Story Description:
Random House|June 10, 2011|Hardcover|ISBN:
978-1-4000-6382-6
The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa
Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewoman find space to pursue their
lives under Gods’ protection. But any
community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by
force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina’s
new novice sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its
core.
Ripped by her family from an illicit love affair,
sixteen-year-old Serafina is wilful, emotional, sharp, and defiant – young enough
to have a life to look forward to and old enough to know that life is being cut
short. Her first night inside the walls
is spent in incandescent rage so violent that the dispensary mistress, Suora
Zuana, is dispatched to the girl’s cell to sedate her. Thus begins a complex relationship of trust
and betrayal between the young rebel and the clever, scholarly nun, for whom
the girl becomes the daughter she will never have.
As Serafina rails against her incarceration, others
are drawn into the drama, the ancienAt, mysterious Suora Magdalena – with her
history of visions and ecstasies – locked in her cell, the ferociously devout
novice mistress Suora Umilian, who comes to see in the postulant a way to extend
her influence, and watching it all, the abbess, Madonna Chiara, a woman as
fluent in politics as she is in prayer.
As disorder and rebellion mount, it is the abbess’s job to keep the
convent stable while, outside its walls, the dictates of the
Counter-Reformation begin to purge the Catholic Church and impose on the nunneries
a regime of terrible oppression.
Sarah Dunant, is the bestselling author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan, brings
this intricate Renaissance world compellingly to life. Amid Sacred
Hearts is a rich, engrossing, multifaceted love story, encompassing the
passions of the flesh, the exultation of the spirit, and the deep enduring
power of friendship.
My
Review:
A great piece of
historical fiction that was hard to put down.
It brought to life the world of an Italian convent in Ferrara, Italy in
1570. Back in that era, women could be
placed in convents by ‘force’. Many of
these women who ended up there were castaways from families; unwanted in
general; others to curb promiscuous lifestyles; or even those with rich
families who could provide a dowry with the young woman just for them to take
her off their hands.
The story itself is
basically about a particular young nun, Serafina, who is extremely headstrong
and stubborn. She is sent to Santa
Caterina totally against her will and has such a rotten attitude that she
single handedly brings down the entire equilibrium of the whole convent. When she first arrived she was prone to fits
of screaming and disruption that it made it difficult for the other nuns to
carry out their day-to-day duties.
Zuona is a special nun
in the regard that she is an apothecary having taught by her physician
father. This was a very strange career
to teach a girl during this particular era.
Zuana likes to learn and holds dear the many herbs, roots, sinews and
books she has. She likes to learn and is
somewhat of a thinker, not a dreamer like a lot of the other nuns.
Serafina is an
unwilling novice but when the Abby places her in the pharmacy with Zuana, Zuana
is forced to confront a lot of her personal feelings, which she has
repressed. These are feelings that have
prevented Zuana from accepting completely her life in the convent. Zuana was sent to the convent after the death
of her father.
Madonna Chiara is the
abbess and CEO and reruns a tight ship so to speak. She can charm money from do-gooders, and
ensures she gives the Bishop everything he wants to keep on his good side. Chiara has lived in the convent since she was
a young girl herself. However, it is
Serafina who provides the tension for all concerned in the convent. Serafina was sent to the convent by her
father so he could end a relationship Serafina was having with a fellow
musician.
Sacred Hearts is
a phenomenal piece of historical fiction that will capture the hearts of all
who read it.
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