Devils, for a change

'One of the most interesting unsung novelists of her generation' Sunday Telegraph

After more than twenty years confined behind high walls, Sister Mary Hilary runs away, on impulse, from the strict contemplative convent she entered at the age of seventeen; hits the crowds of London on chaotic Christmas Eve. She has been living in strict silence in the rural depths of Norfolk with just a dozen fellow nuns, has never handled money, never dressed in anything but long medieval robes, yet now she is confronted with superstores and towering blocks, confused by noise and neon, jostled by the rude mob battling home.

She has no home – nor any plans of prospects; has lived for God alone; has lived for God alone; her chief work prayer, her duty to deny and punish self. But can she survive without a self, in a self-regarding world she barely recognises, a greedy, permissive and amoral world, where media hype runs riot, a celibate priest seduces her, and even a Charismatic Conference seems a hotbed of hysteria?

Wendy Perriam takes a sharp look at modern society through the eyes of an innocent outsider, a thirty-nine-year-old adolescent, who knows nothing of life or men, and who – once Christ’s Virgin Bride – now gropes towards as yet untasted pleasures: those of friendship, sensuality and love.

Devils, for a Change is the controversial and profoundly disturbing story of a novice in the world, a woman struggling for identity, who ultimately finds healing in a haunting and unexpected finale. It is told with all the wit, verve and uninhibited sexuality which have made Ms Perriam’s name.

‘Start reading it at bedtime and you won’t put it down until dawn. Buy it – even if you have to mortgage the week’s lunch.’ She