Remember Me (The Hawk and the Dove) [Paperback]

Penelope Wilcock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2012 | Series: The Hawk and the Dove (Book 6)

A monk has fallen in love.
A wise widow knows the truth.
And now the finances of the abbey are in jeopardy.

Father William knew something was changing deep within him. He felt it—from his belly, from his heart, from his soul—the reality of what was streaming forth unchecked. There was no denying it. This was love.

Yet Father William has more to worry about than simply upholding his vows to God, to the brothers of St. Alcuin, and to Abbot John. The brotherhood is running out of money and Father William must decide whether or not to take matters into his own hands.

Seasoned author Penelope Wilcock unlocks the story of one man's struggles, mistakes, and heart's longings, and traces the possibility of what it means to get things wrong and to begin again. She helps us see the unexpected ways God often chooses to heal a broken life, revealing the heart of God to make us whole.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If Penelope’s goal was to bring the hope that only Jesus can offer, please know she has been successful. She has this way of being able to authentically portray the human heart and all of its struggles that leaves one full of hope and love. That is not easily done—thank you. Excellent book. I loved it.”
—Mary Gliserman, Dean of Faculty, Vice-Principal, and teacher, The Daniel Academy associated with the International House of Prayer, Kansas City

“Penelope Wilcock has penned a wonderful medieval series. In Remember Me, the final volume, she explores the struggle of a monk who has chosen his vocation wrongly to face the implications of his choice. The flavor of medieval and monastic life in Wilcock’s work is to savor anew with each volume.”
—Mel Starr, author, The Unquiet Bones, A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel, and A Trail of Ink 

“Magically beautiful, tender, and exquisitely drawn; full of teaching on love and forgiveness and almost every page brought a smile to my lips. I have fallen in love with all the books and I think Father William’s journey, interlaced with Abbott John’s is something of the best I have read.”
—Sue Ridley, Sussex, United Kingdom

“These books are not only ‘a good read,’ but also touch on the deeper truths that profit us for eternity.”
—Benedictine Abbess, Kent, United Kingdom

“We devoured the books, passing them on from one to another, identifying with the characters, appropriating their idiosyncrasies and easily recognizing parallel situations in community life. Congratulations to Penelope for so faithfully describing the phenomenon called monastic life—and for grabbing the heart of it with its daily struggles and surprises, its hopes and fears, its strengths and weaknesses—a microcosm of the human experience.”
—Sister Ann, prioress, Thicket Priory Carmelite Monastery, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

About the Author

Penelope Wilcock is the author of over a dozen books of fiction and poetry, including The Hawk and the Dove series. She lives a quiet life on the southeast coast of England with her husband and is the mother of five children. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Crossway; 1 edition (July 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433526638
• ISBN-13: 978-1433526633
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My aim in writing is to make goodness attractive. I love simple human kindness and gentleness, and I am moved by human vulnerability. I am fascinated by the power that is within our grasp to lift one another up, to heal and strengthen and encourage each other - our power to bless.
In the novels I write, I think of the reader sitting down to enjoy a book, the door of their imagination open wide to allow the story in to influence and shape their spirit. I accept the responsibility that confers as a great privilege, and it is my intention that when you put down any book of mine at the end of reading it, you will feel hopeful, peaceful and comforted, more ready to look on your fellow human beings with compassion and see their point of view.
I live in the English town on Hastings, on East Sussex's south coast. I write a blog called Kindred of the Quiet Way.
I would like to encourage you who are reading this to take the trouble to review on Amazon the books you read - as a reader I find customer reviews immensely helpful in making up my mind whether to purchase a book, and as a writer I find readers' reviews so valuable as feedback and food for thought.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ... `these odd circumstances where soul touches soul'... July 17, 2012

