“Screwtape” for Women: Letters for Any Season
“For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters).
I have a confession to make: I have not read The Screwtape Letters—at least, not more than a couple paragraphs that my husband shared with me while he was reading this spiritual classic.
I know, I need to make the time. While I love Lewis’ Narnia series, enjoyed Til We Have Faces, and was touched by A Grief Observed, I guess I’m still a little intimidated by his apologetic works ever since attempting to read Mere Christianity when I was too young for it.
On the other hand, I have read Emily Wilson Hussem’s new book Sincerely, Stoneheart: Unmask the Enemy’s Lies, Find the Truth That Sets You Free. And I will be thinking about it for a long, long time.
It Started on Instagram
Perhaps ironically—because one of the biggest lessons I’m taking from the book is that I need to spend less time on my phone—Sincerely, Stoneheart started as a series of Instagram posts. In 2021, Hussem, a Catholic speaker, author, and musician, started writing letters in the style of The Screwtape Letters and posting them on Instagram.
The Screwtape Letters is a book written as a series of (obviously fictional) letters from a mentor demon to his protégé, detailing how to lead one man to hell. Hussem’s letters are written in the same vein but about a contemporary woman. As a result, they shed light into the spiritual struggles women face in the 21st century, from social media to motherhood, from friendship to body image, from marriage to productivity. Regardless of the season of life you’re in, you will find wisdom in these pages.
Hard Truths, Told With Love
When he canonized her, Pope St. John Paul II said of Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), “St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross says to us all: Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth! One without the other becomes a destructive lie.”
In this case, we can accept Sincerely, Stoneheart, because it is full of both truth and love. Hussem does not flinch away from reflecting on the sins women are drawn to. For me, one of the hardest but most important letters was about distraction and motherhood.
“Distracted mothers raise children starving for attention,” says Stoneheart, the senior demon. “People starving for attention are easier for us to work on.”
I flinched when I read this letter and wanted to stop reading. It held up a mirror I didn’t want to look into. How often am I distracted by my phone, by social media, by tasks or projects that do not involve being present to my daughters?
Yet I kept reading, and thank God—because ultimately, Sincerely, Stoneheart is not judgmental or critical but full of God’s love. Stoneheart and Belphegora, her student demon, are very aware of how much God loves women (and men). After all, the downfall of Satan was his pride and envy of God’s love for humanity. So the letters are full of reminders that the woman they describe is beloved—and so is the woman reading them.
I’ve already preordered Sincerely, Stoneheart for one woman I know, and I have a feeling it will continue to be a go-to gift. I recommend it for any woman who could use a reminder of God’s love and a call to fight the distractions and temptations of the world. In other words, I recommend it for any woman.
Taryn DeLong co-wrote Holy Ambition: Thriving as a Catholic Woman at Work and at Home (Ave Maria Press) to help women hear and follow God’s unique calling for their life. Following her own calling, she currently spends much of her time caring for her two daughters, including homeschooling her preschooler. In what free time she has, she also enjoys reading and playing the piano. Since Taryn was a child, she’s called the Raleigh, NC area home, and she and her husband are now raising their family in a small Raleigh suburb.
Connect with Taryn on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, her blog
