Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed

Description

On 8 March 1941, a 27-year-old Jewish Dutch student living in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam made the first entry in a diary that was to become one of the most remarkable documents to emerge from the Nazi Holocaust. Over the course of the next two and a half years, an insecure, chaotic and troubled young woman was transformed into someone who inspired those with whom she shared the suffering of the transit camp at Westerbork and with whom she eventually perished at Auschwitz. Through her diary and letters, she continues to inspire those whose lives she has touched since. She was an extraordinarily alive and vivid young woman who shaped and lived a spirituality of hope in the darkest period of the twentieth century. This book explores Etty Hillesum's life and writings, seeking to understand what it was about her that was so remarkable, how her journey developed, how her spirituality was shaped, and what her profound reflections on the roots of violence and the nature of evil can teach us today.

Patrick Woodhouse is a writer and an Anglican priest. He was for thirteen years a Canon of Wells Cathedral. He has also worked as a parish priest, and a social responsibility adviser in two Anglican dioceses. His publications include Beyond Words, a guide to a contemplative way of prayer, and With You is the Well of Life, a collection of prayers for private and public use (both published by Kevin Mayhew.) He now lives in south Somerset.

'[Hillesum's] inspirational reflections on the roots of violence and the nature of evil have as much relevance now as they did in the 1940s.' The Bookseller, February 2009 Review in Morning Star, March 2009 "[A] superb and moving account of her life and writings, touching on Hillesum's profound reflections on violence and the nature of evil." Catholic Herald, April 2009 "Complicated, intelligent, passionate and disarming by turns, Etty Hillesum is interpreted here as a woman for our time. The forward to the book, written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, argues that by examining the life of Etty Hillesum, the reader is able to understand how a theology of hope and of the redemptive meaning of suffering can emerge, even from the darkest of contexts." - Lavinia Byrne, Cheddar Valley Gazette, March 2009 -- L. Byrne Mention in Cheddar Valley Gazette article, 'Evensong honours Etty's life and story', Lavinia Byrne, March 2009. Reviewed in Church Times, 26 June 2009 "This is a very precious book that left me feeling very grateful for the life of Etty Hillesum. Patrick Woodhouse has written about her with a clarity and unobtrusive simplicity that is wholly appropriate." One in Christ, Vol 43.1 -- Jonathan Gorsky, Heythrop College "Etty was pyschologically complex to say the least, and her story presents us with a disturbing and challenging spirituality for a world wracked with hatred" The Tablet 22 August 2009 "A touching and wonderful book" The Good Book Stall. "For anyone involved in pastoral care, there are rich and thought-provoking resources here and Woodhouse is an excellent guide. ... Inspiring and deceptively simple book." The Pastoral Review, May/June 2010. This book is at home in a silent sanctuary and in a noisy prison - in any place, at any time. Read it. Let it do what it will ... In this memoir of Etty, Patrick Woodhouse has done far more than condense her story into 153 pages. He has immersed himself in her life so deeply and so passionately that Etty seems to be speaking through him * Church Times *