What do you think?
Rate this book
Cecilia
Cecilia tells the story of a young woman's search to find her place in a world that is rife with social upheaval and religious conflict. Born ito a noble Roman family in the second century, under the rule of the last of the "five good emperors," Marcus Aurelius, Cecilia seeks knowledge with the urgency and awkwardness typical of her tender age. But in a society where a woman's freedom to explore her beliefs, talents and ambitions is severely limited, Cecilia's quest amounts to a constant and painful confrontation with the world around her. Searching for light in a time of darkness and for answers among warring ideologies and beliefs, including the nascent Christian faith that she ultimately embraces, though not without her doubts, Cecilia is both a product of her times and a young woman at odds with her surroundings.
In Linda Ferri 's elegant prose, Cecilia tells the story of a soul's progress. It recounts an enthralling journey from a restless and searching child to a woman endowed with the strength to risk her own death in defense of her beliefs.
In Linda Ferri 's elegant prose, Cecilia tells the story of a soul's progress. It recounts an enthralling journey from a restless and searching child to a woman endowed with the strength to risk her own death in defense of her beliefs.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
4 people are currently reading
339 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 29, 2014
This story of the life of St. Cecilia is evidently supposed to be inspirational, but it actually reaffirmed my opinion that religion is stupid, useless bullshit. I really wanted to like it, but no. Lives of women in ancient Rome = super interesting. Life of a saint in ancient Rome = substantially less so.
August 2, 2013
There must be something lost in the translation of this book.
August 8, 2012
I found it understated and powerful and searching on women, class, reason and religion inthe ancient world. Also very good recreation of the Christian community and it's complexities.
May 6, 2023
4.5
An unabashed fan of all things Ferri, I was compelled to add my two cents to the fray.
Cecilia is Ferri’s imagining of the life of St. Cecilia, the incorrupt Roman Catholic virgin martyr and patron saint of music. The story goes that she was married off at sixteen to a pagan nobleman, Valerian, who she warned away from her marriage bed by telling him an angel would punish him if he tried to take advantage of her but love and protect him if he respected her. When he asked to see the angel, she told him that he’d be able to if he went to be baptized. After going, he came back to see the angel crowning his wife with flowers. They were later both martyred by the prefect Turcius Almachius.
Now to Ferri’s story: Part One begins with Cecilia as a young girl grappling in her diary with her place in her family. Her mother has had upwards of four miscarriages and Cecilia has lost a living sister, Annia, to a childhood illness. Add to that, a playmate, Quintus, died in her stead when he took a “punishment” or rather a consequence meant for her. Rather than giving her comfort over a child’s perceived guilt, her father instructs her that that gods have used her as an instrument of justice - that it was her playmate’s destiny to die. There is no place for guilt but pride in one’s duty to the gods. (Thanks, Dad!) Yet this is something that torments young Cecilia continuously and forms her from a young age.
Part Two jumps to two months before Cecilia’s marriage to Valerian. Cecilia’s mother has given herself over completely over to the goddess Isis, abandoning her only living child in favor of her many deceased ones, leaving a bereft Cecilia more and more utterly alone. Yet once she and Valerian marry, she becomes even more isolated - he visits her bed infrequently and leaves her for his many pressing responsibilities. However with continuous losses plaguing her at every turn, Cecilia finds herself questioning both the Roman and Egyptian gods and their capriciousness at allowing suffering with no chance for healing.
“I see Claudia again, and her eyes that are begging not to live but to die, to be reunited with her child…If with death God did not grant Claudia the mercy of finding her child, did he at least have the compassion to erase in her every memory?”
Yet her loneliness drives her into her husband’s reluctant embrace, especially when she finds that he is spending an inordinate amount of time with one of her servants. With visions of her increasingly withdrawn mother fresh in her mind, she throws herself at her husband, in order to be wanted by anyone.
