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Jun 26, 2009

Judy rated it:

Today a woman can be single and have a career and a joyful life. During the Victorian era many a maiden aunt was taken in as helper in the homes of better off relatives. But in the 16th century, we find that many aristocratic Italian families, only being able to afford one dowry, would force one girl into marriage and dispatch the other young women to convents.

At first I found Sarah Dunant’s "Sacred Hearts" claustrophobic (it all takes place behind convent walls) and uninv More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2010

Michelle added it

"We ve come a long way, baby. It may be clich�d, but Sacred Hearts shows the reader the strides women have made in the world. I remain utterly horrified at the fact that so many women were forced into the convents. When your options are to marry the man your father tells you to marry, submit to his whims and caprices, abuse and philandering, I imagine the convent was the best choice for some. Still, that doesn t make it fundamentally right. Everyone deserves the chance to choose their lif More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Aug 26, 2009

Lory rated it:

I won this book in the give-away--my first. I had high hopes. I've tried picking it up again and again and have read several books in between each time I picked it up. So far, I've made it to page 95. It's very slow and tedious, if you're looking for a page-turner, you won't find it here. Since I am not a Roman Catholic, I had also hoped to gain some insights, maybe they're in there somewhere but so far, this book is just plain boring.

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Aug 02, 2011

Janet added it

Sent away by her family to a convent to become a nun against her wishes after falling in love with an unacceptable suitor, Serafina is understandably angry and anguished on her arrival at the convent, but is quickly taken under the wing of an older nun, Zuana, who looks after the convent’s medical needs.

Serafina soon conforms, or at least, to the other nuns that appears to be the case, but in reality she’s planning her escape with her lover - and Zuana is unwittingly drawn into the plans.

In the More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Ubalstecha added it

Sacred Hearts tells the story the inner life of a convent in Renaissance Italy, where easily half the nuns were placed there because the were unmarriageable or their families did not have the money for their doweries. Many others have entered the convent because there is no other choice for them. We see the politics as the truly religious clash with those who have no vocation as the reformation fast approaches the convent.

Mixed into this is a young novice who has been placed into the house of More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

16th Centry Florence. Dowries for marriage have risen so high that Italian families marry off the daughters they can and shove the rest into convents, whether they want to go or not. To make sure that the girls are as miserable as possible, the Church decides to crack down on sinful luxuries like "vising family" and "having pets." Church authorities raid nunneries with no notice, burning books (how dare the nuns read anything but the Bible!), taking away comfortable clothing More...

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Dec 26, 2011

C.w. rated it:

An era convulsed by religious reformation and a convent on the threshold of irrevocable change are the basis for Sarah Dunant's eloquent, compelling third novel in her Renaissance trilogy, SACRED HEARTS.

When young and willful Serafina is immured against her wishes in the Convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, she is merely following in the terrible footsteps of countless unwanted or tarnished girls before her. It is estimated that by the late 16th century, dowries More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Betty-Anne added it

What an absolutely satisfying, wonderful book. I can never get enough of Sarah Dunant, and Sacred Hearts, her third novel set in Renaissance Italy makes me wish I could read it again for the first time.

Sacred Hearts takes the reader completely into a time when women’s lives were absolutely ruled by men – fathers and husbands on the one hand, and the prevailing rulers on the other. Young girls, particularly in the noble class, had no say in their futures. Their lives could either be liv More...

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May 15, 2011

Lisa rated it:

I read Sacred Hearts for the Vibes & Scribes book group, and thoroughly enjoyed it for its imagining of convent life in16th century Italy although its story has a modern flavor to it. The story is told from the viewpoint of a senior nun, the dispensary sister who might have worked as an apothecary if she had been born male. The tender balance of convent life is upset when a young noblewoman is forced to enter it after she falls in love with the wrong man. Her presence ignites a political str More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Laura rated it:

We women, you know, are pretty strong. This novel shows us again, the truth of our lives by telling us a story. A story of making the best of it, of finding grace, even within unchosen boundaries. Did you know that half of all noble women in 16th century Italy were forced into nunneries because their families could afford only one lavish dowery? In her author's notes, Sarah Dunant quotes one such woman, a nun form Santi Naborre e Felice convent in Bolgna , written to the pope: "Many of More...

