Alice Thomas Ellis, RIP

I learned last night while checking in at Fiat Mihi of the death of Alice Thomas Ellis. Hilary gave a citation to her obituary in the Daily Telegraph. You can find it here. And I was very sorry indeed to see it. I'd grown very fond of Mrs Ellis through the course of Serpent on the Rock. Here are the last two paragraphs of that book:

I have been told that I should end on a hopeful note but am finding it difficult in the present climate of foolishness, of ungrounded optimism, of error and artificial bonhomie, of worldwide mayhem and chaos, and no one to lead us, for those who would do so in truth and fidelitiy to God are ignored or derided. I keep thinking of the tale of the rabbi, alone at night in the synagogue: he sees God sitting in a corner, his head in his hands. ‘My Lord,’ says the rabbi, ‘what are you doing here, your head in your hands?’ ‘I’m weary, Rabbi,’ says the Lord, ‘weary unto death.’ If I were God I’d feel like that, but fortunately I’m not. The gates of Hell shall not prevail. That promise was the only hope I could see until I remembered the moment in the Creed at which we kneel, at the words et homo factus est and realize that God so loved us that He lived on earth and died for us. This reminder of the absolute reality of self-sacrificial love, of total goodness, is all we can hold on to in a climate dedicated to the pretence of fellowship and loving-kindness, to schmaltz, self-conceit and heresy.

Much of my acquaintance will be glad to see the last of this book, for I have thought of little else for a long time, and even when it’s finished I shall go on thinking about what I have found and wondering about what has been lost. Somebody once said to his friend, ‘Can’t you talk about anything else but God?’ And the friend responded, ‘What else is there?’