This is a richly textured reading of Loomis's novel, which I read, also.   The recording, however, evoked much more emotion from me than the book... perhaps because of emotion --and innocence-- in character voices.  Except for the absence of sound effects (other than music) this was much like listening to an old-time radio story.  So it was easy and natural to relax and relive times and tribulations which...well, what is it the French say (translated):  The more things change the more they stay the same.  Thusly, in this nostalgic drama, I strongly sensed a nostalgia for the present and, yes, for the future. 

It is 1939 when Gloria Ragnarsdatter graduates from junior high... That summer she learns that love, the love she craves with all of her young body, is treacherous. With the help and advice of an older woman, Ragnarsdatter discovers another sort of love: spiritual love. In a few short months she grows from a bratty, self-absorbed adolescent into a caring human being who can think of others before herself. As her mother returns from the state psychiatric hospital, and as her younger sister, Isabel, proudly tells the family that she is pregnant, Gloria begins maturing into the strong woman she will become. She learns that physical love and spiritual love are not so very different...as long as the one love is given to the right person --and the other to Jesus.

The writing is fresh and warm with a poetry of style. Clear language and crisp new metaphors create a music of their own in Ragnarsdatter.... And so at its end, after the death of her young brother-in-law, after the birth of Isabel's baby, after Germany has invaded Norway, and about a year before the United States will be forced into World War II: Gloria Ragnarsdatter joins her boyfriend's family around the piano and happily, soulfully sings Dona Nobis Pacem.  Grant Us Peace.
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