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Book Reviewed by:To four girls who have nothing, their friendship is everything: they are each other's confidants, teachers, and family. The girls are all named Guinevere - Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win - and it is the surprise of finding another Guinevere in their midst that first brings them together.
They come to The Sisters of the Supreme Adoration convent by different paths, delivered by their families, each with her own complicated, heartbreaking story that she safeguards. Gwen is all Hollywood glamour and swagger; Ginny is a budding artiste with a sentiment to match; Win's tough bravado isn't even skin deep; and Vere is the only one who seems to be a believer, trying to hold onto her faith that her mother will one day return for her. However, the girls are more than the sum of their parts and together they form the all powerful and confident The Guineveres, bound by the extraordinary coincidence of their names and girded against the indignities of their plain, sequestered lives.
The nuns who raise them teach the Guineveres that faith is about waiting: waiting for the mail, for weekly wash day, for a miracle, or for the day they turn eighteen and are allowed to leave the convent. But the Guineveres grow tired of waiting. And so when four comatose soldiers from the War looming outside arrive at the convent, the girls realize that these men may hold their ticket out.
In prose shot through with beauty, Sarah Domet weaves together the Guineveres' past, present, and future, as well as the stories of the female saints they were raised on, to capture the wonder and tumult of girlhood and the magical thinking of young women as they cross over to adulthood.
On the surface, The Guineveres is a coming-of-age story about young girls exploring their world and their bodies and, generally speaking, the meaning of life. They come from scattered backgrounds: one is the daughter of a single, homeless mother with mental issues; yet another is from a family shattered to discover their daughter's preference for other girls. But there is a deeper element to this novel, one that addresses the spiritual context of life and the world around us...continued
Full Review
(699 words)
(Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford).
In The Guineveres, Sarah Domet weaves the stories of eight saints—Rose of Lima; Cecelia; the sister saints, Irmina and Adela; Ita; Agatha; Alice and Christina the Astonishing. These holy figures have a relevance to certain themes in the novel including the concept of sacrifice, the sanctity of the female body, and the recognition of various mental illnesses. All these saints have their place in the Roman Catholic Church even though a few were not officially beatified.
Saint Christina the Astonishing was referred to as a saint during her lifetime and long after. She is also known as Saint Christina Mirabilis or Saint Christine the Admirable. Christina lived in Belgium in the twelfth century. She was born into a peasant family and ...
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The Guineveres is a glorious debut. Sarah Domet is an enthralling storyteller who has an original voice and an ability to create unforgettable characters with a deep and abiding understanding of the human heart. Love, betrayal, forgiveness, it's all here. Readers will savor and rejoice.
