From inside the front cover: From her opening sentence--"I made up my mind to quit the Sisters of Siluva"--Vida Zedonis captivates you with her fresh voice, sharp eye for the telling detail, wry humor, and good sense. She also introduces one of the novels central themes: the Roman Catholic Church's compromise of its essential nature in Vatican II.
Her deep faith aside, Vida had plenty of sound reasons for joining the Sisters: to keep from burdening her grandfather, on whom she had been foisted off by her deliciously despicable parents, Ralph and Tillie; to escape the ruins of her relationship with her college boyfriend; to grow and learn and heal in the bosom of the Church.
But now, after ten years, and some disillusionment, it's time to move on. The question is, how can she extricate herself from the labyrinthine hierarchy of the Church? Her superior, motivated purely by selfishness, threatens excomminication. Church authorities are concerned about a death (perhaps a murder) that has just occurred in the halfway house she supervises. What's worse, Ralph and Tillie, like a couple of piranhas, have swum back into the picture.
But her love for her grandfather, not to mention a growing affection for Hunting Sun, a friend from college days, lures Vida toward the world. And by this point she has learned that the only holy orders are those dictated by her own heart.
Her deep faith aside, Vida had plenty of sound reasons for joining the Sisters: to keep from burdening her grandfather, on whom she had been foisted off by her deliciously despicable parents, Ralph and Tillie; to escape the ruins of her relationship with her college boyfriend; to grow and learn and heal in the bosom of the Church.
But now, after ten years, and some disillusionment, it's time to move on. The question is, how can she extricate herself from the labyrinthine hierarchy of the Church? Her superior, motivated purely by selfishness, threatens excomminication. Church authorities are concerned about a death (perhaps a murder) that has just occurred in the halfway house she supervises. What's worse, Ralph and Tillie, like a couple of piranhas, have swum back into the picture.
But her love for her grandfather, not to mention a growing affection for Hunting Sun, a friend from college days, lures Vida toward the world. And by this point she has learned that the only holy orders are those dictated by her own heart.