By eyes.2c

Format:Kindle Edition

Remember Me by Penelope Wilcock (the 6th in the Hawk and Dove series)continues to follow the threads of life in the medieval monastery of St. Alcuin.
Father William struggles with the finances of the Abbey, struggles against his falling in love and agonizes over his vows.
The unraveling of the scroll of life in St Alcuin's is linked by splashes and splodges of the characters' very humanness. These people are revealed. They are alive. Their pride, despair, humility, anger and gratitude are teased and held together by the gold of love as vibrant and real as those of the most precious of illuminated manuscripts, filled with precious moments such as Abbott John's musings about the Good Thief and the relationship of dismember to remember, in preparation for a homily to the community,
`...if this life tears a man apart, dismembers him, the power and grace of Christ will remember him, make him whole...'
So enthralled was I by Remember Me, I had to purchase The Hawk and the Dove Trilogy (3-in-1 Volume)immediately.
Now I am able to continue wandering through across this wonderful medieval landscape that is the St Alcuin community. I am gripped by the lives of those unveiled. I have laughed and cried my way through them and been amazed by Wilcock's imagery that wrings these emotions from me. Even her simple descriptions of the kitchen gardens are of rendered so that one is present.
Certainly the discovery of new-to-me author, Penelope Wilcock, is a treasure.
I have purchased the 4th and 5th novels, The Hardest Thing to Do (Hawk and the Dove) and The Hour Before Dawn (Hawk and the Dove).
One could go on and on about the revelations of life and wisdom held within these pages. I won't!
Read them for yourself. Enjoy!

A netgalley ARC

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Blossoms at St. Alcuin's Abbey July 25, 2012

By Nancy Famolari VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Father William brought trials and ultimately understanding to St. Alcuin's. In Brother Tom's words, "it was a bit like lightning making a direct hit on the house -- we learned a lot and so did he." Continuing the story from "The Hour Before Dawn," William has fallen in love with Abbot John's sister, Madeline. They struggle against this illicit passion, but it wears them down. William agonizes over his vows and his very real love for St. Alcuin's and Abbot John, but Madeline has his heart.

The story of a growing love between two mature adults is told with simplicity and beauty. Not being children, they have to weigh the choices already made in their lives against this new overwhelming love. I think this story is one of the most beautiful and painful of the Hawk and the Dove Series. I've loved all of them, but this one made me cry.

If nothing else, this book is worth reading for Abbot John's homilies on the Eucharist, remember me. I always find so much more than a good story in Wilcox's books. They make you think about your faith and other people and how all our lives and choices affect each other.

The characters in this novel are very real. Wilcox has a tremendous insight into the difficulties of life in a community. The setting is beautiful and the details of medieval life very well done. I highly recommend this book.

I reviewed this book for Crossway.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Awful ending makes for only bad book in the series November 2, 2012

By Frequent Amazon Buyer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've read and loved all the books in The Hawk and the Dove series, and given them as gifts to my family and friends. I loved the way in which Wilcock creates the world of the medieval monks, showing not just how they lived daily life in the monasteries, but also showing how their attempts to be Christian saints in a fallen world give them their motivation. The books are never conventional, they have plot twists and surprises throughout, and they always showed how Christian orthodoxy was both hard to live out and yet deeply rewarding over the long run.

So I was greatly disappointed when Wilcock threw all this out in the last chapters of this book.

The bedrock historical fact that should have structured her plot is that it was against canon law for a monk or a priest to marry. In the early 14th century, when these books are set, the Church had just gone through a giant 200 year fight in which it insisted on clerical celibacy. Solemnly professed monastic vows, let alone ordination to the priesthood, were called an absolute diriment impediment to marriage--all marriages involving a priest or professed religious were invalid, and frequently invoked excommunication upon the priest. A solemnly professed monk who ran off and got married was often compelled to return to the monastery AND BE CONFINED THERE FOR LIFE. See John Noonan's online compilation of medieval canon law on marriage for the established and clear teaching on this (found with five minutes of googling). [UPDATED: Amazon deleted the link, but you can find the resource easily at the CUA website by searching for "John Noonan medieval marriage law Decretals".]

So it would be a historical anachronism of the worst sort to have it even be a possibility that a priest and monk could marry a woman he comes to love. Wilcock does not remove this as a possibility, and as a result, the whole tension of the novel unravels. If the novel were set in the 1970s, in which priests who wanted to leave the priesthood and get married were frequently given that permission, the novel's resolution would have been fine. But in the early 14th century, it was not an option, and Wilcock should have known that.