Keeping the Faith

by Carol Clewlow

Tells the story of a young woman who leaves her oppressive yet loving fundamentalist home in order to find her freedom

119 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 1988

About the author

Carol Clewlow was born and brought up in Somerset where she trained as a reporter on a weekly newspaper. She spent three years in Belfast on a local daily newspaper before leaving to travel in the Middle East and Asia. She then worked in the north-east of England as a freelance journalist and writer.

Reviews

[Bernadette Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd never heard of the Author before until someone passed me the book to read. After reading this I will go on and read other books by her. 7/10 in my opinion.

The story is well written, flows well and gives an insight into the feelings and in some ways stigma that young people have to deal with when being brought up by religious parents. The story centres around Maud and is told as a flashback to her early life.

Maud's parents are deeply religious and attempt to bring Maud up the same way but as most teenagers do at some point in their lives they rebel and want to live life the way they want to live it. In some ways this was quite reminiscent of my upbringing as we were brought up to go to Church every week and I did rebel. Maud's parents are quite strict about her seeing young men and don't always agree with her choice of boyfriend/admirer and the fact that she wants to go out socialising in ways that they don't always agree with. We journey with her through her innocence to early adulthood and relationships.

The book has been likened to Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, so if you enjoyed that story then you'll more than likely enjoy this. At 119 pages of narrative this is only a short story but it certainly packs a lot into it.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coming-of-age story about a girl growing up in a strict Christian sect. Although her parents aren't punitively strict, Maud cannot make them happy because she simply doesn't believe what they believe.

I found this an uncomfortable read because it seemed to be all the worst bits of growing up with none of the good bits. Even when something good happens, it is suffocated by the depressed tone of the book.

It's very well written but not the most enjoyable of reads - the kind of book that one imagines was cathartic for the writer, and hopefully will have freed her to write other books that are more uplifting.