Christine Sunderland is one of the early Baby Boomers. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and experienced the commotion of the Vietnam protests during her college years, lived in Canada for some time, and returned to California in 1977.
Christine and her husband have traveled often to Western Europe over the last twenty years and her novels reflect the large questions of our world today: What is civilization? Why is our past important? How do we understand where we are going? Her novels, set in the present but layered with the past, reflect these themes.
She is also fascinated with the structure of belief, the interaction of body and soul, matter and spirit. Her first novel, Pilgrimage, was released by OakTara in 2007. The sequel, Offerings, set in France, will be available in 2009. The third in the trilogy, Inheritance, set in England, will follow. A fourth novel, Hana-lani, set in Hawaii, is a love story about the role of family and tradition in our culture. She is working on a fifth novel, a thriller, set in Rome.
Christine is Vice-President of the American Church Union, the publishing house of the Anglican Province of Christ the King. She has written numerous publications for children, including the Jeanette Series, novellas about the Faith set in France and San Francisco, 8+. She edited the Anglican Confirmation Manual (Anglicanpck.org) and The American Church Union Church School Series.
PILGRIMAGE (OakTara, 2007)
Many years after a tragic accident in her own backyard, nightmares of guilt and grief return to haunt history professor Madeleine Seymour, forty-nine. Her old friend and priest, Father Rinaldi, prescribes a pilgrimage through Italy, visiting churches and shrines, praying for healing, and keeping a journal. When Father Rinaldi dies of a heart attack while celebrating Holy Communion, the chalice falls and spills on the altar cloth. Madeleine takes this cloth on her journey, a comforting relic-linen and a metaphor of her journey.
She travels with husband Jack, sixty-two, a retired wine merchant, who likes to soften life’s edges with luxury. Can Madeleine quell the demons of her soul with physical pampering or will the healing lie before a fiery altar in a dusky Romanesque abbey? Can she reconcile her worldly life with her spiritual hunger?
Madeleine and Jack visit churches in Rome, Orvieto, Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Assisi, and Siena. In Rome they meet Sister Agnes, an elderly nun who runs an orphanage and convent, the young crippled Elena, and their guide, Brother Cristoforo, a black Franciscan. As they travel they encounter the lives of the early martyrs, the humility and sacrifice of Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. They grapple with the great questions of belief: What is truth? Why do we suffer? Why believe in God?
Visit Christine at ChristineSunderland.com, OakTara.com, and Anglicanpck.org.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT PILGRIMAGE . . .
“For me, the point in the story that brought tears to my eyes . . . was when Maddie said, ‘I knew what to do. It was so clear. It took the cloth out of my bag . . . then I looked for Jack. I ran into the bright square, waving my linen like a flag of peace, or surrender or victory.’ May Maddie’s ‘flag of peace’ move from the pages of (this) book, stream from homes, flow down streets and cross over the borders of our troubled world so that all may come to the truth of how God loves, as Maddie puts it ‘He loves through real things.’ ”
Father Seraphim,
Nazareth House
Sierra Leone, Africa
“I loved the descriptions of the countryside and the colors and crevices in the old churches … the rolling hills and sounds of people praying, singing, chanting, eating, drinking … it was so real, so visual, so captivating!”
Tina Pomroy,
Oakland, California
“Some books can be taken in quick gulps, like drinking a glass of cold water on a hot day, and other books need to be sipped and savored. I think Pilgrimage may be a ‘sippin’ book.”
The Rev. Donald True,
Louisville, Kentucky
“I just purchased three copies of Pilgrimage to give to friends who I know will be inspired by your words. I have been reading Pilgrimage slowly to make it last and now I can finish it knowing that another is on the way.”
Jacqueline Harrington,
Danville, California
“I feel that I have been on pilgrimage with Maddie! Having been through a rough time these past few years, I could relate to her need for healing, and her experience at Sant’ Antimo brought tears to my eyes. In addition to the story, though, I appreciate your ability to speak so movingly and authentically about the beauty and power of Anglicanism, and also the way you wove history and saints’ stories into the narrative, giving a lively sense of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ and our lives as part of the complex and beautiful tapestry of Christianity.”
Susan Prudhomme,
Freelance Writer and Novelist, Napa, California
“Your book is wonderful! I picked it up rather late last evening when I had time, and couldn’t put it down until I had finished it. I lost a lot of sleep, but it was well worth it. It was the Prologue that hooked me in and I couldn’t stop reading until I had reached the end of the last chapter. I had to know how your problem was resolved. It is an amazing story.”
Alpha Quincy,
California Writers Club
“Let me state that it was most enjoyable and meaningful. It does a marvelous job of education . . . especially the theology of the Mass and the history of the Church. I also enjoyed the bit of mystery woven throughout, as well as the patience of the husband during the pilgrimage. This book can hopefully reach Protestants and Roman Catholics in order to promote better knowledge and understanding.”
The Rev. Dr. Robert Rawson,
Wimberley, Texas
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