Lety’s Gift

Coralie Hughes Jensen
Lightening Rider Press (2006)
ISBN 9780978731809
Reviewed by Regan Windsor for Reader Views (6/07)


Sophie, Lety’s daughter, stands at the podium for hours, relaying to the students her rise from a young woman left in a jailhouse-like orphanage to the first woman Anglican bishop in Newfoundland’s Eastern Diocese.  As she tells her story to the students, the reader is transported back to the 1950’s when her mother, naively seduced by a sailor, finds herself alone and pregnant, certain her true love will return to her.  She gives birth to a daughter, born with a caul and branded with “the gift.”

Sophie’s father does not return however, and her mother ends up fatally slipping on the very rocks she has sat and waited on, watching the sea for his return over the prior few years.  Sophie is left with her grandmother who torments her with her strict and cruel ways.  She too soon passes away and Sophie finds herself in the home of her friend Grace, whose father is a minister.  The minister offers to give Sophie special Bible lessons; lessons that turn out to be about the abusive affinity the minister has for little girls.

At thirteen, Sophie is sent to an orphanage where she endures hard labor and rarely sees the light of day.  When a traumatizing incident occurs at the orphanage Sophie is introduced to Dr. Fairbourne, a psychiatrist, that will help her come to terms with her childhood and understand and appreciate her gift for what it is.  He will become an important fixture in her life, altering her path and inspiring her to be the successful woman, and ultimately bishop, that she grows to become.

“Lety’s Gift” is a story of triumph and growth.  Following one woman’s struggle to reclaim herself from the abuse and self-doubt of her childhood, it is an inspirational journey of perseverance and faith.  The format is an intriguing blend of memories and stories, structured through the autobiographical presentation to the students of an old college friend.  Readers will have a hard time leaving this book behind as Sophie will have carved a place in their heart.  I am not one to reread books, but this book is a treasure I find myself returning too, a rare road I am drawn to venture down again.

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