Now Available in Paperback
Felice
"It is beautiful, sophisticated, sensual and rare." —Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times Book review
With a most delicate but authoritative touch, Angela Davis-Gardner draws her reader into the Nova Scotia of the early 1920's, and into the life of L'Académie du Sacré Sang.
At the center of the story is Filice, a spirited, sometimes spiritual, young orphan on the brink of growing up. She entertains her friends with the fantasies she spins, while inside she struggles with the expectations of others and her own dilemma about her future: Should she become an ordinary nun, perhaps a saint—or a woman? Scandal erupts when a student is expelled over late-night dirty stories… Mother Superior and the Abbe are clearly worried about Sister Agatha's strange behavior…and then to the academy already astir with unease comes a mute, injured man to recuperate in the infirmary, and he quickly becomes the focus of the girls' burgeoning eroticism.
Felice is a delightful literary event, a wonderfully fresh creation perfect in pitch, true to the wonder, exuberance, and gentle sexuality of a young girl's coming of age.
Reviews and Quotes
"Davis-Gardner gives her readers the reward of both the realistic novel and the romance: her tale is told with the intensity of an imaginative adolescent, but the world in which the tale abides is created with a precise attention to detail …A triumph…" —Mary Gordon, New York Times Book Review
"[A] simple and exquisite account of a girl's development, and of a way of life that has lasted for centuries. What shines throughout the book is the author herself, obviously touched and influenced by the emotions she describes. She has probed deeply and well." —St. Louis Post Dispatch
"The scenes of Felice's burgeoning eroticism are full of insight and provide a clearer view of the sexuality of youth than many novels do." —Philadelphia Inquirer
"Ms. Davis-Gardner is adroit in conveying the mixture of juvenile mischief, romanticized piety, and suppressed sexuality…" —The Atlantic
Home - Plum Wine - Forms of Shelter - Felice - Events - Biography - Contact