The Anchoress - Hardcover

Cadwallader, Robyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571313329 ISBN 13: 9780571313327

Publisher: Faber & Faber Fiction, 2015

Synopsis

"So beautiful, so rich, so strange, unexpected and thoughtful...I loved this book." (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love England). 1255: Sarah is only seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a small cell, measuring seven paces by nine, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth and the pressure to marry, she decides to renounce the world, with all its dangers, desires and temptations, and to commit herself to a life of prayer and service to God. But as she slowly begins to understand, even the thick, unforgiving walls of her cell cannot keep the outside world away, and it is soon clear that Sarah's body and soul are still in great danger...Robyn Cadwallader's powerful debut novel tells an absorbing story of faith, desire, shame, fear and the very human need for connection and touch. With a poetic intelligence, Cadwallader explores the relationship between the mind, body and spirit in Medieval England in a story that will hold the reader in a spell until the very last page.

About this title

About the Author

Robyn Cadwallader has published numerous, prize-winning short stories, poems and reviews, as well as a book of poetry and a non-fiction book based on her PhD thesis which explored attitudes to virginity and female agency in the Middle Ages. She lives among vineyards outside the Australian capital when not travelling to England for research, visiting ancient archaeological sites along the way.

Review

“Affecting . . . finely drawn . . . a considerable achievement for a debut novel.” ―Sarah Dunant, The New York Times Book Review

“Sarah's story is so beautiful, so rich, so strange, unexpected, and thoughtful-also suspenseful. The narrative examines the question of whether a woman can ever really retreat from the world, or whether the world will always find a way to come after you . . . I loved this book.” ―Elizabeth Gilbert

“Robyn Cadwallader does the real work of historical fiction, creating a detailed, sensuous and richly imagined shard of the past. She has successfully placed her narrator, the anchoress, in that tantalizing, precarious, delicate realm: convincingly of her own distant era, yet emotionally engaging and vividly present to us in our own.” ―Geraldine Brooks

“Cadwallader's vivid period descriptions set a stunning backdrop for this beautiful first novel.” ―Booklist (starred review)

“An ambitious debut . . . [offers] pleasures of a subtle and delicate kind . . . Cadwallader plays gracefully with medieval ideas about gender, power and writing” ―The Guardian

“Cadwallader's writing evokes a heightened attention to the senses: you might never read a novel so sensuous yet unconcerned with romantic love. For this alone it is worth seeking out. But also because The Anchoress achieves what every historical novel attempts: reimagining the past while opening a new window - like a squint, perhaps - to our present lives.” ―The Sydney Morning Herald

“Quiet, assured debut novel . . . Cadwallader is a poet of loneliness; few writers have captured so completely the essential madness that accompanies hermitage, the grayness and sameness of each and every day . . . Sympathetic, fully realized characters and good use of period details make this a winning work of historical fiction.” ―Kirkus

“With patience and skill, Cadwallader portrays what Sarah's senses can still apprehend, and of how they remind her of the world so near outside, yet unreachable, that she can remember.” ―The Australian

“A truly fine and deeply moving novel, one to save and read again.” ―Hudson Valley News

“Cadwallader's debut novel is an elegant and eloquent piece of ventriloquism, her feminist speaking to us from the claustrophobia of her cold dungeon about issues that matter to us still.” ―Mail on Sunday

“Careful historical research is blended subtly in this impressive, nuanced debut . . . the prose is fluid, lyrical, and accessible . . . compelling reading.” ―Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber Fiction
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0571313329
• ISBN 13: 9780571313327
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304