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Overview
Behind the high, closed walls of a convent in the Irish countryside, the lives of its inhabitants are gently marked by the daily rituals of spiritual life. Watching over Anna, her sensitive and poetic young charge, the Mother Superior revisits her childhood relationship with her father. As Anna develops from a six-year-old to a scholarship candidate, Helen comes to understand her own heart and makes peace with her past.
Synopsis
Bright, sensitive Anna Murphy is the youngest-ever boarder at the Compagnie de la Sainte Famille, and her poetic nature captivates Helen, the Mother Superior. No longer content with convent life, Helen recalls her happy childhood, her brilliant agnostic father and the betrayal she met with a subtle treachery. She watches her young charge suffer her own family dramas, and her heart softens as Anna tastes the first fruits of experience. A luminous novel that explores the nature of love and forgiveness within the austere, haunting beauty of an Irish convent.