Confessions of a Pagan Nun

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-The fictional memoir of a nun of St. Bridget's Convent during Ireland's Dark Ages. Gwynneve's story is one of adventure, joy, and loss. Born into poverty in pre-Christian Ireland, she learns herbal medicine-and inherits strength of character, talent, and intelligence-from her mother. Escaping the brutish life of her village, Gwynneve joins a troupe of traveling entertainers and later apprentices herself for many years to one of the last surviving Druids. Late in life, though secretly remaining unbaptized, she enters the convent, where her literacy earns her a place as a translator of Christian theologians. Her private memoir betrays a dry wit and iconoclastic attitude, so her eventual martyrdom at the hands of zealots does not come as a surprise. (A frame tale reveals that her legacy did survive her.) Horsley portrays Gwynneve's time as a battleground of profound, complex, and bloody cultural conflict, when a recognizably modern form of Christianity first gained ascendancy over rival sects and over the country's older Celtic traditions. This powerful little book is not for lightweight, fainthearted, or doctrinaire readers, but it will be deeply satisfying for many. It can be read simply as a compelling piece of historical fiction or as an insightful meditation on the nature and roots of sectarian conflict. It should also appeal to fans of popular works such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon (Del Rey, 1987), who might seek to explore this period in more depth.Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
When we think of the Dark Ages, we often think of a dim, primitive society where people struggled just to stay alive, with no room for spirituality or philosophy. The cool, clear, gemlike precision of Horsley's (Crazy Woman) new novel tells another tale. Gwynneve is born into a world suspended between paganism and Christianity: Ireland circa 500 C.E. While the rest of Europe was well on its way toward Christianity, at this time Ireland remained much closer to its pagan traditions. After losing her mother, Gwynneve trains as a druid and practices as one for many years. By the time she sets her story down, though, she has converted to Christianity and become a nun. The book is written as a memoir detailing her journey from her birth into a pagan tribe to her end as a Christian with near-saintly status. Her story is not just that of a strong woman making her way in a hostile world. It is also the story of what happens to a country when a new religion takes the place of the old. A beautifully written and thought-provoking book; recommended for all fiction collections.Wendy Bethel, Southwest P.L., Grove City, OH Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
This brief but vivid novel presents itself as a recently discovered manuscript composed by 1 of the 19 nuns of Saint Bridget in Kildare, at the dawning of Ireland's Christian era. Gwynneve was a druid before the tonsured clerics began to convert her people, offering them new technologies in exchange for conversions. When her druidic teacher and lover, Giannon, is kidnapped, apparently by followers of the new god, Gwynneve falls into despair that is lifted only when she hears of a community that keeps the old Celtic ways under the guise of Christian ritual. In it, she is set to a task that suits her perfectly: copying manuscripts of the church fathers, especially Augustine, with whom she has a running intellectual battle. As she records her life's story, she also relates the melodramatic doings of her convent, which include the abbot's fall from chastity and later self-mutilation. Poetically written and marvelously researched, the novel offers complex theological arguments wrapped in a compelling story about memorable characters. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


About the Author
Kate Horsley’s A Killing in New Town (La Alameda, 1996) won the 1996 Best Western States Book Award for Fiction. She is also the author of Crazy Woman and Pagan Nun. She lives in Albuquerque, NM, and teaches writing at the Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute.


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Adult/High School-The fictional memoir of a nun of St. Bridget's Convent during Ireland's Dark Ages. Gwynneve's story is one of adventure, joy, and loss. Born into poverty in pre-Christian Ireland, she learns herbal medicine-and inherits strength of character, talent, and intelligence-from her mother. Escaping the brutish life of her village, Gwynneve joins a troupe of traveling entertainers and later apprentices herself for many years to one of the last surviving Druids. Late in life, though secretly remaining unbaptized, she enters the convent, where her literacy earns her a place as a translator of Christian theologians. Her private memoir betrays a dry wit and iconoclastic attitude, so her eventual martyrdom at the hands of zealots does not come as a surprise. (A frame tale reveals that her legacy did survive her.) Horsley portrays Gwynneve's time as a battleground of profound, complex, and bloody cultural conflict, when a recognizably modern form of Christianity first gained ascendancy over rival sects and over the country's older Celtic traditions. This powerful little book is not for lightweight, fainthearted, or doctrinaire readers, but it will be deeply satisfying for many. It can be read simply as a compelling piece of historical fiction or as an insightful meditation on the nature and roots of sectarian conflict. It should also appeal to fans of popular works such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon (Del Rey, 1987), who might seek to explore this period in more depth.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.


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