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Summary: Confessions of a Pagan Nun: A Novel
Review: I would give this book 10 stars out of five, too. My husband got this for me a couple of Christmases ago. I loved the cover (why he bought it for me: it looked like "me") and sure enough, the content did not let me down. I love Kate's lyrical writing and what she writes about. Years ago, I gave up attempting to be a Christian after reading "When God Was a Woman," mainly because I realized that Christianity hasn't been around that long and really qualifies as a testosterone-laced paternalistic cult (now look at how many women voted Bush into power!! Why?).
This book is a lyrical version of that thought. Many times in my life I have felt out of place like the main character in this book: like I don't belong. Gwynneve is my hero. I hope you will read this book and I wish every woman would read this book. I am sad for what happens to her but she is the true saint if there are saints. I love it, love it, love it. Thanks Kate Horsley.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but it just didn't "click"
Review: I would like to give this book 3 and half stars, actually. Horsley's descriptive prose is rich and beatiful; she has a way of describing things succinctly in totally new ways. Her plot is interesting, too: equal parts memoir, philosophical treatise, and even mystery. But something about the book kept me from being pulled into the story, from really living it. Maybe it's the constant back and forth from past to present, but I've run into that in plenty of books I really liked. I can't pin it down, but in any case, the book is still worth reading. Wait for the paperback though. You can't tell from the book info, but it's this little tiny thing that feels absolutely wrong in hardback.
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Summary: Great book.....
Review: I'm going to keep this short and sweet.....this book was a joy to read. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A Light In Historical Fiction
Review: In "Confessions Of A Pagan Nun", Kate Horsley ingeniously creates a fictional manuscript mired in historical fact, much like Umberto Eco's masterpiece, "The Name Of The Rose". The reader is drawn into Ireland, circa 500 AD. This is a beautiful tale about Gwenneve, who is on of nineteen women (nuns) who keep an eternal flame to Brigid, pagan goddess and Catholic saint. As a child, her mother's stories shaped her young mind to explore ideas, and to use words that express intangibles in a brutal, feral world. Her mother's warning, though, to use her "cleverness [as a way to] be free from the obligations of a woman married to a [simple] man, or at least to keep secrets from him." This advice was not meant to encourage duplicity, but to allow Gwenneve to explore her psyche with a mental and spiritual freedom with Giannon, her Druid teacher, mentor, and partner. The chapters are titled "Interruptions," but the true interruptions are when Horsley litters the passages with sagacious wit and profound thoughts both simple and complex though her character's eyes. These make the reader put the book down and pause to think critically: -"For do we not all have reason to choose weakness, and is it most our duty to resist it, or the world would be full of mewling and burdensome souls?" (p.17) -(On contemplating the teaching of St. Paul and St. Augustine:) "If we practice self-hatred, then the sacrifice we make of ourselves and our lives is not sacred, for it then a gift of something we hate rather than of something we have nurtured and loved." (p.32) A hearty "Brava!" for the author's research of how Christianity grew in Ireland. The trading of agricultural technology for professions of faith was one way that the new Church came to gain believers in this remote land. With these ideas, Gwenneve questions larger issues not confined to one period, institution, or belief system. Through vivid examples of the subjugation of a culture by a "divine" institution, the author brings to light the very personal journey of a woman whose land is in violent evolution. With this foundation, the story takes on what is like a dynamic framework for Margaret Atwood's previously published futuristic "Handmaid's Tale." Gwenneve acted as one who thought most independently for herself in times where powerful people actively sought scapegoats for various reasons. She also never gave herself totally to the doctrines that were laid upon her. Gwenneve looks to Brigit as both Saint and Goddess, saying, "I believe that which is sacred does not care by what name it is called." Gwenneve says of herself that she was "not fully converted or truly baptized" and therefore was able to rationalize the use of Druidic practices (i.e. the effective use of medicinal plants). Ultimately, Gwenneve could not bridge the gap between "old" and "new" religions as her life became analogous to the life and legend of Brigid. It is only when the monks come to actively oppress the nuns -- who keep the 20-day cycle of The Flame -- that seems to be the beginning of the end for our dear Gwenneve. She loathed the misuse of power, knew her own mind, and was brave enough to speak it, with sad consequences. As we are drawn into her world, we see the political side of the Church and its subjugation not only of a society but also of an individual's flame...and yet the light of eternal truths which cannot be extinguished.
Rating: 
Summary: This Was Completely Fictional?
