TREMAIN, ROSE — Letter to Sister Benedicta

Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd. 1995. (ISBN: 9781856195935). Hardcover. Hardback with D/J, book good but some staining and creasing to D/J. 1995 Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd edition. Ruby has reached a point of crisis. Fat and 50, educated only to look after her family, she can see no future. In her imagination she turns to Sister Benedicta. As Ruby starts to tell her everything, it is clear that Ruby has a capacity to love and understand that is far greater than she imagined. 'It is a joy to read from beginning to end' Auberon Waugh 'Miss Tremain does something to restore my confidence in the vitality of the English novel..Letter to Sister Benedicta should be seen as a triumph of the human spirit over the afflictions which beset us' Auberon Waugh Fat and fifty, educated only to be a wife and mother, Ruby Constad has reached a point of crisis. Her husand, Leon, lies in a nursing home after a stroke that has left him paralysed; her grown-up children are gone. In her anguish Ruby appeals for help to a half-remembered figure from her colonial Indian girlhood - Sister Benedicta. Gradually, the events leading up to Leon's stroke are revealed and a woman emerges whose capacity to love, hope and understand are far greater than she realises. 'An original talent clears the hurdle of a second novel with pathos and humour' Guardian 'The fact that Ruby Constad emerges so strong and devoid of self-pity makes her one of the most generous and complete of modern heroines' The Times. Fiction. 1-85619-593-7. Used: Acceptable.