Four young girls find themselves at The Sister's of Supreme Adoration home. Although their stories are different all are named Guinevere. Most other girls avoid them so the four form close ties hoping to survive the stern discipline, poor food and religious instruction they must endure. The reader knows them as Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win. How each arrived is unveiled as the story progresses. Education is at best minimal. They stick together, looking out for one another and even plot to escape which fails, of course.
The arrival of four war-injured soldiers becomes more than a distraction as the girls focus on nursing and trying to communicate with them. As time goes on it is also separates them. While the sisters don't mean to be cruel their criticism illustrates the lack of understanding adolescent girls. Sister Fran, the key administrator, doesnât understand them at all, viewing only their actions and statements as inappropriate for âinnocentsâ.
The book is interesting for its depiction of life in a religious school bereft from family involvement where these girls form their own family unit. The chapters about various saints detracted from the book's essence. Its ending details the lives of the girls once they leave the home when they come to realize that life holds its own high point and tragedies. In short, it's a coming of age book using the premise of girls whose tragic young lives evolve into a period of hope, fantasy and belief in a future once they turn eighteen and leave the school.
The arrival of four war-injured soldiers becomes more than a distraction as the girls focus on nursing and trying to communicate with them. As time goes on it is also separates them. While the sisters don't mean to be cruel their criticism illustrates the lack of understanding adolescent girls. Sister Fran, the key administrator, doesnât understand them at all, viewing only their actions and statements as inappropriate for âinnocentsâ.
The book is interesting for its depiction of life in a religious school bereft from family involvement where these girls form their own family unit. The chapters about various saints detracted from the book's essence. Its ending details the lives of the girls once they leave the home when they come to realize that life holds its own high point and tragedies. In short, it's a coming of age book using the premise of girls whose tragic young lives evolve into a period of hope, fantasy and belief in a future once they turn eighteen and leave the school.
