The Confessions of X by Suzanne M. Wolfe

This is a novel. It is based on Saint Augustine's Confessions where he shares about his romance with the only woman that he ever loved. I have not read those writings myself. Suzanne M. Wolfe launches into the first chapter right away. She does not include any introduction to this novel. This book contains 37 chapters. Then the author ends with with a note about how she used information from Saint Augustine's Confessions as the basis for this novel. She includes 12 discussion questions at the end of her novel. She wraps it all up with acknowledgents of those who made her book possible, and an author bio. Suzanne M. Wolfe herself grew up in England. She read English literature at Oxford UNiversity and has cofounded the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society. She is Writer in Residence at Seattle Pacific University and has taught literature and creative writing there since 2000. This book is endorsed by other well-known authors.

This novel is quite interesting. I read through it quickly. I liked the subheadings as I did not have to write in the book. I plan to place this book as a "freebie" on my OneLadyFights4life.com book giveaway webpage. It is that good. The title indicates that this is a woman who had something of a "shady" past but who had a good heart and who deserved protection. This book meets my expectation in that regard, and more. At first, as I began reading, I had to warm up to the novel. That is because this story is set in a different time and in a different culture. It was when Augustine came into the picture that it began to make more sense to me and get more interesting. Because the book had portrayed "Lady X" as a concubine, I knew that a marriage was not going to happen. While I always sensed to concunbines were not wives, I knew they were not synomynous with prostitutes either. I know that concubines were common in Scripture and were ancient versions of our modern "common-law wives." In both cases, this is a monogamous live-in relationship where the couple cannot get married for some reason. In the case of Augustine and "Lady X" I could not understand why her low social status kept her from being marriage material for Augustine. What a snob system! I thought. Of course, the hearts of people have not changed, but in the days of Augustine and "Lady X" it was more institutionalized. I was saddened, awed,and angry at a system that resulted in the outcome of the relationship between Augustine and "Lady X." My concept of concubage was clarified when I read this book and saw that concubines were not shady women. However I remained unclear as to "Lady X's" relationship with Christ even at the end of this book.

I recommend this book for all those who like to read fiction. I recommend this book for all those who follow the history of Saint Augustine. And I recommend this book for all small groups who like to use novels as the basis for their groups. This is because of the discussion questions at the back of this book. I recommend this book for people of faith to read as a wholesome alternative to the torrid, steamy novels that are out there. I don't normally recommend Christian novels as a regular fare for Christians as we are to make the Bible our main source of nourishment. This book has lessons of love, commitment, loss, self-sacrifice and redemption.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Booklook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a favorable review of this book.