The Confessions of X by Suzanne M Wolfe

The Confessions of X

by Suzanne M Wolfe

Winner of the Christianity Today 2017 Book Award!

Before he became a father of the Christian Church, Augustine of Hippo loved a woman whose name has been lost to history. This is her story.

She met Augustine in Carthage when she was seventeen. She was the poor daughter of a mosaic-layer; he was a promising student and heir to a fortune. His brilliance and passion intoxicated her, but his social class would be forever beyond her reach. She became his concubine, and by the time he was forced to leave her, she was thirty years old and the mother of his son. And his Confessions show us that he never forgot her. She was the only woman he ever loved.

In a society in which classes rarely mingle on equal terms, and an unwed mother can lose her son to the burgeoning career of her ambitious lover, this anonymous woman was a first-hand witness to Augustine's anguished spiritual journey from secretive religious cultist to the celebrated Bishop of Hippo.

Giving voice to one of history's most mysterious women, The Confessions of X tells the story of Augustine of Hippo's nameless lover, their relationship before his famous conversion, and her life after his rise to fame. A tale of womanhood, faith, and class at the end of antiquity, The Confessions of X is more than historical fiction . . . it is a timeless story of love and loss in the shadow of a theological giant.

Reviewed by cherryblossommj on

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Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.

The story of Augustine's human love


Historical fiction is my favorite genre, one of the reasons is that I love to dive within an atmosphere of history to experience what might have happened from someone's imaginings. This is the type of environment created with the deeply researched, in depth, and beautifully written story of a real person from our historical past. A simple question as a child in school provided the spark of interest for deep research and then an imagination run wild with a pen in hand, Suzanne M. Wolfe has created a story to captivate those that want to know about the woman behind the man of Augustine's Confessions. From my years in college studying, while earning my Bachelor of Religious Studies I spent a while reading book after book of which Augustine was a captivating character present with much talking about his spiritual love. Yet as a person, one does wonder about his human love. This is a story which presents an interesting account of what could have been.
This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.

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  • Started reading
  • 1 February, 2016: Finished reading
  • 1 February, 2016: Reviewed