty sure he's kind of brilliant. Pair that with the genius of C.S. Lewis and how can you not end up with a masterpiece?I was required to read this for school, and my textbook made it out to be a book about marriage. Granted, it IS about marriage, but it's also about so much more. Christianity, life, tragedy, beauty... and lots of love, too.This is a book I'm going to reread many times, especially when I marry. I can see this being a book I give to my husband and a book we read together. Sounds incredibly sappy, but I think anyone who has been or is in love would feel the same way after reading A Severe Mercy.
    • 4/5
      This memoir is a book about life, marriage, friendship, and faith. Vanauken tells the story of how he and his wife's relationship changed from an intense, romantic love to one controlled by their Christian beliefs. That is not to say that their love wasn't intense or romantic after their conversion, but it did change significantly. He also details his wife's illness, death, and his own grief process afterwards.Most interesting to me were the letters exchanged between the Vanaukens (mostly Sheldon) and C.S. Lewis. The couple met Lewis while at Oxford and kept up a healthy correspondence with him after they moved back to the States. Lewis is my favorite author, so it was interesting to hear his viewpoints on a much more personal level. These exchanges were my favorite parts of the book.
    • 5/5
      Among the books I've read in my life, A Severe Mercy easily ranks among the top ten best. In my first reading some 20 years ago it profoundly impacted me intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. It is a compelling account of the author's and his wife's search for spiritual truth, their passionate love for each other, her untimely terminal illness and death, and their mutual relationship with the venerable C. S. Lewis. This is one I will return to for inspiration time and again through the years.
    • 5/5
      The story of an extraordinary love between a man and a woman on one level and the compelling love of God for man on another. We follow the path of the two pagans (as they describe themselves)on a search for God which leads them to C. S. Lewis, friendship with him and eventual belief in God. A very moving account of his wife's later death told by a man of intellectual and spiritual depth. First time publication of letters exchanged between Lewis and the author.