Customer Reviews

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy

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This is the story of Elizabeth Fanshawe. In 1944, when she was twenty-one years old, she was enlisted in the English army and her assignment as a driver took her to Paris. It was an exciting time because the French were jubilant over the liberation of France. Elizabeth joined in the celebrations, but became separated from her English army companion. Intoxicated from hours of drinking, she splashed around with a group of other celebrants in a fountain. Wet, exhausted and cold, she was approached by Patrice Ambard, a charming and well-dressed man who befriends her. When he finds out that she's alone, he offers to take her to his home to dry off. Drunk and unable to remember where her hotel is, she goes with him. She's seduced and ends up madly in love with Patrice. Thus, she began a new life. Patrice owned a high-class brothel, and Lise becomes a prostitute and was known as the notorious Madam Lise Ambard. She was also referred to as La Balafree, the Scarred One.

Her life is told through flashbacks and the book actually begins with her in a convent that is run by the French Dominican Sisters of Bethanie. This particular order of Sisters work in helping drug addicts, vagrants, prisoners and prostitutes. Lise's story unfolds, as she remembers her past and the circumstances of her life. Despite the sordid early life that Lise led, this is actually a story of faith, love and forgiveness.

The title, FIVE FOR SORROW, TEN FOR JOY is a reference to the rosary. The Rosary, is a Catholic tradition where the different prayers reflect on the life of Jesus.

The author of this fascinating story is Rumer Godden. She is the superb author of dozens of wonderful books for both adults and children. Three of her most well known stories were also turned into films. They are, IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE, THE PEACOCK SPRING and BLACK NARCISSUS.

The title refers to the Rosary which the main character can not escape - or the child in whose hand she first saw it. The Catholic imagery and ritual is pervasive but with enough explaination for a reader who is not familar with it.

From being a driver in the armed forces at the liberation of Paris at the end of the war Liz could not have seen the path her life would take.

Rumer Godden paints vivd picture of the times and places she describes from the brothel to the prison and finally to the convent where she finds her peace in the orders' work with prisioners.

It is many years since I last read this book and yet the images from it and the character stay in my memory still. The work may not be quite to the standard of "In this house of Brede" but it is still a brilliant story and very well crafted. I am very sad to see it is no longer in print.

I too am sorry this book is not currently available. The story is darker and less "easy" than Godden's luminous IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE -- the main character becomes a madam and a convict -- but the themes of religious faith and redemption are the same and are beautifully rendered.

A wonderful book found in a used bookstore. I wish they wrote like this today. Miss Godden is a masterful storyteller, who writes about the Catholic faith beautifully. You don't have to be Catholic to understand and enjoy the subject of this book. It is a dark story--much more so than most of her books. However, the love, faith, and beauty that shine forth from the despair and degradation of Lise's early life are thought provoking. The charactors will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.

How sad that this book is no longer in print. "Five for Sorrow; ten for Joy" is beautifully written as are most of Rumer Godden's books.

Liz is only 19, fresh from London and driving an army car during World War II. She has no parents and was brought up by a cold, unmarried aunt. Her life changes when she is seduced by a charming Frenchman who is actually the proprietor of a brothel.

Degradation, despair, and eventual redemption are the themes of this novel. Rumer Godden also weaves in the history of the order of nuns Liz joins--an order founded to rescue the prostitutes of Paris.

The five for sorrow and ten for joy refer to the decades of the rosary.

The descriptions and writing are exquisite. I loved this story.

Often I give away a book, especially fiction, once I've read it. Not this book. I have bought aeveral to give to my friends and without exception, each of my friends had to get the book to give to their friends. This is a story packed with reality, mercy and new beginnings - it overflows with hope even when things for the central character seem at the worst. I so appreciate Godden's sensitivity in conveying the truth about human nature and, as I am a member of a monastic community, amazed at her ability to portray life in a convent without romance and with great regard. Powerful read.

To be a nun means to occupy a very special and committed role in society. It is definitely a unique calling when a woman accepts to be a special witness and bearer to the truth of Jesus Christ. Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is not a novel purely about nuns, per se, although it does play a significant part. Rather it is about people, their humanity - and sometimes their lack of it - as well as their redemption, for even religious people require the latter.

