The Discussion

[vicki]

Welcome to the VBC discussion of In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming! Discussion Leader Pat Floyd provides this great introduction to the discussion:

It all begins on a cold December night in Millers Kill, a small New York town on Millers Kill, a river in Washington County, not far from Lake George and the Adirondacks. Clare Fergusson is in her third week as priest of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the first church she’s served since being ordained. Clare began life as an army brat and was herself a helicopter pilot in the army before her call to the ministry. She’s from Virginia, near Norfolk, and up until now all her winter postings have been in places where the temperature stayed above freezing.

In the Bleak Midwinter begins with Clare’s discovery of a newborn baby boy carefully bundled against the cold and left with a note on the church steps. That discovery triggers a great deal of action and brings Clare into contact with Millers Kill Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne, the other principal in this series. Clare is in her thirties; Russ is forty-eight. A native of Millers Kill, Russ was in the army from Vietnam through Desert Storm, first in the infantry, then as an MP. On retiring from the army he returned home and heads the eight-man MKPD.

Clare is a woman of strong convictions, not much given to self-doubt, and quick to take action. She is her conservative church’s first woman priest. The church includes a few pleasant persons, but they aren’t on the vestry. That group sees the church’s mission as worship, baptisms, weddings, funerals, a few social events, a little charity and, of course, attracting the right kind of people and avoiding controversy. The police force impressed me more favorably with Harlene, the outspoken dispatcher, a favorite. Winter weather is also a force to be reckoned with In the Bleak Midwinter.

What are your views on Clare, Russ, the rest of the crew, and the actions they take?

In the Bleak Midwinter won the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, and Barry awards for best first mystery. The series, now seven books long, has titles taken from hymns and psalms. In the most recent book, One Was a Soldier, the hymn isn’t cited, but it’s from “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.”

Julia Spencer-Fleming was herself an army brat born at Plattsburgh Air Force Base. She says of these books: “Millers Kill is an amalgam of the towns and villages that I knew as a child. My family settled in the Adirondack Piedmont in the 1720s and I spent a lot of time tramping those hills . . . eavesdropping on the small-town gossip. . . . That part of New York, where poor farms and Saratoga money and the mountains all come together, has always held a bone-deep fascination for me.” Spencer-Fleming now lives in Maine with her husband and three children. Her web site is http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com

[KarenB]

I have loved this series from the beginning and just finished the last one - One Was a Soldier - which was excellent. Before I comment, though, I need to go back and reread the first to make sure I'm not spoiling the soup!

Pat posted on last month's thread about the lack of comments for some of our selections. RL has taken its toll for me for the last few months, limiting my commenting, which may be a reason for some others. Also, I find it easier to comment and think more deeply about a book given some thought-provoking questions. Perhaps we all ought to be encouraged to ask questions as well as comment?

[jtb1951]

This is the first book which I have read by this author, and I liked it well enough to want to read the rest. I enjoy reading books with settings and characters that I have limited familiarity with in real life. I'm a big-city boy, so I find rural settings, along with their inhabitants and social relationships, to have a certain interest. I have no personal familiarity with female clergy (of whom my Roman Catholic Church could benefit, imho...ducking the lightning bolts...), so I find Clare to be a very engaging co-protagonist. I think what I enjoyed the most about the book were the characterizations; the mystery was ok, but if the character emphasis isn't very strong in a mystery novel the mystery itself isn't likely to be enough for me to hold my interest. I can't really say much more right now without being spoilerish so I will defer further comment until a bit later.

Regarding Karen's comments, real life has certainly pulled me away this month; I'm hoping that will change a bit (although I admit to being a preoccupied worry-wart as our daughter gets closer to her due date; 6-7 weeks to go!)

John.

[MaryL]

John-I too think the our Church could use a little female balance, which doesn't enhance my popularity with the in-laws! anyway, I'm about half through ITBM and am finding my interest flagging-it does pick up again right?

The age-old question of a Church's purpose is brought up-should the focus shift to the disadvantaged? But then don't the better off also need a spiritual home? Good works vs. Faith? Must we ignore the youth of the middle class because others also need more? Shouldn't we teach the priveleged to give cheerfully? How to balance the competing impulses? WWJD? (I think I know why he wept!)

And how you gonna pay the electric bill if the folks with the money go elsewhere?

Karen-you wanted controversial questions...

[Pat Floyd]

MaryL, you raise great questions. In my youth I can remember pastors saying that their calling was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

My take on religion is that we need more "both-and" and less "either-or." We all need meaning for our lives, comfort in times of trouble, celebration of life's great moments. But both Jews and Christians are commanded to love their neighbors, to do justice, and to love kindness. In the light of those commands, what do rich and middle class people need from their religious leaders?

I think I may be the only VBC participant whose vocation has been in the church--Christian education rather than the pastorate. Therefore, I may be the only one to shudder at what Clare was trying to do after only three weeks at St. Alban's. Before introducing changes, you have to know people and give them a chance to know and trust you. What is right needs to be coupled with what is possible and with laying foundations for what will work best long term.