Part Three brings us directly into Cecilia’s introduction to Jesus - her longtime nursemaid Carite had apparently converted shortly before Cecilia’s marriage and not had the courage before now to share her newfound faith during Cecilia’s depression but during her sickness had called upon a brother Alexander when there was no one else to treat her. Now while this jump into Cecilia’s conversion seems disjointed, it is not quite out of the blue but it could have been more seamlessly transitioned into.
“Carite gave me her milk. Carite led me to your fountain. The soul of Annia, omen of your eternity. Quintus, dark sorrow, the substitutes death and then the thread that led me to you. Valerian, yes also Valerian, the blow that wounded me. My God, how many threads in the fabric you destined for me alone.”
Yet the deeper she immerses herself in her newfound religion, wrapping it about her like a protective blanket, the more she discovers the frayed edges - those who are not in it for the same reasons, who would twist it for their own purposes.
At first, Ferri’s writing reminded me very much of Maggie O’Farrell’s style. If you enjoyed Hamnet, I believe you will enjoy this as well. It is also translated by Ann Goldstein who translated the bulk of Elena Ferrante’s works so you are getting as close to the meaning of the Italian as you could wish for. Yet, on the other hand, while I can appreciate artistic liberties, it sits wrong with me that this saint/historical figure was denied her martyrdom. That her husband was relegated to brute. That her religious experience seemed to be on par with to her mother’s spiritual ravings. If I could wish for anything, it would be that Part Three had been hashed out or edited just a bit more and that Cecilia had found the peace in martyrdom that had been hinted at all throughout the book.
An unabashed fan of all things Ferri, I was compelled to add my two cents to the fray.
Cecilia is Ferri’s imagining of the life of St. Cecilia, the incorrupt Roman Catholic virgin martyr and patron saint of music. The story goes that she was married off at sixteen to a pagan nobleman, Valerian, who she warned away from her marriage bed by telling him an angel would punish him if he tried to take advantage of her but love and protect him if he respected her. When he asked to see the angel, she told him that he’d be able to if he went to be baptized. After going, he came back to see the angel crowning his wife with flowers. They were later both martyred by the prefect Turcius Almachius.
Now to Ferri’s story: Part One begins with Cecilia as a young girl grappling in her diary with her place in her family. Her mother has had upwards of four miscarriages and Cecilia has lost a living sister, Annia, to a childhood illness. Add to that, a playmate, Quintus, died in her stead when he took a “punishment” or rather a consequence meant for her. Rather than giving her comfort over a child’s perceived guilt, her father instructs her that that gods have used her as an instrument of justice - that it was her playmate’s destiny to die. There is no place for guilt but pride in one’s duty to the gods. (Thanks, Dad!) Yet this is something that torments young Cecilia continuously and forms her from a young age.
Part Two jumps to two months before Cecilia’s marriage to Valerian. Cecilia’s mother has given herself over completely over to the goddess Isis, abandoning her only living child in favor of her many deceased ones, leaving a bereft Cecilia more and more utterly alone. Yet once she and Valerian marry, she becomes even more isolated - he visits her bed infrequently and leaves her for his many pressing responsibilities. However with continuous losses plaguing her at every turn, Cecilia finds herself questioning both the Roman and Egyptian gods and their capriciousness at allowing suffering with no chance for healing.
“I see Claudia again, and her eyes that are begging not to live but to die, to be reunited with her child…If with death God did not grant Claudia the mercy of finding her child, did he at least have the compassion to erase in her every memory?”
Yet her loneliness drives her into her husband’s reluctant embrace, especially when she finds that he is spending an inordinate amount of time with one of her servants. With visions of her increasingly withdrawn mother fresh in her mind, she throws herself at her husband, in order to be wanted by anyone.
Part Three brings us directly into Cecilia’s introduction to Jesus - her longtime nursemaid Carite had apparently converted shortly before Cecilia’s marriage and not had the courage before now to share her newfound faith during Cecilia’s depression but during her sickness had called upon a brother Alexander when there was no one else to treat her. Now while this jump into Cecilia’s conversion seems disjointed, it is not quite out of the blue but it could have been more seamlessly transitioned into.
