"...the spiritual discernment and imagination of C.S. Lewis...the fast paced action...is compelling." Read Smartt, Christian Broadcasting Network
The Island is a paradise of wide beaches, palm trees, clear azure waters over beautiful coral reefs, and a wetland wilderness full of wildlife. But its natural beauty has been marred by the intrusion of its conquerors, who have turned it into a battleground for their competing ways of life and a graveyard for their children. It is divided by just about everything--race, religion, culture, politics, and economics, and those divisions have placed the hope of return to "normalcy" beyond the imagination of its inhabitants.
But the Island is not moulded by forces, but by people. At its root this work is the story of one woman whose single-minded pursuit of her purpose results in a total transformation of her life, her ministry, her position in affairs of state and ultimately of the people and nations around her. It leads her to places no one predicted she would go, to bring life and love to situations where none was thought possible--and ultimately to face the cross itself.
The Island Chronicles now have a "prequel"--The Ten Weeks, which takes us back a quarter century on an adventure through high school life in the early 1970's.
Paludavia (The Swamp Road) |
The first book begins at the end of the one of the Island's bloodier wars, the war for Drahlan independence. Crown Prince George of Serelia (the losers) comes for the independence ceremony. But he has another mission; suspecting that his old allies the Verecundans have an Island takeover plan, he enlists the assistance of Terry Marlowe, a Verecundan exile and Drahla's Royal Counsellor. He puts together a state visit team of himself, his wife Princess Darlene and Terry. What Terry does not know going in is that Darlene's brother, now dead, was the one who killed Terry's husband in war and murdered her infant son in a massacre. Now they not only have to deal with that revelation, but with their discoveries concerning the left-wing Verecundans, facing the dilemma of how their relatively small and poor countries could effectively deal with a developed Verecunda. The solution of that dilemma and its aftermath is the book's stunning conclusion. |  |
At The Inlet |
The conflict resolved, Terry finds herself dismissed from office as a result of internal Drahlan politics. However, Darlene brings her to Serelia to be her spiritual advisor. Serelia is an Anglican country, which puts Pentecostal Terry in a difficult position. Her position is further complicated by the sudden romantic interest of the Very Rev. Julian Lewis, the Cathedral's organist and choirmaster. The resolution of this situation is a combination of painful and difficult choices and hilarious church and state politics in the midst of the romance of two lonely people. |  |
The Final Decision |
Now husband and wife, Terry and Julian live through both the challenges of married life and of Terry's new status in Serelia. The difficulties of adjusting to their new life are overshadowed by events to the west, where officials of Verecundan's old regime attempt to put together their realm again in the midst of the Island's poorer and more unstable regions. Everyone is forced out of their "comfort zone" by this turn of events: George and Darlene by the developing treason of Darlene's own father, Julian by the demands of national security, and Terry by her mission to find allies, which lands her in the middle of their enemies' territory and literally at the point of death. (Book includes family trees of the main characters.) |  |
Two Paths |
This story takes place the fall after The Final Decision. It tells the story of two people, at opposite ends of the Island in every sense of the word, and how they respond to change in their lives. One, the very proper Anglican teenager Mary Gant, Darlene’s niece, is forced to deal with her father’s exile and mother’s remarriage, all the while caught up in school changes and the romantic interest of a classmate who is half East Indian and Pentecostal in a culture where both are a big deal. The other, the Wiccan Cybele Drummond, is a high official in the Verecundan government. Her exposure to the world beyond a reduced Verecunda and the murder of a close friend bring her to some very difficult choices and consequences. |  |
The Ten Weeks |
In 1970 "sex, drugs and rock 'n roll" ruled supreme in Point Collina, a tony beachside resort. No where was that more true than at the local high school, and that scene was ruled by Denise Kendall, tennis captain and daughter of the most prominent man around. But this happy life of "peace and love" was rudely interrupted when Madeleine des Cieux, a foreign student, started to perform miracles, including healings and throwing tennis matches. Now the school, the government and Denise herself are forced to scramble for damage control, not only with Madeleine but with her ex-boyfriend, Jack Arnold, itching for revenge, and her perennial enemy, the development heiress Terry Marlowe. Both disaster and triumph end up on everyone's plate in a world which is being rapidly reshaped both by and for the participants. |
We especially commend this work to our visitors from outside of North America and Europe, who will probably look at this work in an entirely different light from some of the rest of us.
Related Materials
Explanatory Materials from the Appendices and Elsewhere
- The Church of Serelia (Anglican)
- Other Items
- History of the Island, with interactive map (best place to start; requires Macromedia Flash)
- Claudian Immigration and the Lodge in Verecunda
- Education in Old Beran and Its Successors
- The Sensual Societies
- Verecundan Holidays
Supplemental Materials on This Site
- What is the Gospel? The "Gospel presentation" is mentioned several times in the narrative; this is what it is all about.
- Positive Infinity New Testament
- Anglican Materials
- Anglican Corner -- more information for Anglicans
- Book of Common Prayer (Church of England,1662)
- Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal, 1928)
- Music
- Songs from Who Shall Spread the Good News? (mp3 format):
- Psalm 130 (Paludavia)
- As The Rain (At the Inlet)
- Healy Willan's "Agnus Dei", Episcopal Hymnal 1940, #712 (At the Inlet) This is a midi file; it isn't the best performance and should be played more slowly, but until someone else does better this performance of Willan's magnificant piece will have to do.
- Songs from Who Shall Spread the Good News? (mp3 format):
- Women in Ministry. In early 1977 Pittsburgh Bishop Robert B. Appleyard became one of the first to ordain a woman to the Episcopal "priesthood." A little more than eleven years earlier he baptised this author when he was Rector of Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. Quite a few women are ordained in The Island Chronicles, but probably not for the same reason as Bishop Appleyard did. We present two opposing views on this subject in pdf format:
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