Monday 2 January 2012

Women in the wall (O'Faolin)


This is another read from a little while ago that I just did not get around to blogging about. I first came across this via recommendation from Jane at Fleur Fisher Reads - Jane wrote a post about books that she wanted to revisit and the list included a VMC which I had not come across, so on the strength of her recommendation I bought a copy from Amazon.

The subject matter seemed to appeal to me - a story set mainly in a convent - I have to say that I find convent life fascinating and there are a number of novels that I have greatly enjoyed with this setting. This one was a little different however, being set in the 6th century.

The book centres around two royal women, one who is forced to marry a Frankish king who has killed her family, and a young girl who is given to the first woman as a child for her to look after. Out of this somewhat awkward situation, the two women come together to found a convent.

I have to say that I did not enjoy this as much as I hoped I would. I think I found the 6th century setting a bit alien (although I have a history degree, apart from my first term studying the Anglo Saxons (for whom I have great affection in hindsight), I concentrated on 20th century history and this is what I prefer to read about). I'm not the greatest fan of historical fiction, but other historical fiction lovers may well enjoy this more than I did.

This has just been published once by Virago with an original green cover.

I have a couple of other VMCs on my TBR pile which were purchased after reading about them on other blogs so I must try to prioritise these over the next few weeks.

2 comments:

  1. I assume, given your fascination with convent life, that you've read Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede? (Not a Virago, I know.) I myself lived over two years in a cloister. By the way, love your blog! I'm a big fan of Virago.

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  2. Thanks Leticia - I hadn't actually - one for the wishlist as the library doesn't have a copy. Glad you found the blog!

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