Troubadour Books
3 total works
By the author of Black Narcissus and The River
'Rumer Godden's novels have a timeless shimmer' GUARDIAN
'One hundred years after her birth, Rumer Godden's novels still pulse with life' MATTHEW DENNISON, TELEGRAPH
'Her craftsmanship is always sure' NEW YORK TIMES
'The motto was Pax but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Peace, but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil and effort . . .'
Bruised by tragedy, Philippa Talbot leaves behind a successful career with the civil service for a new calling: to join an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns. In this small community of fewer than one hundred women, she soon discovers all the human frailties: jealousy, love, despair. But each crisis of heart and conscience is guided by the compassion and intelligence of the Abbess and by the Sisters' shared bond of faith and ritual. Away from the world, and yet at one with it, Philippa must learn to forgive and forget her past . . .
BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BLACK NARCISSUS AND THE RIVER
'One of our best and most captivating novelists' PHILIP HENSHER
'Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is about growth, choice, struggle, and the freedom of the soul' JOAN CHITTISTER
'[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal' ROSIE THOMAS, GUARDIAN
The Sisters of Béthanie, a French order of Dominican nuns, dedicate themselves to caring for the outcasts of society - criminals, prostitutes and drug addicts. Lise, an English girl who after the liberation of Paris was employed in one of the city's smartest brothels and rose to become a successful madame, finds herself joining the sisters. An inspiring and entirely convincing conversion story that shows how the mercy of God extends to the darkest human places.
Master storyteller, Rumer Godden, weaves a deeply moving tale of Lise's prison sentence, her conversion and the agonising work among women whose traumatic experiences often outstrip even her own.