The novel centers on the Sisters of Bethany at the Convent of Belle Source whose nuns and aspirants - though not all of them - were at one time or another, convicts at Vesoul Prison, women deemed lost or hopeless due to their past criminal transgressions. It is their grim hardness of personal life experience that makes them stellar examples of what it is to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, brides whom He plucked from the dark and horrific corners of their own making, for when things are truly at their worst for people, God is always in and at the scene.

Of all the vast array of characters that pepper the novel, it is Elizabeth Fanshawe, before she becomes Soeur Marie Lise, in which the story revolves. Before her entry into monastic life, she was better known as La Balafree or Madame Lise Ambard, the self described whore and infamous brothel managing murderess who served a ten year stint behind bars. But before she accepted that role, despite her dubious misgivings, she was a minor figurehead in the Army in France, having worked for the Motor Transport Corps. Aside from her Aunt Millicent in Greenhurst, England, she had no blood relations or friends and was thus easy prey for the bad influences that bombarded her on the eve of the armistice of the war. Intoxicated by the celebrations in Paris, Elizabeth meets Patrice, a pimp who operates out of the Rue Duchesne. And under his tutelage, she becomes his number two in the business, and it just gets worse from then on. While she is trapped in the mire of sin, she does make attempts to flee, but it is really to no avail. It is only when she commits murder that she gets free, ultimately placed behind bars and is then mythologized by the locals and the media. By this point, she has lost everything, despite the fact that she had really nothing great to start off with.

While in lock up, she encounters a group of nuns who do prison ministry, women who truly do know what Elizabeth is going through and has gone through. And it is through this encounter that thoughts of a vocation begin to develop and get nourished; it is slow going and doubtful at first, as many vocations normally are. Yet, the desire and the consistency never falter, and it is upon her impending release that she discerns a possible transition into the religious life. Although female prisoners are encouraged to look at a possible vocation upon their release, there is no pressure to do so. And those who do follow through are not always accepted, because their calling laid elsewhere. However, due to her battle scars and deep dissatisfaction with worldly offerings, religious life winds up up being a perfects fit for her. And others follow suite. Even though she becomes a nun, she still has her crosses to bear within the convent, and they are the memories of her past, deep-rooted and unrelenting. Her calling thus gets transformed into the confrontation of herself, to understand the hows and whys of her own being, of Her Own Sickness Unto Death, just like Jesus Christ felt while suffering on Calvery. Her demons can not be brushed aside and simply forgotten, for that in a way would totally nullify the essence of her vocation. They are not cast away, and that is illustrated by the climatic ending of the story.

From the very beginning of the book there is a supernatural invitation that is offered to Elizabeth: Perhaps it was right that Lise should first see the beads as they lay in the dirt and debris of a table outside the cheapest kind of cafe among the rubbish of the Paris night - Page 11. What I liked about Rumer Godden's book is that the women are not portrayed as plaster cast saintly nuns with halos of gold around their heads; they are women who've had a hard-bitten existence, and they don't want that for the next generation. Their actions are fueled by love - who is Christ - for the betterment of souls and society. The work also showcases quite clearly that God can dip down into the darkest corners of the human heart and transform that person for the better.

This story touched my heart and held my attention throughout. It reveals a unique side of a special ministry, in a very personal way. I have already recommended it to several friends and will continue to do so.

This is a beautifully written account of one woman's journey to the fulfillment for which she has always been searching.The descriptions of France and the French countryside are evocative and lyrical. I detected many echoes of "In this House of Brede", her earlier work, and her subsequent comments on that and the opinions voiced by various religious sisters on it. To some extent I found the ending anti-climactic ; although hints of evil are cleverly suggested,I regretted a final confrontation between Vivi and Lise. Perhaps the author wanted to say that we are never completely free from fear and danger. But a good read, nevertheless.

I am not very good at writing "reviews" per se; I can only speak to my own opinions. Women novelists don't often appeal to me as most women are emotional and I'm more of a stoical woman. Being a Christian, I have never found a Christian novelist I could stomach ten pages of as they are often so chatty and so emotional. This story is different. Intellectual yet faith-driven... wonderful plot and thought provoking... and still at the core the essence of strong femininity... a very rare find. This book is now one of my favorites.