Translated from Norwegian by Nicholas Rudall

Dover Thrift Edition, 1992. 84 pp.

Although we read about distant storms like tornadoes, floods and hurricanes daily, it is often the wild seas of relationships that cause us to fear that we might perish. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is an insightful view into the psychological drama and vulnerability of marriage.

Ibsen is considered by many to be the father of modern theater. A Doll’s House was among the first of Ibsen plays to use the stage as a soap box. The final act was considered so controversial that Ibsen wrote an alternative ending to be used “in cases of emergency.” Notoriety led to popular success; A Doll’s House was reprinted three times within the first three months of its original publishing date.

(Nancy Grubbs is the mother of four children, one of whom has severe autism. Before motherhood, she worked for Concerned Women of America, and was a drill sergeant in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Presidential Honor Guard.)

Kristen: When did you become a mother?
Nancy: My newbie Catholic faith, deepened through the oven-blast desert of infertility, really was scorched up a notch when God brought us new life through adoption.

Following roughly nine months of paperwork and St. Gerard’s intervention, our five week old son arrived in 1994 with a very difficult birth history. Six months later, a dynamic duo of girls arrived, one just shy of a year old, the other barely two. Six months, three babies… Oy, the infertility was the easy part!

Kristen: Were you scared in those early months?
Nancy: Yes, but not for the reasons you would think. Shortly before the girls arrived, their maternal grandmother gave me pictures of their baptism. It was literally over fire, a black baptism, an occult ritual. This was unexpected. Fortunately, I understood the seriousness of this history. I had even consulted a Spiritual Warfare course online through the Intercessors of the Lamb in Omaha, Nebraska.

We couldn’t legally baptize them for sixteen months. Armed with Holy Water, Blessed Oils, Blessed Salt and Objects, Divine Mercy chaplets, and a fresh new confession on my part to clear the decks; we took the girls to a Deacon for a cleansing prayer. God won! They are devout Catholics today, literally plucked from the fire.