Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Sarah Dunant writes historical fiction based in 16th century Italy. Her first two books, The Birth of Venus, set in Florence, and In The Company of the Courtesan, set in Venice,were rich in detail, written with sensuality and color, evoking Italy at that time. So, I had no hesitation in purchasing Sacred Hearts, especially as it concerned a young nun in a convent in the city of Ferrara in 1570.

I think it must have been my exposure to nuns and convents in Chauvin, Alberta, which gave rise to my endless fascination with the topic. Every Wednesday morning at 8:00 am, I took piano lessons in the front room of the convent from the Mother Superior, who was probably the best piano teacher I ever had, and I recall vividly how , at a couple of minutes to eight, my footstep on the front porch of the convent would announce the sweeping, black-vested exit of some four or more nuns from the small chapel, which was just off the room where I had my lessons. I was 10 years old when I began working with her- I don't even remember her name!- but I loved that swishing by me to the kitchen, from whence the most wonderful aromas of toast would come while I had my lessons, accompanied by their low, happy chatter: they certainly were not silent nuns, as these were in Dunant's book.

Three nuns are foremost in this wonderful story: Suora Zuana, the dispensary mistress, Madonna Chiara, the abbess, and Serafina, the young novice, sent to the nunnery by her family after she falls in love with her singing teacher. Zuana is gifted in working with herbs and remedies for various ailments, Chiara is elegant, informed, and probably my favorite character: I loved how she would smooth an already perfect fold in her habit, move silently to the altar rail for communion, or sweetly but accurately skewer her enemy - Suora Umiliana- with well-chosen words with not a hint of anger in her voice. Serafina is gifted with a high, soaring voice which entrances everyone after she finally adapts - in a way- to the life that she herself did not choose. These three nuns finally collaborate in an extravagant but intelligent scheme to save their convent, plus Serafina's life.

So, what did I learn from this book? Well, there is a wonderful paragraph in which Zuana describes the freedom she has within the cloister - freedom to have the authority she has in her dispensary, which she certainly would not have had in the outside world - freedom from:

"fathers to rage at the expensive uselessness of daughters, no brothers or sisters to tease and torment younger sisters, no drunken husbands poking constantly at tired or pious wives.....here no one's womb drops out of her body from an excess of pregnancies, no one dies in the sweated agonies of childbirth, nor has to suffer the pain of burying half a dozen of her own children"

I also learned that dowries were given to convents when a novice entered the nunnery, and this helped to finance them, as well as ensure the novice would remain in there. The more powerful politically the family, the more power the nun had behind the walls: Madonna Chiara's family was wealthy enough that she would easily rise to the position of abbess.

All in all, a great read, and highly recommended.