Margaret Kell Virany Lover of life, language and literature; note-taker of Northrop Frye; journalist; editor; author. I write. Little things turn me on, like scraps of paper in a keepsake box and the memory of strawberry socials, harvest suppers and silver teas.
Biography
A Book of Kells: Growing Up in an Ego Void
In the thick of World War I, Kathleen Ward, a city girl from Portsmouth, England meets Jack Kell, a farm boy from Cookstown, Canada, over a cup of tea. Long after Jack has sailed home, when he is just about to go far north as a Methodist missionary, they begin writing to each other. The correspondence is a life raft of purity, innocence and hope after the trauma of the war. They vow always to be best friends, have a fitful transatlantic courtship, fall in love, get married and plunge into preposterous adventures on a northern Manitoba aboriginal reservation.The raw emotions of these romantic 20th century adventurers engage the reader as the author weaves a heartwarming tale out of letters, journals and photos her mother left her in a keepsake box. To complete the story as her parents age, she recounts her sufferings and recovery from the stress of otherworldly expectations put on a preacher’s kid in her growing-up years. This book about love is wrapped in an analogy to The Book of Kells. Just as a community of Irish monks copied and illustrated the holy scriptures to create the most notable ancient manuscript of Western civilization, so did generations of one homonymous family try to illuminate the gospels and be good examples to others by the way they lived their daily lives.
Kathleen’s Cariole Ride
This love story in the knight-and-lady courtly tradition is written as a tribute to the bravery of the author’s mother Kathleen Ward Kell. It is a companion to A Book of Kells, with a dozen authentic pictures and no sub story of the author’s growing up as a minister’s daughter. A spark ignited in World War I develops into a lasting love in the snowy expanses and frozen lakes of northern territory inhabited by the Swampy Cree. They met in 1917 when her father, a Sunday school teacher, invited some colonial servicemen home for tea. The courtship is conducted on onion skin stationery over 5,000 miles between fog and bog. She asks him to come over again before she decides and he does, twice. Bravely she sets sail, leaving all and everybody she has ever known to start a new life “… as the helpmate to a minister I have never even heard preach. How can a sensible person such as I do such a thing?” The writing recounts flying from London to Paris in 1927, crossing the Atlantic, canoeing up the fur trade route, and trekking in winter on a cariole in search of a hospital to give birth. The day-to-day life of First Persons is observed, and the positive role of missionaries in that era. Jack and Kathleen worked and stayed together for sixty-one years and died natural deaths at over age ninety.
Eating at Church One hundred and seventy-five recipes from fifty amateur chefs are interspersed with amusing anecdotes from the history of two Ottawa valley congregations whose combined age tops 350.
Reviews and Author Page
http://www.amazon.com/author/margaretvirany
http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13369
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Kells-Growing-Ego-Void/product-reviews/0969914210/
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/review-by-bestseller-author-ellen-tanner-marsh/
Comments
“I was just blown away by the ending of your book, a very unexpected twist but completely unexpected by your skillful setup. The end of the book has so much energy and brazen personality because it was about you — and you know yourself best! The authentic aspect begs for a sequel.” R.S., Orlando, FL
“Memories are a nursery where children who are growing old play with their broken toys. Kells is an extraordinary book, presenting the extraordinary story of extraordinary people living in extraordinary times.” John W. Bienko, Ottawa, Canada
“Whilst in Frankfurt during the Book Fair I picked up a copy of A Book of Kells. Back home in The Netherlands I read it and very much enjoyed its style of writing. What a lovely book. Being a writer and translator I know what it takes to accomplish a book.” Hans Offringa, Apeldoom Area, The Netherlands
Lovely to meet you and to read your blog and all about you and your life. Thanks so much for visiting my author blog and liking it too. Hope we get to natter once in a while. I’d love it. Have a great week.
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Hello Jane: Your warm, friendly note made my day. I found your web page charming and interesting and I can hardly wait to snuggle down in front of the fire this winter with some of your mysteries!
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What a wonderful life and career you have. It is my utmost pleasure to meet you.
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Thank you. I liked seeing the bronze statues on your website of Bob Hope and the servicemen. We are both busy keeping memories alive. It’s a pleasure for me to meet someone else who thinks it’s worth doing.
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Without them, where would we be? Thank you for your kind words.
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Memories are a nursery where children who are growing old play with their broken toys.
Kells is an extraordinary book, presenting the extraordinary story of extraordinary people living in extraordinary times. aloha
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Thank you so much. What a brilliant quotation! Who said it? I also value your opinion of my book because I know you are a critical thinker. I still appreciate your comments about my recent blog referring to the Romans. By the way, I remember seeing the Colosseum’s columns and the denuded Pantheon roof with its inner ceiling used up in the Bernini columns.
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Good Morning, I just read your story about the Parrot from the voyage of the Stradacona through the Panama Canal. My Grandfather also sailed on that same ship on that same voyage. we have a picture of him with a parrot he got in Mexico as well. Steward Frederick Murray. This picture is on my Facebook page. Maybe if there are other pictures existing of this ships crew these two men could be seen together. Thank you for sharing your memories , it puts authenticity to our family stories.
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Hello Barry,
I will try to find your page on Facebook immediately. This is a very interesting coincidence. My father took a lot pictures but I have deposited them in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. My father and your grandfather must have had mutual friends. Thank you so much for writing. I’m glad you found my story
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Barry, can you please send me an e-mail at margaret@kell.ca?
M.
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