Inside the abbey of a Benedictine monastery on tiny Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion. Jessie Sullivan's conventional life has been "molded to the smallest space possible." So when she is called home to cope with her mother's startling and enigmatic act of violence, Jessie finds herself...

Pax is the motto of Brede Abbey. Yet its peace is the peace of God--"not," as Godden brings to her readers' notice, "the world's peace." The walls of Brede witness life of unceasing work and prayer, little creature comfort, persistent disappointment and misunderstanding--yet a life of peace all the same, unswervingly joyful and loving. Into this life enters Philippa Talbot, ambitious, independent, successful, forsaking her beautifully arranged career...

A richly detailed fictional portrait of Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon, the daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, follows her from her passionate youthful marriage to Henry's older brother, Arthur, her widowhood, her marriage to Henry and her denial of her true love for Arthur, and the divorce that led to Henry's second marriage to Anne Boleyn.

"Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering debut novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and unsanctioned love"--