The Woman Who Was Chesterton (ACS Books)

Gilbert Keith (G.K.) Chesterton was a larger than life figure, both literally and figuratively. His personality was enormous, as was the amount of brilliant writings that he contributed to the world. Due to his larger than life personality, people now tend to overlook the fact that he was married. This might seem like a travesty to his wife, Frances, but she actually wanted this way. The author, Nancy Carpentier Brown, and I agree that the wife of such an influential Catholic should not be left in the shadows, whether she'd like it or not. Therefore, Ms. Brown did a great deal of painstaking research to write her book, The Woman Who Was Chesterton, and shine the spotlight on a remarkable woman who managed to avoid the spotlight her entire life.

You might recognize Nancy Carpentier Brown from her other book on Frances Chesterton - How Far is it to Bethlehem. In that book, we got to see Frances from her plays and poetry, and those painted us a brilliant picture of Frances. Her new book illuminates her life even more for us. In the introduction, we are treated to a beautiful summary of Gilbert and Frances' life and marriage. "Frances and Gilbert worked together as a team; they were lovers and friends, writing coaches and companions. They worked, ate, laughed, and slept together for thirty-five years, dependent on each other physically, emotionally, and intellectually. The love between them defined her life - and his. [ . . . . ] It is not an exaggeration to say that she was the person who would affect Gilbert's life more profoundly than anyone. He was totally dependent on her for his happiness."

The book then takes us through a chronicle of her life. The first chapter chronicles her early life, and by early life I mean the first 27 years. This chapter includes mention of her parents and sisters and touches briefly on the mystery of her father's military career. What was fascinating to me is that she was the governess of Rudyard Kipling's children! Chapter Two elaborates on Frances' courtship to Gilbert, and the absolute giddiness he felt when with her. In this chapter, Ms. Brown includes previously unpublished letters between the two and also compares the writing of Frances and Gilbert to show how in sync the two were. Chapter Three details the wedding, mentions the lack of photographs from the wedding, and includes an untrue and awful tale that Gilbert's sister-in-law (his brother's wife) wrote about Frances and Gilbert's wedding and marriage. It was completely unfounded, and an awful thing for someone to write about their worst enemy, let alone their family. I could go on giving you a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, but you'll have to buy the book.

The closing chapter which touched on Frances' death, obituary, and legacy was the most moving to me. It underscores the fact of how much Frances was subsumed into the man that was G.K. Chesterton. However, it also emphasized how brilliant, talented, and deeply religious of a woman she was as well. It's an old, but true adage that behind every great man, there is a great woman. This is true of Gilbert and Frances as well. Ms. Brown did a splendid job of capturing Frances' life and putting it on paper for us. She also managed to include Gilbert in this book without him overshadowing his wife, which is no small feat. If you want to know what made him such a great man, and possible saint one day, then you have to know his wife, and I know of no better book to accomplish that than The Woman Who Was Chesterton. Be sure to pick up a copy of this book and How Far is it to Bethlehem. You won't regret it!

This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

How Far is it to Bethlehem: The Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton

If you're an American Catholic, then you are no doubt familiar with the works of G.K. Chesterton. He has written great works like, Orthodoxy and Heretics; the mysteries of Father Brown; and works on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas. What a lot of people don't know is that his wife, Frances, was also a writer herself. Nancy Carpentier Brown compiled a plethora of her writings in the book How Far is it to Bethlehem. Within this book are plays she wrote for Christmas Eve productions which the Chestertons put on each year. They apparently had a stage in their house for home entertainment! She also wrote poems on many subjects, but her Christmas ones appeared often time in Christmas cards.

The book itself contains six plays, with not all of them complete. The first one is about the Children's Crusade, which is said to have taken place in 1212 and is a particularly dark time in history. Several of the other plays are Christmas themed with the names, "The Christmas Gift" and "The Three Kings." The plays seem to be written in a couplet rhyming scheme, i.e., A,A,B,B,C,C, etc. Normally I would construe this as forced rhyming, but as these plays were written for children, I can see the appeal for little ones with rhyming that way. The plays were interesting, but it is a bit like reading Shakespeare in that you would rather see it performed than just read it yourself. It would be wonderful to see some Catholic English or Drama teacher try and do a local production of one of these plays.

The poems take up the remaining half of this book and are divided into assorted poetry and Christmas poems. Like most people's poetry, it was probably private writing that was never meant to be read by anyone, but I am grateful for Nancy for compiling them for us, as we would have never been exposed to her personality and genius otherwise. The Christmas Card poetry was easily my favorite section. In these beautiful poems, we can see France Chesterton's love for Jesus, particularly Christ at His Nativity. Here are a few stanzas from her 1917 Christmas poem for which this book is named:

How far is it to Bethlehem?
Not very far.
Shall we find the stable room
Lit by the star?

Can we see the little Child?
Is He within?
If we lift the wooden latch
May we go in?

May we stroke the creatures there
Ox, ass, or sheep?
May we peep like them and see
Jesus asleep?

I am not a world class poetry expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed reading through Mrs. Chesterton's words. Some have a beautiful simplicity, and others blow you away with their depth. Even though her husband, G.K. Chesterton overshadowed his wife (not on purpose), this book shines a light on Frances' brilliance as well and shows how good of a match they were for each other. The old saying, "Behind every great man, there's a great woman" rings true with these two. If G.K. Chesterton is ever canonized, she will definitely be a large reason why. So if you are looking for a unique Christmas gift (or gift for any occasion), for that Chesterton fan in your life, I highly recommend How Far is it to Bethlehem.

This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!