Here's one I liked and you might, too.

Lorna Byrne. Angels in My Hair. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Hardcover. 320 pages. ISBN 0385528965. $24.95.



These are Lorna Byrne’s stories of encounters with spirits and angels from her childhood in Dublin through to the present.

The details of her everyday life ground the story. It’s hard to believe now just how poor Ireland was until very recently. Even in the 70s, a wedding reception would be held at home to avoid the expense of a hotel; a pregnancy required selling the family car to meet the costs of raising a child.

At every step, Byrne is guided by angels. Quite apart from the ordinary tasks of life, she has to struggle with the isolation of rarely finding others who see and feel what she sees and feels. The angels guide her in this, too. Through attendance at charismatic prayer groups, she eventually begins to give voice to what she perceives.

Angels in My Hair is a delightful book and one that is filled with light.

More of what I've been reading these last few months on my book blog: http://true-small-caps.blogspot.com

Thanks, Derek. Looks very interesting.

Derek:

Yes, this one would stir the already active pot of conversation we've had here at SP about angels, discerning spirits, etc. . . But, not surprisingly, I found it quite an edifying read. And if you look the author up on Youtube, you can see how she is genuine and caring, and hardly seems deluded, given the apparent loving qualities she seems to be embody. Light on her feet, but I guess if your peering into the heavenly realms on a regular basis you tend to become thin like the veil. Seeing this occasionally in hospice care keeps me from being a vegetarian.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I thought it was great.

She may not have eaten very much for large parts of her life -- from reading the book, she seems to have been desperately impoverished. This may account for her gaunt look even now.

Yes, I remember that touching story. It seems her angels kept her open to the bits of human love that occasionally came her way. But I wasn't so much refering to her small, slight stature as the shimmering quality she has that can't be completely embodied. I've seen folks somewhat like her, but who were rather dissociative, but this lady seems to have been consciously connected to her emotional pain much of time, which is a kind of grounding if it doesn't gut you. But yes, she was of the poor from the start, but rich in spirit without losing her childhood trust in grace. I don't believe I was ever left hungry, except when sent to bed with no supper - leaving another kind of hunger which can't be filled with food. Lauren's heart was being filled all the time, it seems, and so she kept her heart open to all kinds of human misery.