Mark Helprin, Winter’s Tale, 1983 —
Mark Helprin once wrote a short story about a young diplomat posted to Great Britain in World War II and assigned to assuage the plight of refugees in that conflict.
After one of many long days at this thankless task, he arrives late to a formal dinner party, only to be consigned, as a gentle rebuke for his tardiness, to the children’s table. Making the best of things, the diplomat spins for the children a wondrous tale of flying horses, immortal heroes, love triumphing over death itself.
The memory of the story told in that one brief shining hour sustains him through all the dark days still ahead.
In Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin gives us that story. May it sustain you too, through our own dark days.
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