AS MUSIC AND SPLENDOUR

by Kate O'Brien ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Miss O'Brien's first novel in five years returns her to a familiar, leciaurely world of the late 19th century, and again it is a time of initiation and maturation for two young heroines- Rose and Clare, Irish girls who are sent to a convent school in Paris because of their gifts- a school undistinguished except for the excellent musicianship of Mere Marie Brunel. Both girls are often lonely homesick, chafe under the severe discipline of Mere Marie, and are given no freedom of choice when after two years they are sent on to Italy- to study further. Rose, warm and tender hearted by nature, is the more acceptant in her dedication to music, Italy ""educates her temperament as well as her talent"", and she has the satisfactions of her success- she is chosen for La Scala- to counter the loss of her first lovers. Clare is far unhappier, embittered by her love for the fickle Luise, a young Spanish girl, and later that of the older Duarte, an unfrocked priest whom she recognizes- when she returns on a visit to the convent- from the past of Mere Marie.... Kate O'Brien, always a scrupulously sensitive writer, records this world with a gentle spirit and sympathy; her novel has just such as an appeal- a quiet one- for perhaps a limited audience.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1958

Categories: FICTION