Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
 Suspense and Intrigue in Italian Convent. July 22, 2010
K. Burton (Cotswolds)
Probably would not have chosen this but it was my reading circle's 'pick' for the summer. It is very well written and the subject is fascinating - a young girl of 16 is forced against her will to join a convent (in 1570). She is not allowed contact with her family, any luxuries and worst of all is torn away from a heady love affair. I entered an alien world of women and realised that just because they are nuns they are not without the normal jealousies and rivalries that exist in any group of females which made it fascianting to read. The main character is not alone in being unwilling to join the convent although the others have long ago come to terms with their fate - but it becomes obvious that this girl is not prepared to do that. Her case seems hopeless until one of the nuns realises the girl is special and will never conform to the deprived life she is expected to live within the convent.
What really made the book interesting is that it is based on fact - this happened all over Italy at this time in history - it made fascinating reading, not too heavy going and certainly made me thankful of my freedom and opportunity in our crazy modern world.
 sacred hearts July 19, 2010
agnes (britain)
Having waited months for this book to come into paper back, I am a little disappointed by it's steady pace.
I caught parts of it on radio four when it was broadcast and was keen to read it. The characters are well drawn and the story quite facinating, it just moves along quite slowly.
If you like historical novels with day to day living detail and the place of women in history, then you'll take a lot of pleasure in this book.
 contained and crafted July 13, 2010
Strangford Reviews (England)
This is a stunning historical novel by Sarah Dunant, set in 1570 within the confines of a nunnery.
Wedding dowries by this time had become so expensive that quite often only one daughter could be married. The others would be sent to a nunnery, often against their will, and effectively imprisoned there for the rest of their lives.
The story revolves around 16 year old Serafina who has been sent to the nunnery by her father for choosing an inappropriate lover. Her desire to escape permeates the novel, and raises deep questions for the other nuns. It raised deep questions for me, too, about how it was that women, if not married, could simply be locked away for the convenience of the family.
Dunant's novel is superbly researched; the nunnery feels real (and all the action takes place inside the nunnery walls) and the characters of the sisters are well developed. Women confined to a nunnery often found fulfilling roles for themselves as healers, carers or political leaders, and the character of Madonna Chiara, the abbess, is a wonderful creation, a skilled politician and leader in a time when there were not many opportunities for women to embrace such roles. The healing arts of the time are described through the character of Zuana, the sister in charge of the infirmary, and give a great insight into the role of women as healers - and the limits of the herbs they were working with at the time
This is a sensitive and intelligent novel, beautifully crafted and is well deserving of the 5 stars I've awarded it.
Highly recommended June 25, 2010
Moonlit (scotland)
This is the first novel by Sarah Dunant which I've read and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. This is a novel which has been meticulously researched and the medieval Italian convent in which it is set comes to life in the most vivid way. Thankfully it avoids the sort of cliches that people associate with nuns. There's plenty of intrigue however and a fantastic power struggle. I had little idea that so many nuns at that time were effectively sold into convents. A wonderful book and I highly recommend it.
Compelling June 6, 2010
Suzie (Scotland, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wouldn't have believed that a book set entirely within the confines of a 16th century convent could be so full of intrigue and, at times, so gripping, that I would have difficulty putting it down.
Sacred Hearts is set in an imaginary convent, Santa Caterina in Ferrara, in 1570. It is the story of two women whose paths would never have crossed, were it not for the twists of fate that changed their lives forever.
Fifteen-year-old Serafina is incarcerated (in her eyes) in the convent after she falls for a singer and the man her father intended her to marry decides he prefers her sister. Suora Zuana is approaching her fortieth birthday, and was forced by circumstances to enter Santa Caterina when her father died sixteen years previously. She is now the dispensary mistress, but still remembers her initiation into convent life, when it seemed that the very walls were about to close in and crush her. She understands the novice's despair at the prospect of lifelong `imprisonment'. The development of their unusual friendship is a fascinating enough story, with always the added thrill of will she, won't she, however can she (Serafina) escape?
References to Zuana's life with her father, a professor of medicine who taught her so much about ailments and the herbs and potions that might relieve or cure them, made her former life easy to imagine and hence part of the story. Events leading to Serafina's arrival at the convent are glossed over with less detail about her family or the young singer who captured her heart. I'd have liked a few more detailed flashbacks to bring the novice's background to life, but this is the only aspect that I would criticise.
While Zuana and Serafina are the only two women whose thoughts we share, all the characters are so developed that you almost feel as if you're there in the cells, sharing their lives among the cloisters, and in the chapel. Although we see her only as others see her, the abbess, Madonna Chiara, is brilliantly portrayed. In modern times, she would outshine many a politician with her diplomacy, tact, and authority - and her duplicity, a willingness to use whatever means may be necessary to achieve her goals, even if those means are sometimes inconsistent with her calling.
There are several twists to this story that kept me turning the pages well into the night, until the final compelling climax - I just had to keep reading. Was there also the merest hint of Romeo and Juliet, with Zuana in the role of Juliet's nurse? I would be fascinated to know to what extent, if any, the play was in the back of Sarah Dunant's mind as she plotted her story. After all, even the abbess herself makes a passing reference to Giulietta e Romeo (a novella by an Italian author, Matteo Bandello, written in 1554), which was apparently one of the sources of Shakespeare's inspiration. But Sarah Dunant's is a very different story with a very different ending.
The writing is easy and fluid. There were a few minor niggles about style but nothing sufficiently serious to detract from an excellent read. If you've not already read it, I'd thoroughly recommend it
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
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