Lilian Staveley

The Prodigal Returns (Dodo Press) Lilian Staveley

Lilian Staveley nee Bowdoin (1878-1928), was a Christian writer and mystic whose anonymous works have only recently been credited to her. Her early life was not one of outward religious observance, but was rather one of privilege and learning. As a young woman she became an atheist; a painful decision with which she struggled for two years. While in Rome, visiting the temples, she was moved by the beauty of her surroundings and "a longing for her Lord so painfully real that the longing could not be denied". The three books she published in her lifetime were all anonymously written; keeping the "white-heat" of her "spirit-living" a secret from the world, even from her beloved husband. One of the dilemmas that Staveley struggled with was that of the 'feminine principle'. She saw across history and religion a tendency by those in religious power, (by men who were otherwise great and holy), to look down on womankind. She feared that in God's eyes also she was not of the 'acceptable sex'. Her works include: The Golden Fountain; or, The Soul's Love for God (1919), The Romance of the Soul (1920), and The Prodigal Returns (1921).