Little Flowers

by Nicola Thorne

An early previously unpublished novel from one of Britain's best-loved storytellers World War II is raging across Europe, but the enclosed, sheltered community of the Convent of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary is untouched by world events. The nuns and girls go about their daily lives oblivious to the horrors of that dreadful conflict, their routine punctuated by prayers, meals and lessons. For Andrea, a young Protestant girl new to the Convent, the monotony and the plethora of rules and restrictions comes as a shock. Yet she is attracted by the mysteries of the Catholic faith, and she enjoys the company of her new friends, notably the strong-willed but popular Clare Bingley. In time, she will come to look upon her years at the Convent one of the happiest periods in her life, when deep and lasting friendships were formed, with much fun and laughter . . .

Genres: Historical Fiction, School Stories, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Nicola Thorne (real name: Rosemary Ellerbeck) was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Her father was English and her mother a New Sealander, and she was brought up and educated in England. She graduated in Sociology at the London School of Economics, but always wanted to pursue a literary career and worked as a reader and editor while writing her first novels. In 1975 she left publishing to write full and and has now written a number of successful novels under the pseudonym Nicola Thorne. She lives in St. John's Wood, London.

Reviews

[Sarah Bayliss]

This is an interesting account of convent school life but there is a lot of intrusion by the unseen omniscient narrator. I found some of that rather boring. On the other hand, the main characters are well drawn and, while there is no discernible plot, the set pieces are good, even dramatic. I thought the story did drop away rather limply at the end too - again with a lot of generalisation from the narrator. But, all in all, a good read and a fairly accurate look at nuns, convents and convent girls.

[Tamara Epps · Rating 1 out of 5]

Considering that this story has no plot, little characterization and is pretty poorly written (with tense and style changes throughout), I found that I wanted to continue reading. Unfortunately the end does not make up for it and honestly can't remember why I bothered to read to the end as often it seemed that references to the war and Catholic lifestyle were just there for the sake of the author being able to let the reader know (which I'm pretty sure most readers already have a decent understanding of). Don't bother reading this as there are much better childhood/school stories out there.