Review: Kate Horsley had me completely riveted for the entire book. She prefaces the story with a translator's note about finding the manuscript in an ancient well near an Irish monastery, then writes the novel so plausibly, that it's difficult to believe she made it up (I'm still not convinced!). Wow! What a story!
Rating:
Summary: This Was Completely Fictional?
Review: Kate Horsley had me completely riveted for the entire book. She prefaces the story with a translator's note about finding the manuscript in an ancient well near an Irish monastery, then writes the novel so plausibly, that it's difficult to believe she made it up (I'm still not convinced!). Wow! What a story!
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Summary: A STIRRING VIEW OF WORLDS IN COLLISION
Review: Kate Horsley's incredible novel CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN is one of those truly rare books that succeeds on multiple levels -- it is enthralling and entertaining, believable and full of wisdom, poetry and finely crafted prose. Simply read as an historical novel, it would be an accomplished work. The author has obviously taken great care to research and immerse herself in the world she depicts. Her descriptions of the events and lives drawn here are crystalline and coarse at the same time -- these people led lives of hardship and illiteracy, in a beautiful but unforgiving landscape. Survival was difficult, and was by necessity their primary concern, directing their lives with a firm hand. The customs and living conditions of the time are laid out before the reader in almost film-like tangibility -- Horsley's descriptions of the natural world are a well-woven tapestry before which the story is played out. Telling the story of a 5th century Irish nun -- raised as a pagan and converted later in life to the 'new faith', Christianity -- the book is a moving personal history. The nun -- Gwynneve -- is a rarity among the people of her land. She has studied with a respected druid -- Giannon, her teacher and soul mate -- and is actually literate. She learns from him many other skills as well -- storytelling being one of the most impressive. From her mother Murrynn she has learned the gathering and use of sundry herbs and plants from the natural world, of their healing and other properties. Her amazement that such a thing as written language can exist, and the power that it can possess, is made clear in the author's vividly beautiful language. Gwynneve is thunderstruck by the implied power of such a gift -- and her view of words (along with justice and truth) as the ultimate tools of power will follow her throughout her life. She is also keenly aware of the relationship between justice and truth -- it is the power held by the druids whom she most admires, and she well recognizes its place in the world (from p.105): 'The truth will inevitably cause tremors in those who cling to power without honoring justice'. Over the course of the book, the author alternates chapters containing Gwynneve's record of her own life and history with 'interruptions' detailing events occurring around her as she works in her beehive-shaped stone clochan. Gwynneve comes across as an intelligent, sensitive seeker, yearning for a way to deal with the pain and loss in her own life, and to ease the journey of those around her. She possesses the wisdom to see beyond the painful aspects of grief and loss, seeing it more deeply as an actual freeing agent that allows her to pass through trials and move beyond them. The kindness she displays to the poor people she encounters in her journeys, and to those living near the nuns' compound, is sincere, generous and heartwarming -- but she is completely without conceit in her view of herself, a compelling and refreshing character. Gwynneve has much wisdom within her -- although her humble self-image doesn't allow her to see it as such. She sees the purveyors of Christianity attempting to wipe out all traces of the 'old ways' and she wonders -- with incredible honesty and acute insight -- why it can't be seen that the two could mutually, peacefully (and beneficially) co-exist. She sees a kinship not only between the goals of the two systems of thought, but in their rituals and visual aspects as well. She finds herself sympathetic to the Palagians -- an early Christian sect denounced by the Church of Rome as heretical, who see the sacred relationship between ALL aspects of God's creation -- and finds herself regretting that Patrick had come to drive them out of Ireland. She is also intensely devoted to St. Brigid, who was herself raised by druids and converted late to Christianity. The cloister of nuns that Gwynneve has joined devotes themselves to maintaining an eternal flame to Brigid -- and it is believed that one night each month Brigid herself comes to guard her own flame. Gwynneve's talents in reading and writing are soon put to use by her sisters. She is given the task of transcribing scriptures, as well as documents detailing the lives of Patric, Augustine and other saints. It is her steadfast -- and heartfelt -- refusl (or simply, perhaps, her inability) to renounce the teachings of her druidic past that makes her a perceived threat to some of her sisters, and to the abbot risen to power and position who oversees their group. She is intelligent, sensitive and strong-willed -- she will not be moved from the beliefs she holds sacred within her soul. The novel is not a lengthy one, at just under 200 pages -- but it is an incredibly rich one. It is a work of fiction, but it is presented as an ancient codex, dating from around 500 a.d., supposedly found at an excavation in County Kildare. The author -- in her 'translator's note' at the first of the book -- lays out her purposes in relating the story to the reader, as well as her reasoning in the use of Gaelic and Latin terms that appear in the text (a very helpful glossary of these is found at the end of the novel). The presentation is thus given a very authentic and natural feel -- this is a carefully constructed, shining work. It is moving and poetically charged, filled with wisdom, hope and insight -- it's an experience I know I will never forget, and I can give it my very highest recommendation.
