A Prize for Sister Catherine

by Kathleen Rowntree

Crisis looms at Albion Priory.  The Prioress is old and in poor health, and she must name her successor.  But her ineffective leadership has led to spiritual malaise and financial peril.  Only sweeping reforms can save the convent from ruin.

Margaret and Catherine are the two likely candidates, but how different they aer, and how difficult it is to choose between them!  Sister Margaret, bold, bossy and ruthless, will stop at nothing to get her own way.  Sister Catherine, on the other hand, has an innate spirituality which may better serve the community in the long run.

As Kathleen Rowntree once more turns her keen and perceptive eye on the hidden life of a close-knit group, she weaves a gripping and dramatic story that combines compassion and ambition, sex and intrigue, jealousy, madness and death.

Genres: Fiction, Religion

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

Kathleen Rowntree was born in Northumberland, brought up in Lincolnshire, studied music and English at Hull University and is now living with her husband in Oxfordshire. She taught for some years before she began to write. When asked what her novels are about she usually replies with one word: 'relationships'. Her explorations of human foibles and tangles lead reviewers to use words like sharp, shrewd, witty, satirical, clever and hard-biting - as well as sympathetic, funny, warm, suspenseful and (fortunately) entertaining. She has many other interests besides reading and writing fiction, especially art, poetry and hill-walking. Among the UK writers she herself gets most from are Elizabeth Taylor, Julian Barnes and William Trevor while Anne Tyler and Alison Lurie are two of her US favourites.

Reviews

[Sonia Gomes]

Although “A Prize for Sister Catherine” does not seem a much read book or if read is soon forgotten I found the book very touching and one of the best books I have read.

It could be because I do like books with a religious touch. I adored “In this House of Brede”.

There is a tussle for the Choice of a Prioress at the Albion Priory and the two candidates Margaret and Catherine are both so different yet are the most likely candidates.
Margaret is bold and to a great extent ruthless, wants to get Albion Priory to its former glory but as a successful and a viable ‘enterprise’. She goes about sweeping the Priory clean of people no longer ‘required', starts different types of enterprises and runs the Priory as a Corporate House. To Margaret the most important aspect is shoring the fortunes of the Priory, making it economically viable.

Catherine on the other hand, is deeply religious and totally naïve about how to face the new changes at the Priory, she is deeply saddened that the religious fervor no longer exists in the Priory, is aghast that so many nuns are made ‘redundant’. She wantsthe Priory to run on the old rules of Prayer in cloistered Convents.

Ultimately it is Sister Margaret who is the new Prioress, although the ailing Prioress gives Catherine the Holy book which is always handed over to the new Prioress.

It is difficult to say which of the sisters is right or wrong, both are ‘right’ and both are ‘wrong’ in their own way. But my heart ached for Catherine, she is so trusting and naïve.

[Lois Bouchard]

I was intrigued by this book from the very beginning. How it unfolds and how it resolves continued to hold my interest as I read. I liked her writing style.

[Julie Dunnett]

Story of intrigue and political manoeuvring in a convent with the nuns jockeying for position in the Priory when the chosen successor for Prioress becomes ill They have such horrible characters or at least Margaret’s team does. I find it difficult to believe they would be so unkind to their sisters. It’s a good snapshot of ambition for power. I won’t want to read it again!

[Catherine]

All in all this was an interesting take on conflict arising from narrow visions of the needs of a community, but I had to suspend my belief to accept the setting.

Saint Benedict would be spinning in his grave if he came across this community! Lax and complacent after years of weak leadership, it needs overhauling spiritually and financially and so the stage is set for a leadership contest in which the two needs are set in opposition to each other. Unfortunately only lip-service is paid to the former in this plot - oh yes, the eponymous Catherine stands for it and does her best in a quiet and sometimes even determined way, but a feel of the centrality of prayer, present in all communities I have experienced, is missing from this tale leaving one wondering just what was so special about Catherine in the first place.

Dear future readers, please do not assume that all monastic communities display the lack of koinonia of Albion Priory!

[Sue]

Set in a nunnery, this book revolves around conflict between two nuns who are given joint administrative roles.

It's a fast-paced plot with a large number of characters, some of whom are perhaps believable, but very few memorable. Too many for me to recall most of their names.

And although I quite liked Sister Catherine, it was hard to be sympathetic with any of the others, most of who care more about self-interest than the good of the convent or those who feel hurt or left out.

Worth reading, perhaps, as it's rather different - but not one of my favourites by this author.

Longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Shui]

Heard this on audio. Rowntree creates a hot pot of political intrigue and ruthlessness among nuns. The only problem is that I wish Sister Catherine had more gumption and taken on Sister Margaret more determindly but then if she had the same personality as Margaret, then there would be no novel!

[Marcia Pottenger]

Too many details that weren't pertinent to the story. Plodding plot.

[Mary Ellen]

Audio book