Ravished: Notes on Womanhood

by Heather King

Single, childless, I went in the fall of 2015 to Rome for the Synod on the Family.My model was Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day who during the Second Vatican Council, sailed from NYC by freight boat, took a room in the poor quarter of the city, and for ten days fasted on bread and water and prayed. It wasn’t exactly like that for me. Still, I ate simply. I more or less kept silence. I walked along the banks of the Tiber, and pondered. I thought of how Dorothy had given up the love of her life, an atheist who objected to the baptism of the child they’d conceived. She laid down her life for the poor, the marginalized, the hungry. She remained celibate for the rest of her life.I thought of how the word “mother” comes from the same root as matter. I pondered the line from Luke’s Gospel where the women who followed Christ “ministered unto him of their substance.”From their matter, their essence. Their bodies and blood.These essays are part of my own body and blood that have been poured out—through a lifetime of romantic anguish, a divorce, three abortions, and since the mid-‘90s, a fervent and ongoing conversion. I can’t find a place for myself—as a woman, as a human being—in contemporary culture. For any man or woman who feels the same—take this book. And eat. HEATHER KING is an award-winning author, an ex-lawyer, a sober alcoholic, and a Catholic convert with several books. She speaks nationwide, appears monthly in Magnificat , and writes a weekly column on arts and culture for Angelus , the archdiocesan newspaper of L.A. For more, visit Heather Mystery, Smarts, Laughs [heather-king.com].

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2019

Reviews

[Margaret Gipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. This book could have used a more aggressive editor. It had the feel of a collection of blog posts that lacked a strong central theme or style yet contained redundant phrases and paragraphs. I felt like the lack of coherence as a book was a shame, because Heather King is an engaging writer with an approachable and clever voice. I really enjoyed hearing the life experiences she shares here and her heartfelt honesty is quite striking. There were lots of reflections I found thought-provoking, a couple I found unsettling, and another couple that really made me mad. Definitely a memorable, worthwhile read.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reality

At last a woman who is not afraid to share her pain and challenges in her spiritual journey, in her life as a single woman, as a hurting human as we all are.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this and flew through it. Heather King is not you average Catholic woman, and I loved reading her perspective on womanhood (she’s divorced, has no living children, has had abortions, is a recovering alcoholic). It’s kind of like a spiritual memoir / reflections on being a woman in the church and what it means if you don’t fit the standard archetype.

[Maria Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

King provides an honest and unflinching reflection on her own life. She draws out much of what is universal about the human experience from the particulars of her own life.