*'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life' Hermione Lee, Observer
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 adapts to this cloistered world, learning rigid conformity and subjection to authority. Passionate friendships are the only deviation from her total obedience. Convent life—the smell of beeswax and incense, the petty cruelty of the nuns, the glamour and eccentricity of Nanda's friends—is perfectly captured by Antonia White.
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Summary
*'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life' Hermione Lee, Observer
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 adapts to this cloistered world, learning rigid conformity and subjection to authority. Passionate friendships are the only deviation from her total obedience. Convent life—the smell of beeswax and incense, the petty cruelty of the nuns, the glamour and eccentricity of Nanda's friends—is perfectly captured by Antonia White.
Description
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.
Critic Reviews
“'Intense, troubling, semi-miraculous . . . It is not the onlyschool story to be a classic; but I can think of no other that is awork of art' Elizabeth Bowen'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. Thisstory of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarianregime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in everydetail' Hermione Lee, Observer'A masterpiece. Beautifully written, it is a calm and factual recordof the slow death of the soul' Selina Hastings”
'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
'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
'A masterpiece. Beautifully written, it is a calm and factual record of the slow death of the soul' Selina Hastings
About the Author
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.
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 adapts to this cloistered world, learning rigid conformity and subjection to authority. Passionate friendships are the only deviation from her total obedience. Convent life--the smell of beeswax and incense, the petty cruelty of the nuns, the glamour and eccentricity of Nanda's friends--is perfectly captured by Antonia White.
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