A Year Lost and Found

by Michael Mayne

A meditation on illness, suffering, redemption and hope by the author of The Enduring Melody. Michael Mayne writes, ‘This unashamedly is a very personal book about one year of my life and what a sudden, mysterious, knockdown kind of illness does to you and your family; bout doctors and their still limited knowledge in certain areas; and about a God who stops you dead in your tracks and sets you groping for answers.’ ‘Michael Mayne writes the kind of theology that works for those of us who switch off when we hear yet another dry sermon or turn the pages of one more eminently forgettable book. His theology is carved, often extremely painfully, out of real life, his life, with all the experiences, encounters and exchanges which make his life – and each of our lives – unique. Reading A Year Lost and Found again, I find the same freshness and integrity which thrilled me then. We are pointed to eternal truths in an ever-new way.’ From the Foreword by Frances Dominica, All Saints Sisters of the Poor This remarkable and unusual book by one of the great Anglican priest-writers speaks to all of us who look for illumination ‘on the other side of the dark’. It makes a poignant complement to Michael Mayne’s last book, The Enduring Melody, which was written twenty years later, in the final months of his life.

Genres: Spirituality

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mayne was vicar at the university church in Cambridge when he came down with a mysterious, debilitating illness, only later diagnosed as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), or post-viral fatigue syndrome. During his illness he was offered the job of Dean of Westminster, and accepted the post even though he worried about his ability to carry out his duties. He writes of his frustration at not getting better and receiving no answers from doctors, but much of this short memoir is – unsurprisingly, I suppose – given over to theological musings on the nature of suffering, with lots of quotations (too many) from theologians and poets.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2011: This small volume contains profound insight for those dealing with illness and for those who have questions about the higher purpose suffering may serve if we allow it to. Within its pages I found a welcome solace, and renewed faith and trust in God regarding my own challenging circumstances.

Highly recommended. 5 stars

*Update 2017: This second reading serves as a perfect example that the mindset of the reader can never be underestimated when it comes to rating a book. At that first reading I was in my second year of the same illness as the author, reading the author's thoughts about his agonizing year of affliction—physically, mentally, and spiritually—and his subsequent healing after a year's time. As you might imagine his words come across quite differently now as I'm closing in on my ninth year of illness with no end in sight. From my own experience I have come to find the idea of a "higher purpose in suffering" to be more relevant when the suffering has ended and the person is looking back at the dark time rather than in the midst of it. Not surprisingly the things I found so very hopeful and encouraging in the book then are much less so now.

Yet despite my differing view and the number of stars I've given the book this time, there is still much worthwhile to think about and ponder within its pages.

3 stars

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first half of the book, The author describes the course of his mystery illness, which took about a year and was diagnosed as M.E but only at the end of the year. In the second half of the book, he talks about what he has learned during this year - a year lost to illness but also a year in which he found out more about himself and God. It is a profound book about the nature of being human, about wanting to achieve and finding yourself helpless, about drawing strength from God and from others. The strength of the book lies in the authors honesty about his struggles, including his struggles with God.

[Allan Dickinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a year with M.E., a spell from which Michael Mayne, a priest in the Church of England, was fortunately able to recover. It describes the frustrations of living with this condition when even less was known about it than now. Much more than this, it reflects on how we might respond to being struck down by such an illness, how we might reflect on this from the perspective of faith, and how we might learn and even grow from the experience.

[Toast · Rating 2 out of 5]

More a thoughtful 'Why did God give me this horrible unknown illness' thesis than a memoir or discussion or my experience of or my recovery from book. Food for thought but not for the fainthearted.
Toast
PS My early rant still stands. I would have been miffed if I had paid £15+ for this very slim but heavy volume.

[Barry Parham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful (and very personal) meditation on illness and hope, from Michael Mayne, former Dean of Westminster Abbey.

[Louise Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://louiser89.com/2014/04/23/revie...