Seeing Things: A Chronicle of Surprises

Hawley, author of the novel The Headmaster's Papers, records here his search for ""the real thing'' that gives definition to experience, examining occurrences in his own life from his birth in Chicago in 1945. Reliving dreams and actualities, terrible and grand, he writes with such immediacy that one feels each moment. There were the boyhood friends who, in different ways, influenced his religious learnings. The author tells about his sister who took her own life because she was unable to ``fit'' in a world too big for her, a death that caused lasting hurt and taught him that everyone needs understanding. In high school, his first love was a girl who ended the romance before these two immature people became seriously involved. Each incident described generates thought on the ``real thing'' and illustrates the eternal values. (October 19)