Chaucer’s Books Hosts Ellen O’Connell Whittet

Chaucer’s Books (3321 State Street)  hosts Ellen O’Connell Whittet for a book talk and signing of her novel Book of Hours.  Joining the author is the Reverend Sarah Thomas. 

Description

Following an unnamed woman’s journey from mystical childhood experiences to fertility struggles and motherhood, Book of Hours examines spiritual doubt, bodily autonomy, and expectations of women in a passionate debut for fans of Jenny Offill and Jessamine Chan.

As a child, the girl sees visions of saints. Saint Nicholas in elementary school. Saint Catherine of Siena during her confirmation. This secret, combined with her Catholic upbringing, breeds a fascination with female saints, who only achieved their holiness after enduring extreme suffering. Her obsession intensifies when she discovers “Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel,” a medieval French poem about a pregnant pilgrim saved by Saint Michael while miraculously giving birth in stormy seas.

The obsession fades as she steps into her marriage. But as she grapples with a years-long stretch of infertility, the woman finds herself once again grasping at the tale of “Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel”—searching for an explanation for her miscarriages and unsuccessful IVF treatments. She asks herself, hasn’t she suffered enough? Where is the holiness that was promised her? Entwining her story with the pilgrim’s turbulent pregnancy up until her own violent delivery, the woman delivers a healthy baby, but is left with the question: at what point does holy suffering end?

A celebration of the sacredness of women, and inspired by Whittet’s own experience with childbirth, Book of Hours confronts the erasure of women’s stories, historically and presently, through the lens of medieval mysticism and contemporary motherhood.

About the Author

Ellen O’Connell Whittet teaches in the Writing Program and College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her memoir, What You Become in Flight (Melville House, 2020) was named a most-anticipated book by Refinery 29 and Chicago Review. She has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She co-hosts the podcast Good Moms on Paper with writers Annie Hartnett and Tessa Fontaine. Ellen has written for The Cut, Time, Vogue, Paris Review Daily, Buzzfeed, Vulture, The Atlantic, Literary Hub, Prairie Schooner, where she won the Virginia Faulkner Award, the Harper Perennial Anthology The Moment (2012), and elsewhere. She lives with her family in Santa Barbara, CA.