Five for Sorrow Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden was first published in 1979 and it’s one of her three books centred around a Roman Catholic convent, not the most exciting of settings you would think, but this is a really good read.

Elizabeth is a young and rather naive army driver who is in Paris for the first time, just as the city has been liberated by the allies in World War 2. She’s allowed to join in the wild celebrations and is picked up by Patrice, an older man. He’s obviously well-off and influential, he manages to get Elizabeth who is now known as Lise released from the army and Lise throws caution to the wind and begins to live with Patrice in his luxurious flat. Too late Lise eventually realises that she’s actually living in a brothel and many of the ‘girls’ have been living with Patrice previously, it’s only a matter of time before Lise is also cast aside and put to work in the brothel.

I really enjoyed this one, I suppose it’s meant to be an eye-opener regarding convents and nuns, as in this book nuns who visit female prisoners sometimes inspire a vocation in women who have presumably led a sinful life, although in truth many have been more sinned against than anything else. They’re welcomed into that religious world to begin a long journey towards acceptance as a nun, if they continue to feel that need.

I am not sure how realistic that is because the one young woman that I knew who became a nun was accepted immediately. She had been the ‘naughty’ one of a large Catholic family, drinking smoking and partying wildly, and when her father died very suddenly she felt so conscience stricken that after a few weeks she walked to the nearby Carmelite Monastery – and that was that!

Anyway, Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy was an entertaining read. Rumer Godden seems to have found plenty of material in the Catholic religion after her conversion to it as she wrote two others with convent settings I believe. By the time she wrote this one she had moved to the Scottish borders to be near her daughter, and she lived in Dumfries and Galloway until her death? Can I count her as a Scottish author – hmm – maybe not. She did immerse herself in Scottish culture though and even wrote at least one children’s book in Scots dialect. It’s called The Dragon of Og and you can read my thoughts on that one here.