During the past six months my natural, liberal Methodist bent has been reinforced by a Roman Catholic program of JustFaith Ministries which is partnered with PaxChristi, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Catholic Charities, Bread for the World, and Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Most of those I've met want a stronger role for women, but some may be like Sister Thea Bowman, an African-American nun, who said, "Women can't preach in the Catholic church. But I can preach in the streets. I can preach in the neighborhood. I can preach in the home. I can preach and teach in the family." As a little girl in rural Mississippi, Thea had wanted to be a preacher. Unfortunately, her life, so rich in service, was ended by cancer at fifty-three.

[Lenore]

Originally Posted by Pat Floyd

I may be the only one to shudder at what Clare was trying to do after only three weeks at St. Alban's. Before introducing changes, you have to know people and give them a chance to know and trust you.

This is one of the things I am liking about the book. JS-F isn't telling us about Clare's inexperience and nervousness, she's showing us. A similar moment, in my view, is when she is talking to M/M Burns. She decides not to drink her coffee from her helicopter unit "Death from the Skies" mug, but rather from a Virginia Seminary mug. Myself, as a woman twice her age (and a lawyer, not a priest), would have felt that the "Death from the Skies" mug reinforced my real-life experience and my authority. But I can absolutely understand how a younger woman, in her first clerical post, would feel unsure of asserting herself in that way.

[Pat Floyd]

Lenore, an excellent point. Good writers--good storytellers--do more showing than telling, and Spencer-Fleming does it with a nice subtlety. I'm rereading the next two books, and in the third one we see Clare acting very competently and diplomatically with vestry members. Without your observation, I might not have noticed. Somewhere, I think Clare's age is mentioned, but I couldn't find it. However, working from information in the other books, I believe she was 34, not so young, but she was coping with a very different role in a totally unfamiliar environment among strangers.

[annie]

I like this book a lot and want to thank this board for introducing me to JS-F, and Pat & Sheri for sending me books when I couldn't get them here.

The plot is a fairly standard one, but I hardly noticed, the characters & their setting so beautifully drawn.
Rural poverty I am familiar with, and those descriptions were very similar to the UK.
Mostly however, this book shows me a foreign culture. The police, the military, & the social mores surrounding adoption are very different here. Even the church, although part of the Anglican communion, has a different social context. In the UK "priest" is almost exclusively RC.

One of my questions is: how typical is Clare? In so many ways (as so eloquently described above) she is typical of a new vicar: both the anxiety to get on with people, and to begin important work. Her plain-ness also seems typical of a woman with her mind on other things (and echoes of Jane Eyre, falling for a married man, although this one's wife makes curtains in the attic)
However, the only vicars I have known who served in the military were chaplains (even in the days of National Service, most got exemptions). To make the career move that Clare did seems unbelievable to me (although JS-F does a very convincing job).
It is her stint in the military that enables her to make a connection with Russ - at first it seems that he can allow himself to get a bit close b/c she's really like an army mate. That is typical of the depth of this book - many authors would have just had them making a connection, but here it is well-crafted.

Later I want to ask some questions about the murderer, but don't want to put in spoilers too near the beginning!

[Pat Floyd]

Annie, as far as adoption is concerned, in the U.S. each state, by statute and case law, determines how adoptions will take place in that state. Lenore, I'm sure, can speak more knowledgeably to that issue. Then there is the matter of implementing the laws. In this book the Department of Human Services was viewed with a great deal of hostility. In Tennessee I know DHS staff have sometimes been very much at fault, but they are carrying case loads no human being could serve adequately, and they are dealing with budget constraints that don't permit optimum care for all clients.

As far as Clare is concerned, her call to the priesthood came while she was in the army. Here as well as in Britain clergy in the military are chaplains as far as I know.

I took a look at Episcopal church web sites in Nashville. They all list rector as the title for the senior clergy person, but they also list priest assistants, and in other text it's clear that they use priest as a designation. I had not been aware of that. In the Northeastern U.S. Protestant clergy wear clerical collars more often than they do in other parts of the country. Visitation in large cities, especially, is aided by clothing that defines one's role. When I was growing up in the South ministers in white churches were addressed as Mr. or Dr. Black churches used Rev. Now people are so often on a first-name basis that titles are used less often.

[annie]

Thanks Pat: I do have some awareness of the variability of US adoption laws as I have dealt with children adopted from 3 different American States. I was thinking more of the general social attitudes to adoption.

Here each individual church varies on how it addresses its vicar or rector depending on its own history. However, Clare's grandmother would be happy that Reverend remains an adjective. In the village where I live, we have had for instance, the Reverend Tabitha Twitchett and Canon Jeremy Fisher, both were rectors of the parish (some names may have been changed!). Although the wonderful Tom Hollander has just done a very funny series about an inner-city parish, called Rev

Although she is not an unhappy person, Clare's life did not seem a happy one to me. It seemed that she had always had to be of service to someone. The unpacked boxes spoke of someone not looking after herself very well.