Sacred And Profane

by Marcelle Bernstein

On Christmas Eve, in the stifling heat of a Latin American country, a nun collapses at prayer. In agony, she feverishly cries out words no-one can understand. At the same moment, thousands of miles away in London, a young woman wakes panic-stricken in her prison cell. Words of a strange language are screaming in her something dreadful is coming, and she's a child again, tense with fear., What links these two women in a way that is inexplicable, threatening - and, ultimately, deadly? As the nun nears death, a Jesuit priest tries to find out, uncovering the hidden past. In doing so he is forced to face his own demons, releasing emotions long repressed and denied...and learns no-one ever keeps a secret as well as a child.

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Hazel McHaffie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book that had me gripped to the last page. A nun and a young woman prisoner thousands of miles apart but linked in a macabre way. Shocking and mesmerising. I picked it up in a secondhand shop in Cornwall by chance and couldn't believe I'd found such an incredible book.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about two women, one a nun in a Guatemalan mission, the other a lifer in Holloway prison. At first, they don’t seem to have anything in common, but when the nun becomes very ill with and no one can diagnose her, a young priest is asked to look into her background.

[Aristotll]

french version Le pacte de silence

[Malinka Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! there is character development and self-discovering all along the way. The book is mainly presenting rough reality from the prison and church, but in a interesting way. The plot starts and develops graduately, the authors has built it very well, it was a real page turner!
The finish is great and the perfect unexpected element that a finish of a book needs. I recommend this book to anyone !