THE ABBESS OF CREWE: A Modern Morality Tale

by Muriel Spark ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 1974

O felix culpa -- habit-forming from the first page when the Abbess Hildegarde, perfectly coiffed, is only too troubled by what has been going on at this small British Abbey where the Rules of St. Benedict have always been observed -- ""make peace before sunset."" But peace is nowhere in these troubled times -- there are eavesdropping devices from the Lombardy poplars to the chapel; the convent is out of favor with Rome; and there are ""so many schisms, annihilations and reconciliations"" -- one of them being a replacement for the suddenly deceased Abbess. Will it be Sister Alexandra (who dispenses with grace when the pate appears -- ""There's nothing wrong with my food."") or Prioress Walburga, as stalwart as a gamesmistress (""Be vigilant, be strong"") or that shameful Felicity who has found love and freedom and probably both with a Jesuit lover during which time a silver thimble is removed from her workbox. At the end all these ""little thimble and thimble-related matters"" -- tapes, pay-money, confessions -- are to be ""sedulously deleted"" or withheld. After all what higher authority is there than the ancient Benefit of Clerks? . . . . A contemporary canticle -- charm and irreverence and truth all in excelsis.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION