Frost in May (Virago Modern Classics)

Frost in May (Virago Modern Classics)

by Antonia White (Author), Antonia White (Author), Tessa Hadley (Introduction), Elizabeth Bowen (Introduction)

Synopsis

Nanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent to the Convent of Five Wounds. Quick-witted, resilient and eager to please, she accepts this closed world where, with all the enthusiasm of the outsider, her desires and passions become only those the school permits. Her only deviation from total obedience is the passionate friendships she makes.

Convent life is perfectly captured - the smell of beeswax and incense; the petty cruelties of the nuns; the eccentricities of Nanda's school friends.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Edition: New e.
Publisher: Virago
Published: 03 Aug 2006

ISBN 10: 1844083780
ISBN 13: 9781844083787
Book Overview: *'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life' Hermione Lee, Observer

Media Reviews
Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. This story of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarian regime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in every detail -- Hermione Lee * Observer *
Evelyn Waugh called [her] one of the very best novelists of the day - a title she still deserves -- Carol Shields
Intense, troubling, semi-miraculous ... IT is not the only school story to be a classic; but I can think of no other that is a work of art * Elizabeth Bowen *
A masterpiece. Beautifully written, it is a calm and factual record of the slow death of the soul -- Selina Hastings
A small masterpiece, the compelling and passionate story of young girls at a repressive religious school, told with such lyricism and elegant economy, such subtle understanding -- Tessa Hadley
Author Bio
Antonia White was born in 1899 and educated at in London at St. Paul's and RADA. She worked as a journalist and in the Foreign Office.