num_pages: 274
description: This is a novel which will affect the reader as deeply as the heroine does the men and women in the book itself. It is the story of a modern woman of courage- a woman alone and desperately ill in a foreign land, who still has the inner strength to bring the healing quality of her spirit to others. No one who reads it can help but be moved by this picture of contemporary Christianity in action.  The setting is an extraordinary fifteen-acre Chinese garden to which Jane Brested has come in her hours of need. Here in the River Garden of Pure Repose with its gray-green peacefulness and fragile, fantastic buildings, Jane finds an island of peace in war-torn China. Accepting the reality of her suffering, she holds her spirit apart and insists that others treat her with this distinction in mind. Many people visit Jane in the river garden, attracted by the rare qualities of heart and mind which she possesses. There is a young pilot who has lost his faith and will to live: a proud, old style Chinese scholar on the verge of starvation: a young Communist girl, in desperate need of help, who hates all that Christianity stands for: and a young and lovely member of the OSS who fears love but finds it in the Garden. To each of these Jane Brested brings her strength, her serenity, and her help. Events take place in the River Garden that concern more than Jane. Birth, death, war, treachery, and love enter its walls. Yet as the action flows to its climax, Jane is the focus. On each event that occurs, on each person whom she sees her personality has a strong an lasting impact. Nor is the River Garden itself less memorable. By interweaving into her story the legends which lie behind the garden's temples and buildings, the author gives a remarkable portrayal of the way of life and quiet devotion to beauty to which the culture and tradition of ancient China was dedicated. Against this setting Grace Boynton draws a clear and stirring picture of modern Christianity in action.
language: English
title: The River Garden of Pure Repose
titlecomplete: The River Garden of Pure Repose
genres: Fiction
ratings_count: 8
publisher: McGraw Hill