Obedience

Description

In a convent in rural France, only three ageing nuns remain. Cloistered within her failing faith and her failing body, Sister Bernard navigates each day through the simple markers of domesticity. But when the convent is threatened with closure, the protective bonds of piety and routine are torn away, and Sister Bernard is forced to confront herself and her past - the memories of wartime disgrace; of a German soldiers' bet giving voice to a love that deafened the heavens; of the full horror of war and motherhood, and of a furious God who began to sulk. Honest and heartbreaking, Obedience explores how the human psyche can endure and survive even the most brutal events; but more so, it is about passion, the unquenchable desire for both physical love and spiritual love, and how in yearning for one, we often betray the other.

Jacqueline Yallop read English at Oxford and did her PhD in nineteenth century literature at Sheffield University. She has worked as the Curator for the John Ruskin Museum in Sheffield and writes on the Victorians. She is the author of the non-fiction work Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves and the novel Kissing Alice. She currently lives in France.

An intensely imagined novel about one of the defining questions of the century just past: where and how we choose to draw the line between innocence and guilt, ignorance and complicity. Obedience also asks us to consider what ghastly harm is committed in the name of love. It's rare to find a book that is seemingly so simple, but is really ambiguous and thought-provoking. * Hilary Mantel * By far the most impressive novel I read this year... I'd give it to anyone who wants, as I do, to have their head and heart churned by what they read -- Julie Myerson * Observer * A spellbinding tale of betrayal and illicit desire... The human experience of love, desire, guilt and loneliness are at the heart of the novel... A compelling and quietly devastating story about a woman destroyed by her faith * Independent on Sunday * A wise, mysterious, gravely compelling story about a young nun in occupied France and the long sad aftermath of a wartime love affair... A novel of huge scope and profound questioning * Sunday Times * A work of great originality, devastating in its impact... As powerful as it is subtle, a novel of gripping emotional and psychological intensity * Daily Mail *