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Nov 01, 2010

Denise rated it:

A novel that brings the reader into the minds and hearts of the participants. Having been raised Roman Catholic I was familiar with many of the rituals and procedures performed by the nuns and priest.

All characters are fully fleshed-out and believable. Dunant does a superb job of conveying the claustrophobia of the nunnery, the forbidding high walls, the dark solitude of each night in the "cells". But there is also beauty and serenity inside the convent. The details and b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 17, 2010

Kieran rated it:

I have to stand back and think about this one. I'm not spiritual enough to appreciate the life of monastic seclusion so had to peel back the religious references to get to the core of the story. Definitely some interesting finds. Historical fiction isn't for everybody but the fun in reading a book like this is that one is obliged (at least)to understand the context. While Sarah Dunant certainly doesn't leave the reader guessing on this score.....bottom line: Sixteenth century was pretty rough on More...

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Aug 19, 2010

Janice rated it:

I'm an unapologetic fan of Sarah Dunant's, and her latest novel, set in 1570 in Ferrara, Italy, is another stunner. As she did in The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan , Dunant immerses the reader in the Renaissance and shines a light on the constricted lives of women in that era. Sacred Hearts introduces us to sixteen-year-old Serafina, who, like many others of her milieu, has been forced to enter the convent against her will because her noble family cannot afford her dowr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Kate rated it:

Any reader of my reviews knows that I’m a sucker for historical fiction. If it sucks, I will finish it anyway, bitching all the way. If it’s good, I thank the fiction gods above. Sometimes it’s hard to find that good novel that makes an honest attempt at historical facts and attitudes while also maintaining an engaging writing style. Sarah Dunant’s Sacred Hearts has it nailed.

I’ve read several of Dunant’s novels before, all set in Renaissance Italy. She has a fascination with women, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 17, 2010

Ubalstecha rated it:

Sacred Hearts tells the story the inner life of a convent in Renaissance Italy, where easily half the nuns were placed there because the were unmarriageable or their families did not have the money for their doweries. Many others have entered the convent because there is no other choice for them. We see the politics as the truly religious clash with those who have no vocation as the reformation fast approaches the convent.

Mixed into this is a young novice who has been placed into t More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Tara rated it:

Sacred Hearts, by Sarah Dunant

By the time you finish reading the first few pages of Sarah Dunant's recent historical novel (her third), you will be swept into the intricate microcosm of a 16th century convent in northern Italy. Night has fallen at Santa Catarina, and the usual hush that blankets the damp stone cells of the dormitory has been broken by the echo of frenzied screams emanating from a 16-year old girl who has been forced into the convent against her will. Young Sarafina i More...

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Mar 04, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

Every time I listened to this book, I felt transported to the halls of a sixteenth century convent. So many novels use convents as backdrops for either forbidden love affairs or terrible cruelty stories, but Dunant draws a much more balanced picture. She does not shy away from the fact of Renaissance life that many younger sisters in noble families as well as any women who were lame, deformed by disease, or simply not pretty enough for marriage were forced against their will into convents. Bu More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2010

Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it:

Each time I picked up Sacred Hearts and read it I felt like I was entering into the quiet hallways of a convent. While the plot of this book has it's fill of drama and conflict, the portrayal of the nuns in the convent was such that you get a full picture of what their daily life is like with its routine and stability.

I have often wondered what it would have been like to be a nun, in any era, but somehow I had never really given any thought to those nuns who were forced into convents. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2010

Kate rated it:

Novels about nuns are difficult to get right. Many are too evangelical; others simply seize the trappings of veils and prayers as a dramatic setting for a forbidden love story. Sarah Dunant's "Sacred Hearts" gets it right: a passionate but balanced story of a nunnery in Renaissance Italy poised on the brink of change. The convent is presented as an insular but surprisingly sophisticated little sphere, worldly enough to accept an Abbess with political connections and sisters who took More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 16, 2009

Janeadams rated it:

Like the previous two novels (The Birth of Venus, In the Company of Courtesans), Dunant once again weaves a rich tapestry of politics, art religion and intrigue in sixteenth century Italy. Bowing ungracefully to the demands of her family, the headstrong, lovesick young woman brings to a once-powerful convent a musical talent it desperately needs in order to assure its continued existence. The would-be nun's adjustment to her new circumstances is not only tempestuous but engagingly contemporar More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 20, 2009