“Carite gave me her milk. Carite led me to your fountain. The soul of Annia, omen of your eternity. Quintus, dark sorrow, the substitutes death and then the thread that led me to you. Valerian, yes also Valerian, the blow that wounded me. My God, how many threads in the fabric you destined for me alone.”
Yet the deeper she immerses herself in her newfound religion, wrapping it about her like a protective blanket, the more she discovers the frayed edges - those who are not in it for the same reasons, who would twist it for their own purposes.
At first, Ferri’s writing reminded me very much of Maggie O’Farrell’s style. If you enjoyed Hamnet, I believe you will enjoy this as well. It is also translated by Ann Goldstein who translated the bulk of Elena Ferrante’s works so you are getting as close to the meaning of the Italian as you could wish for. Yet, on the other hand, while I can appreciate artistic liberties, it sits wrong with me that this saint/historical figure was denied her martyrdom. That her husband was relegated to brute. That her religious experience seemed to be on par with to her mother’s spiritual ravings. If I could wish for anything, it would be that Part Three had been hashed out or edited just a bit more and that Cecilia had found the peace in martyrdom that had been hinted at all throughout the book.
January 3, 2012
Cecilia is the story of a young woman in what we used to call “Roman times”—the period in history when Rome was the center of the known world, with a culture that strongly influenced surrounding cities and other countries. It is generally thought of as the period between between 27 BC and 1453 AD. The daughter of a nobleman responsible for grain storage and distribution for the entire city of Rome, Cecilia is fortunate to have a good father who loves her, educates her, and finds her a suitable husband reasonably close to her in age. Her struggles as a nubile adolescent are revealed in papyrus scribblings meant to be a diary of daily feelings and thoughts. How close she seems to us then. She could be a child of any wealthy family today, with similar concerns and confusions.
Somehow the feel of the period did not come through for me. As mentioned above, Cecilia’s writings could have been the work of a teenager today, and frankly, teenager angst doesn’t hold my interest like it did when I was a teenager. The other characters in the book—her husband, for instance—don’t ever become rounded enough for us to see how we would react in Cecilia’s place. We are told how she reacts, but we cannot become personally involved.
Cecilia also converts to Christianity, and even dies for her faith, but why she should be so taken with Jesus and his teachings is not clearly developed. When someone is willing to die for their religion, they have strong convictions, but I was never invited to understand Cecilia’s mindset in these matters. The book felt cursory, and slight.
Somehow the feel of the period did not come through for me. As mentioned above, Cecilia’s writings could have been the work of a teenager today, and frankly, teenager angst doesn’t hold my interest like it did when I was a teenager. The other characters in the book—her husband, for instance—don’t ever become rounded enough for us to see how we would react in Cecilia’s place. We are told how she reacts, but we cannot become personally involved.
Cecilia also converts to Christianity, and even dies for her faith, but why she should be so taken with Jesus and his teachings is not clearly developed. When someone is willing to die for their religion, they have strong convictions, but I was never invited to understand Cecilia’s mindset in these matters. The book felt cursory, and slight.
August 17, 2014
This is a decent book. St. Cecelia is one if my favorite saints, but I don't think the author did her justice. For one thing she is one of the first martyrs, and in this novel she is not martyred at the end. All of the martyrs considered such a fate their greatest triumph, so I doubt she would have appreciated such an ending! I also did not feel that some vivid descriptions of impure behavior (which I skipped over as I always do once I discover them in books) were included as I don't feel they are appropriate, especially in a book depicting the life of a saint. Overall, it was a good read but I don't think I will be recommending it.
February 23, 2015
Ok fictionalized story of St Cecilia. A third of the novel is her as an educated child, daughter of a wealthy Roman physician who also hold political office, one third is her a married matron, bored and unhappy, the final third is after her conversion to Christianity. It's an interesting story but I never found it compelling. Also, the translation was lumpy.
