Golden String

In her 80s, Newman, famed as both an adult and children's writer, looks back on a rich life, setting down her experiences chronologically according to the dates of her quietly appealing series of adult novels about the Kendal family (Mount Jay; I Take Thee, Serenity; etc.). As a prelude, she describes her European childhood, schooling at Oxford and Radcliffe, publication in the 1920s of her early children's books, Timothy Travels and Sperli the Clockmaker. The Kendal novels, she explains, grew out of her experiences in New England during WW II, when she was involved with evacuated British children, as well as from her commitment to the Quaker faith. Later, as a member of the Friends, Newman participated actively in the Civil Rights movement, labored at saving Florentine art from flood destruction and, as she writes with justifiable pride, continues to do difficult things that she believes need doing. This is a lovely memoir. Christian Herald Book Club main selection. (January 21)