Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days) (v. 1) [Paperback]

Michael O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Series: Children of the Last Days | Publication Date: April 2002

An epic novel set in the rugged interior of British Columbia, the first volume of a trilogy which traces the lives of four generations of a family of exiles. Beginning in 1900, and concluding with the climactic events leading up to the Millennium, the series follows Anne and Stephen Delaney and their descendants as they live through the tumultuous events of this century.

Anne is a highly educated Englishwoman who arrives in British Columbia at the end of the First World War. Raised in a family of spiritualists and Fabian socialists, she has fled civilization in search of adventure. She meets and eventually marries a trapper-homesteader, an Irish immigrant who is fleeing the "troubles" in his own violent past. This is a story about the gradual movement of souls from despair and unbelief to faith, hope, and love, about the psychology of perception, and about the ultimate questions of life, death and the mystery of being.

Interwoven with scenes from Ireland, England, Poland, Russia, and Belgium during the War, Strangers and Sojourners is a tale of the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary. It is about courage and fear, and the triumph of the human spirit.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"O'Brien is a superior spiritual story teller worthy to join the ranks of Flannery O'Connor, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and C. S. Lewis. No novel since Dostoyevski has nourished my soul like Strangers and Sojourners."
--Peter Kreeft

"Michael O'Brien writes with great mastery and wisdom. Strangers and Sojourners is compelling and moving and altogether sui generis."
-- Ralph McInerny

"Strangers and Sojourners comes as a haunting surprise. The story recalls real places with events that reach to the very heart of things. An absorbing novel."
-- James Schall, S.J.

"The book for which spiritual readers have been waiting many decades: characters that stay in your heart like beloved friends; a profound Christian vision that permeates every page. Full of beauty, pathos, hope and light."
--Ronda Chervin, Ph.D.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 573 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898709237
• ISBN-13: 978-0898709230
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unable to categorize, May 29, 2001

By 

Paul Stilwell (Canada, B.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days) (Hardcover)

I almost don't want to write a review for Strangers and Sojourners. Though I've taken O'Briens other books off the bookshelf to re-read them over and over again, I've only read Strangers and Sojourners once. This is not a sign to be taken that the book is bad. No, quite the contrary. I'm still digesting the deep pathos that have lodged themselves somewhere in my mind and heart, I'm scared to take the book back down(being more than a year) again for fear of disrupting the beauty and wisdom that is still growing within. The book is very strange indeed. I work part-time at a little grocery store where most of my work time is spent in the back of the store doing monotonous produce work. I spend the rest of my time as an artist/writer and re-emerging, struggling Catholic. I can give testimony that Strangers and Sojourners has helped me in ways that I do not understand. Events, moods, situations and characters from the book will just pop up in my mind from out of nowhere, while I'm in the middle of a hundred different chores at work or home. The most 'ordinary' things and people have gradually become more and more exciting and mysterious to me. I've come to cherish 'ordinary' things with a thankfulness that is quite alien to me. The sacrament of marriage(though i'm single)especially after reading this book is something so, so beautiful and heroic. This book in the future will emerge in families homes all over. There is no other place where it can emerge.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful!, November 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days) (Hardcover)

As with his previous novel, Father Elijah, O'Brien's Strangers and Sojournors is an instant classic. It is much different from his best-selling debut, however, for it deals with a woman who comes from England in the early part of the 20th century to live in the wilds of northern British Columbia. It is her story, the story of a human being dealing with the mystery of human existence. Hence it is our story, too, for, as the title belies, we are all strangers and sojournors on this earth. With this book, O'Brien shows his artistic side; one can almost hear the music and poetry behind the prose, which will reach deep into the heart of the reader. Noted writer Peter Kreeft has said that "No novel since Dostoyevsky has nourished my soul like Strangers and Sojournors." I agree. O'Brien is a spiritual storyteller of the most extraordinary calibre and this book is his best so far.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Michael O'Brien book, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days) (Hardcover)

I've read all his books, and while I found the others to be more adventurous, this was my favorite. It is a capital 'L' Literature book. I luxuriated in the slow pace, the images and the people. The life saga of a spiritual journey captivated me. It is exciting to read the other books in the series and see how the lives and stories of their characters proceeded from this book. If you prefer the fast pace of beer commercials and Sports Utility Vehicles commercials on TV, you probably won't like this book. If you mourn that "There hath passed away a glory from the earth" in much modern literature, you will like this book.