Scan barcode
A review by wildflower37
One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney
4.0
How could I not love a book that has this exquisite paragraph on page 2? "In the stacks of the library where I wandered, where almost no one went, where everything was old and a little beat up, a ray of sunshine came in, filled with swirling bits of dust, when nothing else was moving, and I saw it wasn't dust but particles of the spirits of those books, free and out playing around, like no one was watching."
Just as the main character, a hospital chaplain, sees these dust motes, she also sees and knows her own soul and those of the people she ministers to. There is a dreamy quality to the writing; most of the patients are known by their role or occupation - the lawyer, the librarian, the teller. The few named characters include dogs, who also play an important role in the stories of the overnight shift spent tending to others while trying to make sense of the decisions that have led her to this place.
Not strictly linear, the story is layered and intriguing and beautiful.
Just as the main character, a hospital chaplain, sees these dust motes, she also sees and knows her own soul and those of the people she ministers to. There is a dreamy quality to the writing; most of the patients are known by their role or occupation - the lawyer, the librarian, the teller. The few named characters include dogs, who also play an important role in the stories of the overnight shift spent tending to others while trying to make sense of the decisions that have led her to this place.
Not strictly linear, the story is layered and intriguing and beautiful.