Beauty: The Invisible Embrace / John O'Donohue

In this eagerly awaited follow-up to his international bestsellers Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes, John O'Donohue turns his attention to the subject of beauty -- the divine beauty that calls theimagination and awakens all that is noble in the human heart.

In these uncertain times of global conflict and crisis, we are riven with anxiety; our trust in the future has lost its innocence, from one second to the next. In such an unsheltered world, it may sound naive to suggest that this might be the moment to invoke and awaken beauty, yet this is exactly the claim that this book seeks to explore.

Beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken. O'Donohue opens our eyes, hearts, and minds to the wonder of our own relationship with beauty. Rather than "covering" this theme, he uncovers it, exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. His words return us to the dignity of silence, the profundity of stillness, the power of thought and perception, and the eternal grace and generosity of beauty's presence. In this masterful and revelatory work, O'Donohue encourages our greater intimacy with beauty and celebrates it for what it really is: a homecoming of the human spirit.

As he focuses on the classical, medieval, and Celtic traditions, on art, music, literature, nature, and language, O'Donohue reveals how beauty's invisible embrace invites us toward new heights of passion and creativity.

Beauty is an exquisite treasury of Forms of the Beautiful. Its surface employs narrative, image, anecdote, and myth, while into the silence of its subtext are sown seeds of reflection that gradually blossom in the heart.