Sacred and Scandalous: Two Novels Featuring Complex Nuns
The figure of the nun in literature has long captivated readers, offering a unique lens through which to explore questions of faith, devotion, and human complexity.Here are two compelling novels that feature particularly memorable and complicated nuns at their center.
"Matrix" by Lauren Groff
In this richly imagined historical novel, Groff tells the story of Marie de France, a 17th-century nun who transforms a destitute abbey into a powerful economic and spiritual force. Cast out of the royal court and sent to a remote abbey, Marie initially rebels against her fate but eventually becomes a formidable abbess who challenges medieval patriarchal structures. The novel explores themes of female power, religious devotion, and the tension between earthly ambition and spiritual calling.
"Lying Awake" by Mark Salzman
This contemplative novel centers on Sister John of the Cross, a modern-day Carmelite nun who experiences intense religious visions that inspire beautiful poetry. However, when these visions are potentially linked to a medical condition, she must face a crisis of faith: should she treat the condition and risk losing her spiritual experiences, or continue to embrace what might be merely a symptom of illness? The novel delves deep into questions of authentic faith, the nature of religious experience, and the intersection of the divine and the medical.
Both novels masterfully portray nuns not as one-dimensional figures of piety, but as complex women grappling with power, doubt, ambition, and the challenges of reconciling human nature with divine calling. Through these characters, readers are invited to explore the nuanced relationship between faith and human experience, and the many ways in which spiritual devotion can manifest in complicated lives.
