Back to the convent where it all started

I’ve always loved to read and paint. When I suffered a personal tragedy in my life I didnt do either for a couple of years. Then I picked up The Birth of Venus. I was suddenly hooked on reading again. Then I read In The Company of The Courtesan, loved it, and even did a painting called The Courtesan. Today I have just finished Sacred Hearts. Could you please hurry and write another….like tomorrow? Take care.

Hi Courtney,

Thank you for that and good to meet you. Hope Venice and In the Company of the Courtesan and Sacred Hearts in Ferrara (all the renaissance moments) give you as much pleasure.

Over the five or so years since I started publishing these books lots of people have been interested in them in films, but no one has got beyond the stage of an option. I suspect the expense has put them off. I have to say I don”t mind. I think the best films are the ones you make in your mind as you are reading. I can’t think of many books where the film has given me better pictures than my own. But maybe some day……..

Hi Sarah!
Thanks for your beautiful work. I am a swedish musicologist, composer and artist.

I came upon Sacred Hearts this summer and must say I appreciated it very much and the thoughtfulness you gave to your characters and their experiences. It also really opened up a hard reality and unfreedom of women in convent life, without sacrificing the finer nuances of inner spirituality.

I now dive into the courtesan and must say I am so impressed by the way you are able to paint the scenery of the times in Venice and Rome. I am reading this in swedish translation and the humor and colorful language is a true joy and inspiration to read.
Being a lover of Italy its like being there in spirit.

Your writing is a true gift. /yours Frans Mossberg

Parking tickets drive most of the people I know to near distraction, altered states are what parents need to deal with teenagers, and writing is the hardest job in the world. My heart goes out to you. But you will do it! Pain, as they say, is part of the process.

Thoroughly enjoyed it right to the end; then really disappointed. I wanted to know what happened in the morning. Rather abrupt ending for me.

I just finished Sacred Hearts and truly enjoyed it. One of my Lutheran pastors, a woman, loaned it to me after I had loaned her a truly amazing academic book about a 16th century German nun, Katerina Lemmel. The book is titled “Katerina’s Windows,” and it includes letters from Katerina, who entered a convent after her husband died, and kept up a rather remarkable financial endeavor from the convent. The authors are Corine Schleif and Volker Schier, professors at Arizona State University. Though it’s academic (and expensive), it’s a wonderfully readable book with numerous color photos.

Sarah, I enjoyed your Radio 4 Point of View about the baby boomer generation wanting to redefine death and dying. This is the same generation that 40/50 years ago redefined youth culture, and have ever since, for better or for worse, challenged and reshaped democratic societies.

In the UK, they are now making their own decisions about when and how they die, rather than leaving this to the medical professionals who still have a ‘we know best about your end of life medical treatment’ attitude, and the funeral industry that readily defaults to outmoded religious rituals, if only because it means we can be dispatched within a short time at the local crem.
I run a website called My Last Song (.com) and it supports people to take responsibility for their end of life issues, in particular their funerals (and those of their loved ones).
My Last Song is one of a growing band of organisations that are coming to be known as Farewell Innovators. No, we are not encouraging people to end their lives, or convince others to end theirs.
We simply want people to accept that death is inevitable, and that we should plan for it to be the experience we want it to be.
My Last Song’s strapline could easily be: ‘Go Out On The Right Note.’ That wouldn’t be the cliched My Way, whether the Sid Vicious or Sinatra version…look on My Last Song to see the fantastic variety of songs that people want to be remembered by…’Funky Sensation’ indeed, but way not?

Rather embaressed as you probably know all that already – carried away by enthusiasm! Sorry. Ah well, back to the fertiliser

Bella! Sorry. I have been carried away with writing and not on my site at all. Thank you for all that. I did NOT know she wrote them. Bloody typical.

Sarah

Hi Sarah Loved Sacred Hearts. I am an ex nun was in the convent for 22years. I felt you captured the intrigue politics and rebellion in the convent briliantly as well as the kindness and love that was there. Thanks Noreen

Thank you Debbie. I am deep into the next book, and rather punch drunk form working so hard, but it is great to find a new reader. I hope this new one, whne it finally emerges is worth the wait.