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Requiem
As she grows up, Cecilia Deardon detects a secret about her parentage that burdens her with a suspicion she cannot name. A confrontation with her family profoundly alters her life; and Cecilia leaves behind everything she knew of her Irish childhood. It is not until years later, when she has become an opera singer in Venice, that the trauma of her childhood comes to a head.
'In Requiem Berlie Doherty evokes a painful emotional and spiritual journey, as Cecilia faces the curse of her childhood and the sterility of her faith. Haunting and beautifully written, it powerfully conveys the mystery and anguish of Catholicism.' Penguin Books
The story of Cecilia's adolescence is exquisitely told in a style that is both economic and exuberant. There are moments of near-Joycean epiphany. ... the plot is tight and the narrative startling. Independent.
I have great feelings of admiration for Requiem. Very good indeed. Beryl Bainbridge.
This novel made me angry - for all the right reasons. Beautifully written in a style which combines poetic feeling with a scrupulous attention to the truth of things, it probes the tragic-comedy of Irish convent Catholicism with a rare power and sensitivity ... Requiem continued to disturb me long after I had finished it. Wendy Perriam.
Doherty writes in and even beyond, the best tradition of Irish lyricism to explore the extremes of sacrifice and sin, love and rejection. Company.
Requiem is an enchanting and lyrical portrait of childhood and growing up. Berlie Doherty is a real writer. Lovely prose. Barbara Trapido.
Berlie Doherty is the author of many novels, plays and story books. She has won numerous awards including, twice, the Carnegie medal for Dear Nobody and Granny was a Buffer Girl.
www.berliedoherty.co.uk
.
'In Requiem Berlie Doherty evokes a painful emotional and spiritual journey, as Cecilia faces the curse of her childhood and the sterility of her faith. Haunting and beautifully written, it powerfully conveys the mystery and anguish of Catholicism.' Penguin Books
The story of Cecilia's adolescence is exquisitely told in a style that is both economic and exuberant. There are moments of near-Joycean epiphany. ... the plot is tight and the narrative startling. Independent.
I have great feelings of admiration for Requiem. Very good indeed. Beryl Bainbridge.
This novel made me angry - for all the right reasons. Beautifully written in a style which combines poetic feeling with a scrupulous attention to the truth of things, it probes the tragic-comedy of Irish convent Catholicism with a rare power and sensitivity ... Requiem continued to disturb me long after I had finished it. Wendy Perriam.
Doherty writes in and even beyond, the best tradition of Irish lyricism to explore the extremes of sacrifice and sin, love and rejection. Company.
Requiem is an enchanting and lyrical portrait of childhood and growing up. Berlie Doherty is a real writer. Lovely prose. Barbara Trapido.
Berlie Doherty is the author of many novels, plays and story books. She has won numerous awards including, twice, the Carnegie medal for Dear Nobody and Granny was a Buffer Girl.
www.berliedoherty.co.uk
.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 2011
3 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Berlie Doherty
115 books85 followersBerlie Doherty née Hollingsworth is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for children's books, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal.She has also written novels for adults, plays for theatre and radio, television series and libretti for children's opera.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2023
It was okay!
Lots of descriptive language surrounding the landscape and the scene in which the protagonist was in. This made it important to really pay attention to detail cause there was little dialogue. Written from the firsthand pov of the protagonist. Wish the beginning was less about her childhood and the ending was extended.
Lots of descriptive language surrounding the landscape and the scene in which the protagonist was in. This made it important to really pay attention to detail cause there was little dialogue. Written from the firsthand pov of the protagonist. Wish the beginning was less about her childhood and the ending was extended.
April 6, 2017
Very well-written but I was just not in the mood for teenage Irish Catholic oppression, angst & misery.
August 29, 2011
Great read - but rushed ending spoilt it a bit.
April 6, 2017
Finally found a review by the author herself online and confirmed that this is indeed the book (out of hundreds that go by the same title) which I had read and enjoyed many years ago. Here's the review I found here http://www.berliedoherty.com/novelsf.... :
'The story of Cecilia’s adolescence is exquisitely told in a style that is both economic and exuberant… There are moments of near-Joycean epiphany… the plot is tight and the narrative is startling.'—The Independant
‘Requiem’ is an enchanting and lyrical portrait of childhood and growing up. Berlie Doherty is a real writer… lovely prose… more please.'—Barbara Trapido
It is quiet in the early fields. A bell begins to toll for Mass, and from all over the village dogs set up their barking. A priest in his long skirts stands on the steps of the church. People are coming, clutching their missals. The priest goes inside. He is old.
Latecomers shuffle in the porch. Men in their shirtsleeves stand leaning on the glass at the back of the church. Their shadows hunch about. The voices of the faithful rumble after the priest. A baby’s hand taps on the glass.
Outside the streets are empty. A rook on a post clucks to itself and squawks down, loud-beaked, to its fellows.
Requiem began as a short story, and was my first piece of writing as an adult. It was broadcast on BBC Radio Sheffield in 1988, and hearing it read aloud was one of the most exciting things that has happened to me as a writer. From that moment I was determined to make writing my career.
Some time later I wrote an extended version of Requiem as a play for BBC Radio 4, and it was first broadcast in 1993. It was part fiction, part autobiography, about an adolescent girl attending a convent school, and the crippling effect of the taunts of one particular nun on her life.
Soon after that I began to write the adult novel, Requiem, and although the girl at the convent school remained at the heart of it, I developed it into a story of a girl in rural Ireland who is imprisoned not just by her religion but by her family, and her search for her real identity becomes the driving narrative of the novel. Throughout she is obsessed with the memory of that nun’s taunt to her, that she cannot live up to her namesake—Cecilia, martyr and virgin, patron saint of music. For me, it is the most personal and important book I have written, and I was very disappointed when the publishers allowed it to go out of print.
'The story of Cecilia’s adolescence is exquisitely told in a style that is both economic and exuberant… There are moments of near-Joycean epiphany… the plot is tight and the narrative is startling.'—The Independant
‘Requiem’ is an enchanting and lyrical portrait of childhood and growing up. Berlie Doherty is a real writer… lovely prose… more please.'—Barbara Trapido
It is quiet in the early fields. A bell begins to toll for Mass, and from all over the village dogs set up their barking. A priest in his long skirts stands on the steps of the church. People are coming, clutching their missals. The priest goes inside. He is old.
Latecomers shuffle in the porch. Men in their shirtsleeves stand leaning on the glass at the back of the church. Their shadows hunch about. The voices of the faithful rumble after the priest. A baby’s hand taps on the glass.
Outside the streets are empty. A rook on a post clucks to itself and squawks down, loud-beaked, to its fellows.
Requiem began as a short story, and was my first piece of writing as an adult. It was broadcast on BBC Radio Sheffield in 1988, and hearing it read aloud was one of the most exciting things that has happened to me as a writer. From that moment I was determined to make writing my career.
Some time later I wrote an extended version of Requiem as a play for BBC Radio 4, and it was first broadcast in 1993. It was part fiction, part autobiography, about an adolescent girl attending a convent school, and the crippling effect of the taunts of one particular nun on her life.
Soon after that I began to write the adult novel, Requiem, and although the girl at the convent school remained at the heart of it, I developed it into a story of a girl in rural Ireland who is imprisoned not just by her religion but by her family, and her search for her real identity becomes the driving narrative of the novel. Throughout she is obsessed with the memory of that nun’s taunt to her, that she cannot live up to her namesake—Cecilia, martyr and virgin, patron saint of music. For me, it is the most personal and important book I have written, and I was very disappointed when the publishers allowed it to go out of print.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews