List About Books Sacred Hearts
| Title | : | Sacred Hearts |
| Author | : | Sarah Dunant |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 432 pages |
| Published | : | July 14th 2009 by Random House (first published December 7th 2008) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Cultural. Italy. Religion |
Sarah Dunant
Hardcover | Pages: 432 pages Rating: 3.76 | 11864 Users | 1397 Reviews
Description During Books Sacred Hearts
The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God's 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 willful, emotional, sharp, and defiant, young enough to have a life to look forward to and old enough to know when that life is being cut short. Her first night inside the walls is spent in an 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 ancient, mysterious Suora Magdalena, with her history of visions and ecstasies, locked in her cell; the ferociously devout novice mistress Suora Umiliana, 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, 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.
Present Books Toward Sacred Hearts
| Original Title: | Sacred Hearts |
| ISBN: | 1400063825 (ISBN13: 9781400063826) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Suor Zuana, Suor Serafina, Suor Umiliana, Madonna Chiara |
| Setting: | Ferrara(Italy) Italy |
| Literary Awards: | Walter Scott Prize Nominee (2010) |
Rating About Books Sacred Hearts
Ratings: 3.76 From 11864 Users | 1397 ReviewsWrite Up About Books Sacred Hearts
"British author Dunant expertly weaves the rhythms of daily convent life within the broader context of church politics and reform. Most critics were pleasantly surprised that a novel set in a nunnery could be fraught with such tension as they wondered, a bit nervously, about Serafina's ultimate fate. Dunant continues to create believable characters who were also very much women of their time. Several reviewers noted a sluggish beginning and occasional dry passages, but they believed readersBrilliant book! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, set in 1570 Renaissance Italy. A young girl is sent to live in the convent of Santa Caterina as her family can only afford one dowry and her sister is to be married. Fascinating on several levels, convent life in 1570; medicine in the 16th century ( a touch of Cadfael here) and a story about strong and powerful women coping in a man's world.
I'll admit I was spoiled for this novel by having read and re-read In This House of Brede for the past, oh 40 years it must be now. If you want an in-depth look at a Benedictine monastery, warts and all, you can't do better than Godden's masterpiece. It too is set at a time of change and upheaval--the Vatican II conferences of the 1960s; and I can't get away from the thought that Dunant, also British, was in a way trying to emulate this earlier work in her novel.However, Sacred Hearts is set in
A closed society of its own--a 16th century Italian convent of Benedictines set in the tumultuous times of Counter Reformation. Women didn't have much option in those days--marriage to someone of the father's choosing, as a "maiden aunt" in the bosom of the extended family or life immured in a convent. We meet Serafina, a novice who entered unwillingly; she said the vows of novitiate with her mouth, "not her heart." We see the infirmarian, Zuana, who takes the young girl under her wing as the
This richly layered historical narrative provided a fascinating glimpse into an often-overlooked facet of Renaissance life. Serafina is willful, passionate and adamantly unwilling to accept her fate and a life in the convent. While she plots her escape and creates a web of deception that only her advisor Zuana can penetrate, the rest of the convent struggles to reconcile her presence and her rebellion with the potential for glory that her renowned singing voice might bring them. At the same time
We women, you know, are pretty strong. This novel shows us again, the truth of our lives by telling us a story. A story of making the best of it, of finding grace, even within unchosen boundaries. Did you know that half of all noble women in 16th century Italy were forced into nunneries because their families could afford only one lavish dowery? In her author's notes, Sarah Dunant quotes one such woman, a nun form Santi Naborre e Felice convent in Bolgna , written to the pope: "Many of us are
Sacred Hearts is a story set in the late 1500's in an Italian convent. A few historical notes are necessary in order to fully understand the story. First, at this time in order for a noblewoman to be married as befit someone of her class, a large dowry was necessary--so large that many families couldn't afford to marry off more than one daughter. Since women needed to be taken care of, the solution was to put them in convents. According to the author, as many as 50% of the noblewomen of that
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