Jenufla [NOOK Book]

Overview

This story of a girl and the two men in her life is a gentle tale of young people looking for a purpose in life and finding it through love, politics and religion. It revolves around real events in the 1960s and concludes with a dramatic ending that challenges commonly held views about the purpose of life.

The 1950’s turn in to the hedonistic 1960s. Social values change along with morals and culture. Establishment is challenged and young people worry about The Bomb.

Paul is a young man exploring his options in this changing world. He is floating in a stream wondering to which river of life it is a tributary. He joins in left wing political protest in a quest to belong to a movement. He immerses himself into going out with friends, drinking and meeting girls. His best friend is his anchor and sounding board. Their adventures sometimes turn to violence. One girl attracts him but he does not know her. Their paths cross infrequently and without speaking they become more aware of each other’s presence. She is just a girl who he believes is probably unattainable. It was a time when young people went to church youth clubs. Paul drifts into a churchyard after an evening of drinking and feels a call to explore something that has stood there in the background all the time. He becomes involved with his local church and ends up with two worlds; that of his church friends and their conservatism and that of his drinking friends and their socialism.

The girl has a boyfriend who is comfortable and safe. She isolates her love life so that she can focus on her studies. He wants more from her and they separate. She searches for another pillar and, like Paul, begins to explore her life options encouraged by a bohemian girl friend. She goes to France with her best friend and in the lake by the hotel she tries to save her friend from drowning.

Paul eventually meets the girl and takes her out. They gently and slowly slip into love and marry. He is still indecisive about his future but eventually decides to go for ordination in the Church of England. The girl supports him but their relationship is strained as her previous boyfriend is still in her life and they part, only to reconcile when Paul finally settles his mind as to where he wants to go in a dramatic an encounter with his future in the middle of a blinding snowstorm on the moors when he comes face to face with God.

Above all, this is a love story written in a reflective and descriptive style creating vivid images of life, experiences and the ambience in which the story takes place. The young man’s journey takes him toward God and the Christian faith when faith is not a fashionable subject. It explores his doubts and disbeliefs as well as his realisation that there is a spiritual side to life and that his faith is a conduit to understanding that. He comes to understand what is the truth, in his eyes, and he sees his future clearly before him with the girl. It is an exploration into those things that are beyond comprehension but which humankind desires to understand. It should appeal to Christians and those of no faith but who seek only to understand.