A Recent Martyr [Hardcover]

Valerie Martin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1St Edition edition (1987)
• ISBN-10: 0395436133
• ISBN-13: 978-0395436134
• ASIN: B001TT19L0
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad, beautiful, and disturbing...., October 23, 2006

By 

Kathleen Valentine "So Many Books, So Little ... (Gloucester, MA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Recent Martyr (Voices of the South) (Paperback)

Emma is obsessed with Pascal. Pascal is obsessed with Claire. Claire is obsessed with God. This strange and compelling love story is both erotic and spiritual and blurs the lines between the two at times. Emma is married and involved in an affair that is both destructive and irresistible. Then she meets Claire a young postulant in a convent whose religious fervor is such that the nuns have required her to live in the world for a year before taking her vows. Both Emma and Pascal become fascinated and then oddly obsessed with this strange young woman who loves God and does not suffer fools gladly.

All the characters in this book are fascinating, rich and, in a strange way, bent on self-destruction --- much like the largest character in the story, the city of New Orleans. A mysterious plague ravages the city throughout the tale and adds to the tension and the final, heart-breaking chapters.

This is an extraordinary story told by a masterful writer.