Footfalls in Memory

by Terry Waite

For the first year of Terry Waite's solitary confinement in Beirut he was given nothing to read. During those days not only did he write his autobiography in his head, but he also attempted to remember the books, poems and prayers he had read during his life.



Eventually his guards mellowed and he was given books. He received a wide variety ranging from Herodotus to novels.



Now, Terry Waite has collected together selections from the books he remembered, the books he received and the books he wished he had been given. This selection provokes memories of childhood, travels and captivity as he vividly recalls personal stories and anecdotes and as he takes the reader down the corridors of his memory.



Footfalls in Memory, through the works of Solzhenitsyn, T.S. Eliot, William Styron, John Bunyan, Dostoevsky, Irina Ratushinskaya and many others, plus extracts from the Bible, and the Book of Common Prayer, gives another fascinating insight into a life illuminated by literature of all kinds.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Terence Hardy "Terry" Waite CBE is an English humanitarian and author. Waite was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages, including the journalist John McCarthy. He was himself kidnapped and held captive from 1987 to 1991. [Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a commonplace book, a genre I am just now encountering in the flesh, so to speak, having run across references to them many times over the years. Synchronistically, the other book I'm currently reading, Provence by Lawrence Durrell was developed out of a commonplace book kept by Durrell and two of his friends while he lived in Provence. Commonplace books were popular during the Renaissance and Nineteenth Century, as a place to part a variety things from favorite poems, to Bible verses, to recipes. I suppose the closest modern corollary would be iPhone Notes, where I tend to post interesting comments, titles of books I want to read, passages from newspaper and magazine articles, etc.

Terry Waite was a hostage negotiator, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury in Beirut, when he was seized by the Islamic Jihad Organization and held captive in solitary confinement for 1,763 days. He was desperate for books to fill the interminable hours of imprisonment. Some of the guards complied and brought him books, which he avidly read, regardless of the topic. They kept him sane and alive over those long years.

This book is a collection of selections from some of those books, as well as from books he wished he had had and would go over in his memory to pass the time. It's eclectic to say the least, sampler of various genres from religious to fiction to travel journals to memoirs. Each passage is preceded by a reflection by Waite describing how the book came to him and how it spoke to his current condition. Those "preludes" also advance the narrative of his captivity and chronicle his interior growth.

There are passages from the Bible and from the Koran, from Dostoyevsky and Jung, from Bunyan and Cellini. from Styron and Koestler. I'd be hard pressed to say I understood why each of the passages resonated with Waite, but I found most of them interesting. However, Waite's preludes were what drew me through the book. That and wondering what piece would come up next.

[Lin SINGH-BARRINGTON · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive read which makes good Quakerley reading for those exploring Friends with a view to membership. Very readable, full of humility and faith, Waite is a goodly writer for the spiritually inclined and anyone searching for God.

[Zareen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having finished reading Taken On Trust, I considered this volume of his reflections as an important read.

There were some choices that I found difficult to engage in, but it helped me to understand Terry Waite a little better. I am very happy that I acquired & have this volume.

At the end of Footfalls of Memory, Terry Waite lists the four goals for the rest of his life. He is working steadily towards their achievement.

[Terri Kirkham]

Signed copy

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

five years imprisonment by Islamic captors...faith, humility, understanding. And the author is a Stephen Spender fan - "tell them I have had a very happy life."