Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

Katherine Forrester Vigneras #2

A Severed Wasp

madeleine l/engle

... Show More
Katherine Forrester Vigneras, in a continuation of her story from The Small Rain, returns to New York City from Europe to retire. Now in her seventies, she encounters an old friend from her Greenwich Village days who, it turns out, is the former Bishop of New York. He asks Katherine to give a benefit concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This leads to new demands on her resources--human, artistic, psychological, and spiritual--that are entirely unexpected.

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1982
Series
Katherine Forrester Vigneras

This edition

Format
388 pages, Paperback
Published
November 1, 1983 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN
9780374517830
ASIN
0374517835
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Katherine Forrester Vigneras

    Katherine Forrester Vigneras

    a concert pianist, the daughter of distinguished musical artists...

  • Emily Gregory

    Emily Gregory

    a piano prodigy, 10 years old when the saga begins; she was blinded during an attack in the apartment that later became the Austinsmore...

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for madeleine l/engle

madeleine l/engle

... Show More

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
34(34%)
4 stars
31(31%)
3 stars
34(34%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
riphamika
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
A captivating read

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel
The author has an amazing ability to "paint" the scene . I love the descriptive use of words.
The characters are been developed in great depth and each character is unique.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
erastale
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
One of the best books I've read in a long time! Several plots all wind together into one which keeps you entertained and interested in what will happen next. If you are a "true" reader, you'll likely love this one.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
JOHNCH3
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
The back cover blurb and front cover picture didn't really convince me, but a little way in and I was intrigued. I've heard good things about Madeleine L'Engle and now I'll definitely read more of her works. Maybe it felt a little slow at first, and suited to/aimed at an older readership (perhaps?), but I got more and more engrossed in the story as it went on, and it became a page turner. I appreciate the realistic perspective it gave to marriage (and what makes a marriage lasting and loving) and generally to the complications of life, church, responsibility, forgiveness and so on.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
slayerdart
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Katherine Vigneras, a world-famous concert pianist, has retired to New Year after years of living in Europe. Widowed for many years and beginning to feel her age, she hopes to sit back now and relax. But no. She meets her old friend Felix, who is now a bishop at a great cathedral. He begs her to perform a benefit concert for the cathedral. She agrees, but things get complicated as she is drawn into the church community. Everyone wants to share their secrets with her, and now she’s getting threatening phone calls. What is going on? And what about her own secrets that she hasn’t told anyone? It’s an engrossing book, a bit long at 388 pages, and some of its happenings are a little too coincidental. I had trouble keeping the many characters straight, but in the end, it’s a very satisfying book, and I recommend it.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
PillowRunn3r
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Strange, beautiful, haunting, insightful - this treasure of a book had everything I love in one story. Madeleine L'Engle is so famous for A Wrinkle in Time, it's easy to forget she has written so many other great books.

This story is a continuation of another book, The Small Rain, and catches up with Katherine, a concert pianist, retiring in New York after living in Europe for many years. She meets up with an old friend, a former Bishop of the Catholic Church in New York, and in turn gets involved with his friends and their families. Secrets abound and her quiet, reflective nature makes her the perfect person to hear them all. The secrets are a large part of the narrative.

I loved being immersed in the world of classical musicians against the backdrop of a gorgeous cathedral and all the life that goes on inside and outside its walls. This was a quiet yet provocative read. Just loved it.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
MidnightGreen09
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
A haunting, if a bit slow, portrait of complex women. I’m thankful for Madeline L’Engle’s interest in telling stories in which women are complicated, raw and real in very relatable ways - while also being incredible accomplished - two things that authors often seem to keep at odds with one another. This rating is for the character development and writing style. The story is a bit slow and some plot points are a bit unbelievable. I appreciate a glimpse into a life in the Close with which I’m unfamiliar. Racial stereotypes do not age well. Probably not a book I’d recommend unless you were as taken with the Small Rain storyline as I was.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
GothicShadow22
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
What a creative writing style! There is no real plot until the very end of the book. Three hundred pages were mostly spent describing Katherine’s past and interweaving it with her present. A really cool variation of romance, music, WWII and faith.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
floob_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
So good - except for the homophobia. Oh, L’Engle, why such homophobia? How can you spend so much time in the worlds of art and the Episcopal church and be like this? Well, I guess because you were born in 1916.

‘The stench still assailed her nostrils, spilled sour wine, sweat, vomit. It had been, she realized now, an early and surely one of the worst 'gay' bars, and there had been nothing gay about it. There had been nothing of love there, either. It was Sarah's idea of slumming. Why Felix went along with Sarah in being amused by it, she could not guess.’

‘After my marriage broke up, I fell apart. I decided there was no such thing as faithful love, and I picked up partners in the shabbiest sorts of gay bars, in a kind of frantic and stupid rebellion. There is no love, no friendship, nothing beyond jerking off with someone in the john at the back of the bar." He stopped abruptly. "I've offended you. My language-oh, God, Katya, I'm sorry, I've shocked you.”’

What’s also fascinating, having read some works about L’Engle, is the suspicion that Katherine represents Madeleine better than the ‘Madeleine’ in her non-fiction writings, particularly in the prickly relationship with her daughter(s), the dead son, the warm relationships with grandchildren, and the chosen family of admiring young people.
0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.