Antonia White (1899–1980)

Set in the early 1900s, Nanda is nine years old when her father enrolls her in the convent school outside of London called Convent of the Five Wounds. She quickly learns, in this closed society, that she has to please only God. And, of course, the stodgy, cruel nuns that run the place. (I can say that, as a lapsed Catholic who has had my fill of nuns.) There was a little too much of the holy affairs in the early part of the book but then as Nanda grew up to be a teenager there was a sense of dread that somehow her attention to the rules was slipping and the nuns were going to catch her doing something they didn't allow which was just about anything really. The author was great at character development and creating this sense of doom.

I followed it up by listening to the Backlisted podcast about the book and it was absolutely wonderful and revealed that the book was very autobiographical and played parts of an interview with the author from the 60s.… (mere)

The Virago group is doing themed monthly reads and the first was "Nuns, Teachers, and Governesses". I have about 6 unread viragos on my shelf, so I'm trying to read them when they fit a category. I had never read [Frost in May], which is Virago #1, so I took the opportunity and I'm so glad I did!

[Frost in May] is about a young girl whose father has recently converted to Catholicism. He sends her to a conservative Catholic boarding school. There, 9 year old Nanda whole-heartedly discovers the Catholic faith, makes friends, and begins to know herself. She is immersed in the closed world of the convent, where self-control, discipline, and humility are demanded of these young children. The glimmers of non-conformity come from a few of her friends at the convent who have more worldly families and from Nanda's mother, who during brief visits, obviously shows that she does not buy in to the system. Though internally Nanda embraces the lifestyle, some of her actions don't fit with the convent rules and the book does not end happily from Nanda's point of view.

I unexpectedly found this book delightful. There is a subtle and slightly subversive humor throughout from the author, but at the same time she perfectly captures the rigidity of a child's mind as it opens up through the teen years.

I would love to know more about the politics/cultural ramifications of converting to Catholicism in England in the early 1900s. I'm curious if there was a deeper cultural statement being made in the book that I didn't have the background to comprehend.

Original publication date: 1933, Virago publication date 1978 (#1)
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 221 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: given to me by Barbara/romain from the Virago group
Why I read this: virago monthly challenge… (mere)