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A Severed Wasp, published in 1982, is the sequel to A Small Rain, although either book stands alone equally well. The protagonist, Katherine Vigneras, a pianist in her seventies, has retired from the concert stage, and come home from Europe to her childhood home in New York City. Through an old acquaintance, she becomes involved in intrigue and drama surrounding the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (with which L'Engle is affiliated in real life). The novel jumps backward and forward in time, as Katherine comes to grips with her past, finding peace in the present for herself and for those she connects with at the cathedral. In this excerpt, Katherine remembers with tender grief the death of her stepmother, the Russian actress Manya Sergeievna. The great bed in which Manya had continued to sleep after her husband's death was made up, empty. A hospital bed was by the long windows which looked into the woods. A hanging candle gave a soft light on the icon in the corner. Katherine scarcely recognized the shrunken body lying propped up against the pillows. Manya had lost weight, radically, so that she was as thin as Justin after Auschwitz. Her skin was yellowed and wrinkled. But a smile of absolute delight irradiated her face as she saw Katherine, and she stretched out her arms, so thin that they were only bones with dry flesh hanging from them. But the smile was so brilliant that all else faded and Katherine ran to her stepmother. Was she holding Manya, or was Manya holding her? "Child of my heart," Manya said. Katherine could only murmur, "Manya, Aunt Manya . . ." . . . The late afternoon sun slanted through the trees and across the hospital bed, touching Manya's face, which was still beautiful; the wrinkles seemed to have been smoothed away, and only the purity of the bone structure showed. "I have been able to come to you, and to love you, but I cannot protect you from jealousy," the old woman had murmured, and then she shifted position, trying to sit up, and Katherine held her, supporting the thin frame. "My soul is getting stronger every day." Now Manya's voice was clear. "Now I know , now I understand, Kostya, that in our work – in acting or writing – what matters is not fame, not glory, not what I dreamed of, but knowing how to be patient . . . Do you remember? Nina. Nina in The Sea Gull, my first major role . . . knowing how to be patient. To bear one's cross and have faith. I have faith, and it all doesn't hurt so much. And when I think of my vocation, I am not afraid of life." The voice faded out, but the old woman's arms tightened around Katherine, and they continued to embrace, and love flowed between and through them, stronger than electricity. It did not cease abruptly, like a light switch turned off; it faded slowly, gently. And then Manya was heavy in Katherine's arms. |
