SEEING THINGS

by Frances Thomas

Runner-up for The Whitbread First Novel Award 1986'a first novel of tremendous style and verve, written with great aplomb - often devastatingly funny' SUSAN HILL It seemed distinctly odd to the nuns and pupils of the snobbish Seven Sorrows Convent that the Virgin Mary should have chosen to reveal herself to a dim and dumpy Irish schoolgirl. But Anne Marie Kelly's story of her encounter on a South London common was unshakable, and who was prepared to judge between a miraculous vision and a mere illusion? Certainly not Sister Scholastica, a nun of formidable severity who was in the grip of her own fantasies; nor priggish Hugo, in the more physical grip of his Sloane Ranger girlfriend; nor the tremulously lovely Rachel Gold, the only Jew in the school. This deliciously witty black comedy launches an entertaining aqd original writer, who offers an amused but gimlet-eyed perspective on the nature of personal visions. Beautifully written, funny, intelligent, sad and full of pleasingly cynical wisdom. A marvellous debut' Time Out

175 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1987