Ruth rated it:

Sacred Hearts is a story set in the late 1500's in an Italian convent. A few historical notes are necessary in order to fully understand the story. First, at this time in order for a noblewoman to be married as befit someone of her class, a large dowry was necessary--so large that many families couldn't afford to marry off more than one daughter. Since women needed to be taken care of, the solution was to put them in convents. According to the author, as many as 50% of the noblewomen of that More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2009

Deirdre rated it:

This richly layered historical narrative provided a fascinating glimpse into an often-overlooked facet of Renaissance life. Serafina is willful, passionate and adamantly unwilling to accept her fate and a life in the convent. While she plots her escape and creates a web of deception that only her advisor Zuana can penetrate, the rest of the convent struggles to reconcile her presence and her rebellion with the potential for glory that her renowned singing voice might bring them. At the same time More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2009

Cathy rated it:

A few years ago, Nancy Pearl visited Tucson and spoke to a group of library staff about readers advisory. She light-heartedly challenged us to suggest titles/authors that we either liked or thought obscure, for which she'd suggest comparable material. I mentioned Dorothy Dunnett, and Nancy Pearl countered with Sarah Dunant. (I promised I wouldn't remark on the similarity of last names, but there you are.) It's taken all this time for me to try Dunant, probably because I smugly assumed no one More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2009

Heather rated it:

Serifina is a young girl who has just unwillingly taken her vows to become a novice in the convent of Santa Caterina. Her family, not able to afford the dowry price for both of their daughters, has decided to marry off the younger, and in turn, give Serfina over to the service of God. From the moment she steps into the convent, she exhibits extreme rebelliousness and anger the likes of which the nuns at Santa Caterina have never seen. When Suora Zuana is charged with her care, the dispensary mis More...

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Jul 14, 2009

Sara rated it:

I expected a book about sixteenth century convent life and its nuns to be boring. What I did not expect was Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant her third (and probably her best) novel set in the Italian Renaissance (following In the Company of a Courtesan and The Birth of Venus). I was instantly captivated by the sisters of Santa Caterina, a fictional convent comprised of a group of highly sophisticated women as embroiled in politics, scandal, and deception as their courtly counterparts. Dunant achi More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 09, 2010

Kelly rated it:

This is the first book of hers I've read, but I definitely want to read more.

It's set in a convent in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century. They've just gotten a new novice (Serafina), and she is not happy to be there. She wanted to marry a poor music teacher and her dad considered the nunnery a far better option.

Another sister there, Suora Zuana, becomes a mentor/friend/adversary of sorts, and it's made complicated by some infighting and the fact that so More...

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Mar 23, 2010

Linda rated it:

I loved both The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan, Dunant’s previous works set during the Italian Renaissance. I read the plot synopsis for Sacred Hearts, her latest book, and my first reaction was that a book set in a convent sounded pretty boring. Knowing Dunant’s talent for creating vibrant characters and her great story telling skills I chose to read the book and I am so glad I did because it was an absorbing novel.

In 16th century Italy the cost of a dowry for m More...

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Jan 14, 2012

Helen rated it:

This is a fascinating read because the structure of the convent and its daily practice is laid out and the two women who are detailed are such a contrast: one is an older woman who was dropped into the convent on the death of her much loved father and the other is a teenager who is in love with her music teacher. The older woman had been taught medicine by her father and is now a settled sister in charge of the dispensary while the teenager is determined to escape 'prison' and rejoin her be More...

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Nov 11, 2010

Sue rated it:

After having read "The Birth of Venus" and "In the Company of the Courtesan," I feared that "Sacred Hearts" would take the reader on another enjoyable, well-researched, well-written, but ultimately dissatisfying tour of 16th century Italy because I'd found her heroines a little out of time and place, as though they'd been transplanted from the 20th century to the 16th. However the characters of "Sacred Hearts" seem far more rooted to their time and place, More...

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Nov 12, 2009

Lissa rated it:

I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates a beautiful writing style or well researched books on the Renaissance. This book takes place in Italy around 1600, just as the Council of Turin is imposing new stricter rules and codes of behavior (no music, no theater, no luxuries) upon the Convents in reaction to the Protestant reformation. At the time, due to the inflated price of dowries, over half of all high born women were forced into convents against their wishes.
The story is More...

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