Weeping Bay

by Joy Davidman

Tourists often passed through the little town of Weeping Bay in the Gaspé peninsula. They exclaimed from their big automobiles at the magnificent scenery, the quaint local customs, the picturesque fishermen's huts, and at the church with its gilt towers. They exclaimed too when the carnival came to town and they saw the girls in their bright, sleazy rayon dresses, the gaunt factory men and fishermen, and the worn young mothers -- 'Did you ever see such a bunch of scarecrows?'

But they did not see the real Weeping Bay. They saw Leon and Odilon, two stony-faced brothers, and said, 'In the States a couple of kids like that would be giggling with a couple of girls.' But they did not know that Leon was mourning the pitiful, unnecessary death of his young wife, and that Odilon was hiding the terrible knowledge that he had betrayed his friends. They saw Hervé Kirouac glowering as Rita, the carnival singer, aimed her intimate little song in his direction; but they did not suspect the violence of his response, nor the reason for it. Nor could they understand the separate struggles of many human beings, which reached their climax in Hervé's defiant question -- 'This Gaspé, what is wrong with it? Why do we starve?'

There is passion and violence, love and hate, and unquenchable human longing in Weeping Bay. There was also, in many people's opinion, a wrong--a wrong that could have been righted by faith in humanity, rather than by desperate clinging to a rigid creed. It is that story that Joy Davidman tells with such force and searing intensity.

257 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Joy Davidman (born Helen Joy Davidman; 18 April 1915 – 13 July 1960) was an American poet and writer. Often referred to as a child prodigy, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University in English literature in 1935. For her book of poems, Letter to a Comrade, she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1938 and the Russell Loines Award for Poetry in 1939. She was the author of several books, including two novels.

While an atheist and after becoming a member of the American Communist Party, she met and married her first husband and father of her two sons, William Lindsay Gresham, in 1942. After a troubled marriage, and following her conversion to Christianity, they divorced and she left America to travel to England with her sons.

Davidman published her best known work, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments in 1954 with a preface by C.S. Lewis. Lewis had been an influence on her work and conversion and became her second husband after her permanent relocation to England in 1956. She died from secondary bone cancer in 1960.

The relationship that developed between Davidman and Lewis has been featured in a television BBC film, a stage play and a cinema film named Shadowlands. Lewis published A Grief Observed under a pseudonym in 1961, from notebooks he kept after his wife's death revealing his immense grief and a period of questioning God.

Reviews

[Kat Coffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the first thing that should be said is that despite my deep love of Joy Davidman and how masterful and gorgeous her poetry is...she is not a great prose writer.

"Weeping Bay" reads a bit like a political rant with some characters thrown in. There are too many characters, for one thing--it's impossible to keep them all straight. The plot meanders here and there and the writing is just clunky. Joy has a lot to say about reproductive rights and contraception (probably the best part of the book is when one of the characters goes on a heartbreaking rant because his wife died of a botched abortion because their Catholic town frowned on basic contraception). But she has trouble putting these strong opinions into a compelling narrative.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the story is subpar...the book itself is a fascinating look into Joy Davidman. While I'd never reread it for fun, I will undoubtedly reread it for academic purposes. My brain is brimming with a million paper ideas. I think one of the most fascinating chapters is the final chapter, which almost sounds like she wrote it purely to attract C.S. Lewis...she has an awful lot of allusions to "Mere Christianity".

While I don't recommend it as a fun read, I do recommend it for us small tribe of Joy Davidman stans.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Life’s a bitch. Life’s a bad joke. If I knew who made it like this, I would smash his filthy face in for him…Perfect, the whole world! Except the people. You tell me, What is wrong with the people?...Sin…Lord's sake, all you got to do is read what He said in that little book I give you. Chapter five, six, and seven. Go on, read it. I tell you, brother, we're put into this world for some purpose, ain't up to us to try and figure it. Leave that to God. But having kids hungry ain't in it. That ain't any of it. A fellow that gets his head beat off working for decent pay and conditions, brother, I'm saying he's got the Lord Jesus right by his side.”

“‘Do you see that boy there? Come here, son!’ Paul-Emile reluctantly left the trawl line and made his way to them. Hervé, cupping the young face in his good hand, tilted it upward. The boy gazed at his father with wondering love…’I ain't denying book education, brother. Long as it serves the Lord. But there's three things above all else a man's got to have: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. And bless God, brother, that's what you've given him-I can see it a-shining out of him like a candle through a cabin wall, right through the chinks.’"

"This world? We ain't nothing but kids, leaming to tend a trawl line. And if that boy comes to you, asking for a slab of fish for his supper, you ain't going to turn around and heave no swamp rattle-snake at him. Well, now. Our Heavenly Father is a-looking out for us, same as you look out for your young uns. Don't that make sense?"

“He closed his eyes and said, as if he were speaking to a third man who had just joined them, ‘Lord Jesus, whatever that poor child done, I reckon you got it all straightened out by this time. Only, if she's having any trouble opening her heart to the blessed Grace, just let this poor sinner's praying get added to her own stack. Amen.’” Joy Davidman’s Weeping Bay is a literary hallelujah.