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Devils, for a Change
Losing her faith after twenty years in the cloister, Sister Mary Hilrary, now simply Gloria, finds the harsh world of modern London a frightening new experience
469 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Perriam
53 books11 followersWendy Perriam has been writing since the age of five, completing her first ‘novel’ at eleven. Expelled from boarding school for heresy and told she was in Satan’s power, she escaped to Oxford, where she read History and also trod the boards. After a variety of offbeat jobs, ranging from artist’s model to carnation-disbudder, she now divides her time between teaching and writing. Having begun by writing poetry, she went on to publish 16 novels and 7 short-story collections, acclaimed for their power to disturb, divert and shock. She has also written extensively for newspapers and magazines, and was a regular contributor to radio programmes such as Stop the Week and Fourth Column.
Perriam feels that her many conflicting life experiences – strict convent-school discipline and swinging-sixties wildness, marriage and divorce, infertility and motherhood, 9-to-5 conformity and periodic Bedlam – have helped shape her as a writer. ‘Writing allows for shadow-selves. I’m both the staid conformist matron and the slag; the well-organised author toiling at her desk and the madwoman shrieking in a straitjacket.’
Perriam feels that her many conflicting life experiences – strict convent-school discipline and swinging-sixties wildness, marriage and divorce, infertility and motherhood, 9-to-5 conformity and periodic Bedlam – have helped shape her as a writer. ‘Writing allows for shadow-selves. I’m both the staid conformist matron and the slag; the well-organised author toiling at her desk and the madwoman shrieking in a straitjacket.’
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2023
Wendy Perriam has expressed the challenges faced by her character Hilary with compassion and a deep understanding.
The story follows Hilary as she negotiates her return to a world she left behind twenty years previously, at a young age. Now in her thirties, Hilary leaves the cloistered life of a Norfolk convent, and discovers a new life full of possibilities and adventures.
As she uncovers this new world, she faces many changes and has to slowly peel off the layers of her former life, to emerge and evolve.
The societal experiences that Hilary faces are shown through her feelings of guilt, religion and in the discovery of her sexuality, as this innocent outsider evolves into the modern world.
A controversial and interesting insight into one woman's journey, 'Devils, for a Change' is a thought provoking and enjoyable read.
The story follows Hilary as she negotiates her return to a world she left behind twenty years previously, at a young age. Now in her thirties, Hilary leaves the cloistered life of a Norfolk convent, and discovers a new life full of possibilities and adventures.
As she uncovers this new world, she faces many changes and has to slowly peel off the layers of her former life, to emerge and evolve.
The societal experiences that Hilary faces are shown through her feelings of guilt, religion and in the discovery of her sexuality, as this innocent outsider evolves into the modern world.
A controversial and interesting insight into one woman's journey, 'Devils, for a Change' is a thought provoking and enjoyable read.
September 11, 2014
Read this some time ago but remember the story being about an ex-nun. It was very secular and philosophical but quite compulsive reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews