Peeking Between the Pages

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Friday Finds (August 20)


Friday Finds hosted by Should Be Reading asks us to share what great books we heard about or discovered in the past week.

My pick this week is a book called The Convent by Panos Karnezis to be released November 8, 2010 by W.W. Norton & Company. With my fascination of convents this one sounds right up my alley. Take a look at a bit about it from Fantastic Fiction…

The crumbling convent of Our Lady of Mercy stands alone in an uninhabited part of the Spanish sierra, hidden on a hill among dense forest. Its inhabitants are devoted to God, to solitude and silence – six women cut off from a world they’ve chosen to leave behind. This all changes on the day that Mother Superior Maria Ines discovers a suitcase punctured with air holes at the entrance to the retreat: a baby, abandoned to its fate. Is it a miracle? Soon she will find that the baby’s arrival has consequences beyond her imagining, and that even in her carefully protected sanctuary she is unable to keep the world, or her past, at bay.

In this beautifully told novel, “we witness justice and injustice, theological controversy, the politics of a tiny enclosed society, despair, cruelty, generosity, scandal, suspicion and suicide, all told with immense verve and skill” (London Sunday Times).

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Convent life, for some reason, is really interesting reading for me. I’d be curious to see how this story evolves. How about you – are you waiting for anything this week? Leave your link or share in the comments. I can always use more book suggestions. lol. Have a great day everyone!

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Comments

  4. You seem to find the best book Dar. This one is no exception, and I love that cover! Have you ever found these convents that actually rent out their rooms? You would probably love that!

  5. Dar, WOW…me too – convent life stories have great appeal to me, guess its the solitude which I enjoy!

    Have you read Sacred Hearts? Very good.

  9. Actually, a lot of convents in the US have been sold and "other" arrangements have been made for the nuns. My sister-in-law has been a nun for over 50 years and is now living with another nun in a small townhouse. They both have to work to pay the rent and they are in their early 70's. The mother house can no longer afford to keep them. Sad situation if you ask me! Ok, so you didn't ask, but I'm saying anyways. Sorry for the rant.
    This does sound like an interestig read though. I like the setting.

  10. Yay Dar! This is the book that I was mentioning to you the other day! Doesn't it sound wonderful? I am so excited about it and can't wait for it to be released! Great pick today!

  11. OH MY GOSH! Just reading about this book gave me chills! Definitely going on my list! Thanks!

  16. That does sound great. There was a sect in Ephrata that is a historical site, and I've toured it. I can't imagine how those religious women survived.

    My finds are here

  18. This does sound intriguing! I've always enjoyed reading about the cloistered life too.

    Thanks for sharing!

  19. I spied this one in the Fall Norton catalog and have been coveting it ever since. I hope we both enjoy it!

  21. Convents are very much part of our life here despite only 8% of the population being Christian! Nuns still dress as nuns – do they do that in the States? I was sad to hear that a 70 year old nun would have to work. Here retired nuns have retirement homes. I studied in a convent myself and so did my two daughters hence the fascination for the convents!

    Getting back to the book it sounds very good.

  22. When I was in college, I took a communications class that involved doing a huge project on … something. (A friend of mine and I did the Illinois lottery.) Another group did convents! They found it fascinating. And my sister lives in one — she's a Dominican nun.

    My Friday find — even though it's Monday (I'm behind!) is a Christmas story called "Mary's Son," by Darryl Nyznyk. It's geared to both YA as well as adults, and I think my daughters will like it too. It looks like a heart-warming story (it's about a rich girl, whose dad has no time for her and the thug teen who targets her home for a burglary, and what happens at Christmas) which, at the moment, given all the bickering over mosques and where they should go, and terrorism, and the economy, etc. etc., etc., seems refreshing. It looks to me like it's a hopeful story and I need that right about now!

  23. Wow! I want to know what happens next, Dar! This is such a good find 🙂
    And I love the cover too!