A Severed Wasp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Severed Wasp
Author Madeleine L'Engle
Cover artist Muriel Nasser
Country United States
Language English
Series Katherine Forrester
Genre(s) Suspense novel)
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Publication date 1982
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 388 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-374-26131-8
Preceded by The Small Rain

A Severed Wasp (1982, ISBN 0-374-26131-8), is a novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It continues the story, begun with The Small Rain (1945, ISBN 0-374-26637-9), of Katherine Forrester, a pianist. Now a widow in her seventies, Katherine Forrester Vigneras returns to New York City in retirement from concert touring in Europe. There she encounters Felix Bodeway, an old friend from her Greenwich Village days, who is now the retired Episcopal Bishop of New York. He asks Katherine to give a benefit concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It turns out to be an unexpected challenge, full of new friends and mysterious dangers.

During the novel Katherine is befriended by several recurring characters from other L'Engle novels, including Mimi Oppenheimer from A Winter's Love, Josiah "Dave" Davidson from The Young Unicorns, and Suzy Austin (now Dr. Suzy Davidson) from the Austin family series.

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, which figures prominently in the plot of A Severed Wasp, is also the setting for the 1968 L'Engle novel The Young Unicorns. The author herself was librarian and writer-in-residence at the same cathedral for several decades.

This story takes place last in the L'Engle canon, as it features an adult Suzy Austin. No novel published after took place during or after the events of this one.

[edit] External links