Review: Sacred Hearts

It’s 1570 and in the dead of night in the convent of Santa Caterina in the Italian city of Ferrara, renowned for its exquisite voices, a woman is screaming herself hoarse.

Her name – her new name – is Serafina. She is 16 and in love. Rather than allow her to marry a music master, her noble father has given her to the church. Not that hers is an unusual fate. Dowries have grown so large that few families can afford to marry off more than one daughter. Up to half of all Italian noblewomen become nuns. Serafina is one of the many unwilling.

Zuana, the dispensary sister, sympathizes, even as she knocks Serafina out with poppy juice so the other nuns can get some sleep. For Zuana it was not love that called to her from outside the walls, but knowledge.

She had been educated by her physician father and wanted only to follow in his footsteps, an impossible dream. When he died her only choice was a convent cell, bought with a dowry of books. Zuana has found a measure of peace in her 16 years of convent life, however. With the support of her abbess she has extended the herb garden and continued her studies. The sickness and health of the convent keeps her busy.

Against a backdrop of thwarted hopes, spiritual yearning, and convent routine a political drama plays out, drawing Serafina into its center. The strictures of the reformation are causing great upheaval in the Catholic Church. Calls for greater asceticism – no books, no music or theater, no personal contact with visitors – arouse the fervor of one faction and the terrors of the rest.

Umiliana, the novice master, would see all earthly pleasure banished for spiritual redemption. The abbess struggles to preserve her convent – and her position – knowing that she simply staves off the inevitable. A battle of political will ensues with Serafina as a pawn between them. Zuona, though allied with the abbess, feels a growing rapport with the cunning, clever, talented and powerless Serafina. Meanwhile, Serafina has plans of her own.

With claustrophobic intensity and worldly sophistication, Dunant plunges the reader into 17th century convent life, where God is a literal presence, worship is the only purpose and religion is as much cudgel as balm. This may be too much religion for some, and the drama of thwarted love never really engages. But Dunant keeps the story moving, building suspense with clever political intrigue, in a tale so atmospheric you can hear the swish of heavy skirts on stone and smell the marzipan carnival fruits.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: Sacred Hearts

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.