false 6060130 11 The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina in the Italian city of Ferrara noble women find space to pursue their lives under God’s protection. But any community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina’s new novice sets<b> </b>in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its core.<br><br>The sixteen-year-old daughter of a noble family from Milan, Serafina is willful, emotional, sharp, and defiant–young enough to have a life to look forward to and old enough to know when that life is being cut short. Her first night inside the walls is spent in an incandescent rage so violent that the dispensary mistress, Suora Zuana, is dispatched to the girl’s cell to sedate her. Thus begins a complex relationship of trust and betrayal between the young rebel and the clever, scholarly nun, who is old enough to be Serafina’s mother.<br><br>As Serafina rails against her incarceration, others are drawn into the drama: the ancient, mysterious Suora Magdalena–with her history of visions and ecstasies–locked in her cell; the ferociously devout novice mistress Suora Umiliana, who comes to see in the postulant a way to extend her influence; and, watching it all, the abbess, Madonna Chiara, a woman as fluent in politics as she is in prayer. As disorder and rebellion mount, it is the abbess’s job to keep the convent stable while, outside its walls, the dictates of the Counter-<br><br>Reformation begin to purge the Catholic Church and impose on the nunneries a regime of terrible oppression.<br><br>Sarah Dunant, the bestselling author of <i>The Birth of Venus</i> and <i>In the Company of the Courtesan</i>, brings this intricate Renaissance world compellingly to life. Amid Sacred Hearts is a rich, engrossing, multifaceted love story, encompassing the passions of the flesh, the exultation of the spirit, and the deep, enduring power of friendship. 6236291 book 2008 Sacred Hearts: A Novel total:516|5:100|4:212|3:160|2:32|1:12| 516 1904 1251 204 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 4 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jun 24 17:54:40 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 13:52:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 1 1 false Wed Aug 26 06:34:29 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 11:09:40 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 06:34:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Oct 16 12:39:53 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 15:18:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 1 false Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 19:17:50 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 19:18:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 0 1 false Wed Sep 09 10:51:24 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 10:54:30 -0700 2009
Dunant’s convent girls
Review by Karen Ann Cullotta

In Sarah Dunant’s latest novel, the Bard’s “get thee to a nunnery” is an apt description of the destiny of 120 young women, for whom Ophelia-esque despair lurks behind the walls of the con...more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Tue Jul 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 22:28:09 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 22:28:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 0 false Fri Aug 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 20:21:23 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 21:02:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 3 1 false Sat Aug 15 11:55:18 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 11:55:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 0 0 false Thu Aug 06 14:56:49 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 14:56:49 -0700 2009
Sarah Dunant's latest novel, Sacred Hearts — the third in her triptych of books set in the Italian Renaissance — delves into the hidden lives of 16th-century Benedictine nuns. Set in 1570, the book takes place at the Santa Caterina convent, a fictional communi...more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 0 false Tue Jul 21 09:46:29 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 09:46:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 7 false Tue Jul 14 08:33:10 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 08:33:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Thu Nov 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 08:58:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 11:27:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 0 false Sun Oct 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 19:02:47 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 18:51:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Mon Nov 16 07:59:10 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 07:59:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 0 false Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 21:14:06 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 21:18:01 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 20:05:48 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 16:22:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 0 false Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 20:06:43 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 21:04:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 4 1 false Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 08:30:13 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 15:02:13 -0700 2009 Sacred Hearts is the latest novel by Sarah Dunant. Set in a convent in Renaissance Italy, Ms. Dunant paints a revealing picture of a nun's life during the latter half of the sixteenth century. In a time when young women were subject to the will of their fathers, one's options were limited. Either yo...more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 09:47:04 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 20:12:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6060130 1400063825 9781400063826 494 193 3.69 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255618045m/6060130.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6060130.Sacred_Hearts_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 09:07:54 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 06:51:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/1?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/3?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/2?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/4?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/5?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/6?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/7?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/9?book_id=7093574 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/10?book_id=7093574