{"product_id":"lying-awake-isbn-9780375706066","title":"Lying Awake","description":"Mark Salzman's \u003cb\u003eLying Awake\u003c\/b\u003e is a finely wrought gem that plumbs the depths of one woman's soul, and in so doing raises salient questions about the power-and price-of faith.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life.\"A lean, seemingly effortless tour de force...a perfect little novel.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Spare, luminous...Salzman makes this cloistered society not only believable, but also compelling.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A singularly rich and abundant work.... [Salzman has an] ability to convey spiritual states with a lambent clarity.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A satisfying and  evocative questioning of faith and art.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Oregonian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mark Salzman is...a poet, capturing in the pages of \u003ci\u003eLying Awake\u003c\/i\u003e, his shining novel about devotion and doubt, a mysticism that reaches back in time to an older tradition, yet dwells easily in the present.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A gentle story.... Graceful, lucid and enjoyable.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Elegant.... Salzman's depiction of Sister John's conflict, convent life and this society of devoted women is a marvelous accomplishment.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eLying Awake \u003c\/i\u003eshowcases an almost ethereal talent, one that can handle complex ideas with a touch lighter than air.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003eMark Salzman is the author of \u003ci\u003eIron \u0026amp; Silk, Lost in Place\u003c\/i\u003e, and the previous novels \u003ci\u003eThe Laughing Sutra \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Soloist.\u003c\/i\u003e  He lives in Los Angeles.July 25\u003cbr\u003eSaint James, Apostle\u003cbr\u003eSister John of the Cross pushed her blanket aside, dropped to her knees on the floor of her cell, and offered the day to God. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery moment a beginning, every moment an end. \u003cbr\u003eThe silence of the monastery coaxed her out of herself, calling her to search for something unfelt, unknown, and unimagined. Her spirit responded to this call with an algorithm of longing. Every moment of being contained an indivisible -- and invisible -- denominator. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe lit a vigil candle and faced the plain wooden cross on the wall. It had no corpus because, in spirit, she belonged there, taking Christ's place and helping relieve his burden.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuffering borne by two is nearly joy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFighting the stiffness in her limbs, she lifted her brown scapular, symbol of the yoke of Christ, and began the clothing prayer:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClothe me, O Lord, with the armor of salvation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe let the robe's two panels drop from her shoulders to the hemline, back and front, then stepped into the rough sandals that identified her as a member of the Order of Discalced -- shoeless -- Carmelites, founded by Saint Teresa of Avila in the sixteenth century. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePurify my mind and heart. Empty me of my own will, that I may be filled with Yours. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA linen wimple, with the black veil of Profession sewn to its crown, left only the oval of her face exposed. Mirrors were not permitted in the cloister, but after twenty-eight years of carrying out this ritual every morning, she could see with her fingers as she adjusted the layers of fabric to a pleasing symmetry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLet these clothes remind me of my consecration to this life of enclosure, silence, and solitude. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe sat at her desk to read through the poems she had written the night before -- keeping her up until past midnight -- and made a few changes. Then she made her bed and carried her washbasin out to the dormitory bathroom. She walked quietly so as not to wake her Sisters, who would not stir for at least another hour. The night light at the end of the hall was shaded with a transparency of a rose window; its reflection on the polished wood floor fanned out like a peacock's tail. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Sister John emptied the basin into the sink, taking care to avoid splashing, the motion of the water as it spiraled toward the drain triggered a spell of vertigo. It was a welcome sensation; she experienced it as a rising from within, as if her spirit could no longer be contained by her body.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWherever You lead me, I will follow. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstead of going to the choir to wait for the others, she returned to her cell, knelt down on the floor again, and unfocused her eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlessed is that servant whom the master finds awake when he comes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePure awareness stripped her of everything. She became an ember carried upward by the heat of an invisible flame. Higher and higher she rose, away from all she knew. Powerless to save herself, she drifted up toward infinity until the vacuum sucked the feeble light out of her. \u003cbr\u003e? ? ?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA darkness so pure it glistened, then out of that darkness,\u003cbr\u003enova. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore luminous than any sun, transcending visibility, the flare consumed everything, it lit up all of existence. In this radiance she could see forever, and everywhere she looked, she saw God's love. As soon as she could move again, she opened her notebook and began writing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tNational Bestseller Author of Iron \u0026amp; Silk","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303857901797,"sku":"NP9780375706066","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375706066.jpg?v=1767731994","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/lying-awake-isbn-9780375706066","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}