Life Class
Jenny Newman

Sister Maureen is a sports-obsessed nun in a crumbling convent in Toxteth, who becomes a reluctant art-history student, and the subject of the emotional rivalry of two of her tutors — one an aesthete whose interest in her may be more than paternal, the other a rather unlikely radical lesbian ex-nun. Against this overheated background, the Toxteth riots develop, the city’s fabric crumbling as the convent itself is rent by divisions, and the temptations and turmoil of the outside world expose Sister Maureen to serious doubts about her calling.

Given the author biog. on the back of the book, this would seem to be strongly autobiographical subject matter. In this context, it is odd that the novel gives almost no insight into the fascinating topic of a faltering vocation. Sister Maureen’s decision seems ultimately a life-style choice, rather than the result of a spiritual dilemma, and the theme of how a basically institutionalised person will cope with the outside world is barely touched upon. But Maureen is a feisty heroine, and the story skips along in a lively, if utterly undemanding, fashion.

Reviewed by Helena Mary Smith