Download Sacred Hearts Books For Free Online

Be Specific About Books In Pursuance Of Sacred Hearts

Original Title:	Sacred Hearts
ISBN:	1400063825 (ISBN13: 9781400063826)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Suor Zuana, Suor Serafina, Suor Umiliana, Madonna Chiara
Setting:	Ferrara(Italy) Italy
Literary Awards:	Walter Scott Prize Nominee (2010)

Sacred Hearts

Sarah Dunant

Hardcover | Pages: 432 pages

Rating: 3.76 | 11864 Users | 1397 Reviews

Specify About Books Sacred Hearts

Title	:	Sacred Hearts
Author	:	Sarah Dunant
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 432 pages
Published	:	July 14th 2009 by Random House (first published December 7th 2008)
Categories	:	Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Cultural. Italy. Religion

Relation Toward Books Sacred Hearts

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.

Ripped by her family from an illicit love affair, sixteen-year-old Serafina is willful, emotional, sharp, and defiant, young enough to have a life to look forward to and old enough to know when that life is being cut short. Her first night inside the walls is spent in an incandescent rage so violent that the dispensary mistress, Suora Zuana, is dispatched to the girl's cell to sedate her. Thus begins a complex relationship of trust and betrayal between the young rebel and the clever, scholarly nun, for whom the girl becomes the daughter she will never have.

As Serafina rails against her incarceration, others are drawn into the drama: the ancient, mysterious Suora Magdalena, with her history of visions and ecstasies, locked in her cell; the ferociously devout novice mistress Suora Umiliana, who comes to see in the postulant a way to extend her influence; and, watching it all, the abbess, Madonna Chiara, a woman as fluent in politics as she is in prayer. As disorder and rebellion mount, it is the abbess's job to keep the convent stable while, outside its walls, the dictates of the Counter-Reformation begin to purge the Catholic Church and impose on the nunneries a regime of terrible oppression.

Sarah Dunant, the bestselling author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan, brings this intricate Renaissance world compellingly to life. Amid Sacred Hearts is a rich, engrossing, multifaceted love story, encompassing the passions of the flesh, the exultation of the spirit, and the deep, enduring power of friendship.

Rating About Books Sacred Hearts

Ratings: 3.76 From 11864 Users | 1397 Reviews

Criticism About Books Sacred Hearts

Brilliant book! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, set in 1570 Renaissance Italy. A young girl is sent to live in the convent of Santa Caterina as her family can only afford one dowry and her sister is to be married. Fascinating on several levels, convent life in 1570; medicine in the 16th century ( a touch of Cadfael here) and a story about strong and powerful women coping in a man's world.

"We ve come a long way, baby. It may be clich�d, but Sacred Hearts shows the reader the strides women have made in the world. I remain utterly horrified at the fact that so many women were forced into the convents. When your options are to marry the man your father tells you to marry, submit to his whims and caprices, abuse and philandering, I imagine the convent was the best choice for some. Still, that doesn t make it fundamentally right. Everyone deserves the chance to choose their

"Sacred Hearts" is Sarah Dunant's best novel yet, and one of the very best I've read in a long time. Through her exquisite writing Dunant brings to life, vividly and intimately, the realities of convent life in 16th-century Italy. The struggle between piety and politics, spirituality and sensuality, as well as faith and science is powerfully depicted in this engaging story. We come to know well the women whose everyday lives we are made privy to and see, and feel, the turmoil beneath the

Durant writes an intriguing HF detailing life in a convent telling the story of convent politics and greater church politics at the time of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and how that affected all of Catholicism even down to the newest novice in one convent. Obviously women, especially noble women and usually second or third daughters, were basically sold into convent life by giving their dowries to the convent. They were then in essence held there against their will. This is the

What a great book, combining history, religion, moral dilemnas, music, medicine--lots of research here! This is the first of Dunant's books I've read. It was a "thick" read, with lots of details of the daily life of a convent in 1540, describing clothes, food, music, everything. I really appreciated the daily order of offices, not being Catholic myself I had no idea nuns woke up at 2 AM everyday (or used to). (copied review) In 16th-century Italy, convents aren't merely for housing religious

This is the third of the Italian Renaissance novels (there's no connection between them) and having read and enjoyed the other two I pounced upon this when I found it in a charity shop. 16 year old Serefina has been forced by her father to enter the convent of Santa Caterina. She rages against her confinement, and at first refuses to use her remarkable singing voice. As time goes on however Serefina becomes a pawn in the bitter power play of convent politics. Zuana the sister in charge of the

Any reader of my reviews knows that Im a sucker for historical fiction. If it sucks, I will finish it anyway, bitching all the way. If its good, I thank the fiction gods above. Sometimes its hard to find that good novel that makes an honest attempt at historical facts and attitudes while also maintaining an engaging writing style. Sarah Dunants Sacred Hearts has it nailed.Ive read several of Dunants novels before, all set in Renaissance Italy. She has a fascination with women, art, and the