January 25, 2019
As a story I enjoyed it a lot - 4 stars. As a re-creation of the life of Saint Cecilia, I liked it much less and disliked the ending - 2 stars. If I can find out from where the author derived many of her changes to the most common form of the legend then I may revise upwards. Or maybe not, because of the ending. Beautiful cover though.
January 8, 2012
Not completely finished with the book yet, but I'm not sure I'll finish it soon, simply because the language is stilted and the constant tense-switching is awkward. This may just be a translation issue -- it could be a beautiful story in Italian.
May 14, 2010
2 1/2
October 24, 2010
The translation of this novel lacked any sort of music or poetry. The language was flat and utilitarian when the story could have been much aided by the odd lovely turn of phrase.
May 10, 2011
Interesting read for those interested in women and the Church and Rome. However, it's based on the life of St. Cecilia, who (I'm pretty sure) was a martyr, but in the book she doesn't get martyred..
March 27, 2018
Interesting concept, but muddled.
October 13, 2024
Being a longtime learner and lover of ancient history, I have read all of the historical novels about Pompeii I could find. There aren’t many of them. Of course, the most famous is Pompeii by Robert Harris about the aqueduct system that supplied all of the towns around Vesuvius, which I enjoyed. Then there’s Elodie Harper's Wolf Den Trilogy, in which the author decided to make a prostitute from the Lupanare her main character. I read all three books and so obviously found enough interesting cultural and historical information woven into the story to keep me engaged. I’ve read a of couple of other books in which a young women who doesn’t want to be married off to a older man is the main character — its a common theme.
This book takes place in ancient Rome, not Pompeii, but it boringly goes along with that same “please don't marry me off Daddy” theme, until Cecilia meets up with some of the first Christians. I don’t think I’m giving anything away since the book’s description describes this encounter.
After that it’s a full-on snooze fest of religious nonsense. Ironically, before her own delusional and obsessive leap into the dogma and insane claims of the Jesus followers, her mother pulled the same stunt by shaving her head and spending all her time with the cult of Isis worshippers. Funny how they’ve both fell into the same trap, but of course Cecilia KNOWS that her mother is being misled and she’s chosen the one true god. Personally, not having fallen for any variety of dogma nonsense, I had to force myself to finish the book. But then, I always finish a book. If you’re a Christian you’ll probably love this one. If not, IMO s’ok to skip it.
This book takes place in ancient Rome, not Pompeii, but it boringly goes along with that same “please don't marry me off Daddy” theme, until Cecilia meets up with some of the first Christians. I don’t think I’m giving anything away since the book’s description describes this encounter.
After that it’s a full-on snooze fest of religious nonsense. Ironically, before her own delusional and obsessive leap into the dogma and insane claims of the Jesus followers, her mother pulled the same stunt by shaving her head and spending all her time with the cult of Isis worshippers. Funny how they’ve both fell into the same trap, but of course Cecilia KNOWS that her mother is being misled and she’s chosen the one true god. Personally, not having fallen for any variety of dogma nonsense, I had to force myself to finish the book. But then, I always finish a book. If you’re a Christian you’ll probably love this one. If not, IMO s’ok to skip it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2025
Con questo libro ho fatto una fatica tremenda…
La storia mi ha incuriosita moltissimo inizialmente, eppure non sono riuscita a farmi coinvolgere dalla lettura, non sono neanche riuscita a capire bene il perché. Non mi piace abbandonare i libri e infatti cerco sempre di evitarlo, ma in questo caso non ho potuto farne a meno 😕
La storia mi ha incuriosita moltissimo inizialmente, eppure non sono riuscita a farmi coinvolgere dalla lettura, non sono neanche riuscita a capire bene il perché. Non mi piace abbandonare i libri e infatti cerco sempre di evitarlo, ma in questo caso non ho potuto farne a meno 😕
November 10, 2025
Read for DOK book club.
Lovely writing. Interesting info about life in early Rome. Women treated so badly!
Lovely writing. Interesting info about life in early Rome. Women treated so badly!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews