Sacred Hearts

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant has sat on my stack beside the bed for quite some time... I think I bought it not long after it came out so that will tell you something...

Since I have decided that I would like to lessen the chance of being buried alive I have made myself a promise that I shall try and read as many of them as possible...

Sacred Hearts, as you can see from the cover illustration, is about nuns - I have a thing about nuns - their whole lifestyle fascinates me (left overs from a past life, I presume) so of course the cover 'spoke' to me straight away...

Sarah Dunant has spent some time researching convent life in the 16th Century when the Roman Church was feeling the winds of change blowing...

Within the microcosm of the convent walls the internal politics reflect what is going on in religious world outside. Convents are struggling to maintain some autonomy as the Church Reformation threatens to make them even more closed to the world than they already are.

Inside the convent Santa Caterina, there is a faction who believe that the convent lacks sufficient discipline and that godliness has been replaced with other activities that while beneficial to those within the walls detract from the devoutness. They welcome the changes that are already being implemented in other Orders across Italy. The abbess, Madonna Chiara is astute enough to realise that they can only forestall change for a while. In the meantime she has to be sure that what goes on within her walls doesn't leave them.

During this time many young women who were considered not marriageable were committed to the convent by their families. In fact the convents depended on these young women joining their ranks so that the convent could remain viable. This was made possible through the donations from the families. Whilst most young women accepted their fate there was those who resisted becoming 'brides of Christ' and rebelled against their confinement.

We join the story when one such young woman, Serafina, arrives at the Santa Caterina's doors and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its centre.

I am probably not even scratching the surface of the story but I can tell you I have been thoroughly committed 'behind the convent walls' for its 400 plus pages... As I paused for a moment and marvelled that there are those people who have such a way with words and can weave a story that is totally mesmerizing - storytelling at its best...

It took me a little while to "come down" from Sacred Hearts but because I have borrowed my next book from the library I have made myself settle down to it. It is Indelible Ink by Australian writer Fiona McGregor... I have heard mixed reviews about this one but because the main character and I are nearly the same age that in itself interested me...

I have just loved these holidays - lots of reading, some stitching, some catching up with people, lots of sleeping. Just having a different pace to life - time to think and catch my breath - I feel so much better -shame it will all be ending soon...

Until later, back to page turning

S xx