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Summary: Beautiful but Gruesome
Review: Kate Horsley's novel is beautifully written but not for the faint of heart. I had to put it down several times because the descriptions of horrible things that had happened to people and animals were sickening to me. It is probably a sign that her writing drew me in so much that I could not just "read past" the tragedies but took them to heart.
I would recommend to anyone who just wants to read lyrical, poetic, beautiful fiction that you not become so enchanted with the beauty that you let your guard down because there is a lot of ugliness to follow.
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Summary: A woman's story
Review: Only 5 stars are available but I'd give it 10 if possible. A beautiful story to read and a book to treasure and pass on to your children. I loved the way she spoke and her perceptions of the world were very moving. Her thoughts during this trying time for women are fascinating. Read it, and tell other women about it, this book is an absolute must to understanding the feminine mysteries!
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Summary: Lyrical yet realistic, rates: 5 HANDKERCHIEFS
Review: Spoiler alert: CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN is a brilliant novelette, guaranteed to break your heart! I have to warn you so that you can brace yourself to handle the inevitable, tragic ending. The author, however, does leave a miniscule possibility for us to imagine that Gwynneve, the gallant heroine, did not suffer all that much in the end; so feel free to augment the finale with your own imagination. Kate Horsley's writing is multi-faceted: lyrical yet often no-nonsense, albeit on occasion hard to read because of the bevy of Gaelic words and expressions, yet her knowledge of the era (6th Century)and locales and terrain (County Kildare, Ireland) is strong, and her insights into the character of Gwynneve, the Druid turned a nun, are illuminating. Once you enter Gwynneve's thoughts, you get to be part of her flesh, and page after page, you suffer from the cold and the dampness, shiver as goosebums appear along your arms, run down the back of your neck, your feet trouble you as if they were about to disintegrate into the mulchy earth full of rotting leaves, and your eyes... burn from the smoke of that one waxen candle lighting the parchment in front of you.
Thankfully, Gwynneve does experience moments of happiness. And of course, there are those short-lived Irish summers, "when the wind is green," and you, the reader, may feel as tempted as our heroine to pause in your work and "stand outside on the hill and see the valley and the waves of hills beyond."
Raised in a village of fishermen and pigkeepers during the time of Ireland's transition from Paganism to Christianity, she is blessed with the love of Murrynn, her wonderfully drawn, strong-hearted, vibrant mother (Murrynn deserves a novel of her own!), and later on with the love of handsome Giannon, her Druid teacher, reluctant lover, a very complex, tormented man who seems tempted by Christianity to foresake his druidic soul.
Gwynneve is deeply romantic yet level-headed, learns quickly, retains what she learns, suffers the tragic loss of her beloved mother, then gets separated from her equally beloved teacher, in time bridges the gap between Paganism and Christianity, and still manages to retain her remarkably clear sight of how things truly are: "... I wonder if she (Sister Ailenn) has taken her thoughts from St. Paul and St. Augustine, who connect self-disgust with righteousness. Self-hatred seems to me an evil thing in itself rather than an antidote to evil. If we practice self-hatred, then the sacrifice we make of ourselves and our lives is not sacred, for it is then a gift of something we hate rather than of something that he have nurtured and loved."
CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN, despite its brevity, shows well the clear-eyed observations of a young woman who, while caught in the relentless machinery of the fast-approaching dark era, continues to think independently, and of course, pays the price. "... I had thought that the love of Christ would make us kinder and less likely to smash skulls. But now I see that we will be asked to smash skulls for Christ."
This part from the Epilogue, written by "Giannon, the Mute," is still haunting me: "... I have news that should be known.... In her own death, Gwynneve was not false... and as she sat down on the stones around the well, she addressed the abbot gently, saying, "I wish I could live more."
I like to repeat that you should brace yourself before you read this novel; but when you finish it, offer a little prayer for Gwynneve's soul. Although she died fifteen centuries ago, she returns to life each time one of us reads her story, and thus her wish of being allowed to live, is granted. Slainte, Gwynneve!
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