Sister Sebastian's Library

by Phil Whitaker (contributor)

All is not what it seems in this gripping novel about two sisters’ lives: one who leaves her secular Catholic life to become a nun in deepest Africa, and her sister who goes to search for her when she goes missing. Elodie O’Shea abandons her children to her estranged husband to go on the search for her sister, Bridie. What she uncovers reveals as much about herself, her marriage and her family than her missing sibling. Sister Sebastian’s Library is a deeply moving exploration of relationships, loyalty and trust. With quiet confidence and perfectly pitched prose, Phil Whitaker challenges our understanding of the essentials that make us human.

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2016

Reviews

[Alice Yong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agonisingly slow paced and the title was rather misleading in my opinion. I only kept at it wanting to know about the missing sister. Sure there were family secrets revealed and flashbacks on complicated relationships but the tantalising prospect of something happening failed to materialise, making this book somewhat disappointing.

[Pgchuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elodie travels to what is described in the blurb as deepest Africa, but read more like Morocco, to try to find out what has happened to her sister Bridie. Bridie is a nun and has been working in a town called Beb, but he's not been in contact with her order or the local bishop for months. There are chapters describing Elodie's search (she gets help from the British consul, speaks to the bishop, travels to Beb with her lover Hennning) and these are interspersed with chapters describing Elodie's relationship with Bridie as teenagers and then as adults, culminating in Bridie's decision to become a nun. Finally there are emails Elodie sends to her mother, estranged husband and children back in England.

I thought this was a great story; it was in some ways a detective story, but there was also an examination of faith and religion, discussion of the ways we repeat our parents' mistakes, and perhaps slightly too much (for me!) on Elodie's work trying to stamp out malaria. If there was a weak spot for me it was that Elodie's relationship with her children seemed superficial and I wasn't sure her romantic happy ending would work out. (Also there were quite a few typos in the text...)

Highly recommended.

[Sarah Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a beautifully written novel about religion, contemporary politics in Western Africa, love - romantic, fraternal, filial, parental - abusive childhoods and the difficulty of knowing the best thing to do. Elodie is a complex, engaging character.