"A first novel whose tone echoes that of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides...This phenomenal, character-driven story is mesmerizing." —Library Journal (starred review)
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

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"A moving, lyrical, melancholy, and spiritual novel by the acclaimed author of The Night Child, in which Sister Angeline, unwillingly sent to a radical convent and confronting her tragic past, asks the deep question, follow your heart or follow the rules? After surviving a tragedy that killed her entire family, sixteen-year-old Meg joins a cloistered convent, believing it is her life's work to pray full time for the suffering of others. Taking the...

The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God's protection. But any community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina's new novice sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its core.

Desperate for a new start in life at age fifty-two, Claire takes a chance on a trip to Rome to assist the funny, fearless nuns at a struggling convent, and confronts her own missed connection with convent life in the past as well as an old flame who reappears in her life just as she's about to make a momentous decision.

Two mischievous students turn convent school upside down with their pranks. During Christmas break, Mary remains at the school and is touched by the Sisters' celebration of the Yule. Their graduation is both a relief and a celebration for the Mother Superior.

With Nonnatus House scheduled for demolition, Jenny, Chummy, and Sister Julienne search for a new location nearby, while Jenny's relationship with Alec continues to blossom. But an outbreak of polio affects the nurses and nuns more than they could have imagined.

It's 1968 and Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech creates serious tension in Poplar, especially when a group of dockers march in support of Powell. The midwives welcome a new nun, Sister Veronica, who's an instant hit with everyone, except Nurse Crane. Meanwhile, Trixie's relationship with Matthew goes from strength to strength, while Nurse Crane helps Nancy with her financial woes. Sister Julienne enjoys helping out on the district rounds,...

When the rather austere Sister Ursula is appointed the new head of Nonnatus house, Sister Julienne finds herself demoted and working back alongside the midwives as an ordinary member of staff.

"When her sister seizes the throne, Queen Eleanor of Albion is banished to a tiny island off the coast of her kingdom, where the nuns of the convent spend their days peacefully praying, sewing, and gardening. But the island is also home to Margaret, a mysterious young orphan girl whose life is upturned when the cold, regal stranger arrives. As Margaret grows closer to Eleanor, she grapples with the revelation of the island's sinister true purpose...