In a small English Village in 1255, 17 year-old Sarah willingly entered a small stone cell and allowed the stout wooden door to be nailed closed behind her. She spends the rest of her life shut-off from the outside world. Her new domain consists of a cold, damp stone cell with a squint focused on the parish church altar; a low shuttered window through which her food is passed, and a second curtained opening through which Sarah spoke to her confessor and female petitioners.
Sarah has not been imprisoned due to any wrongdoing however, she pledges to undergo a harrowing life of sacrifice, prayer, and contemplation for the benefit of the members of her diocese.
Her life of stringent confinement was scrupulously maintained for two reasons. The sequestered life, and her book of rules, forces Sarah to spend her time in prayer for the benefit not only of the townspeople, but her wealthy patron. Secondly, her virginity, that commodity so highly prized by a number of faiths, is unassailable.
While much of the plot line follows Sarah, other characters and their stories overlap. I particularly enjoyed learning about medieval manuscripts, the only texts Sarah possessed. Sarah benefitted from the talents of Father Ranaulf, her confessor and local scribe, and illuminator Brother Cuthbert.
Although books were expensive to make, they were sometimes presented to members of the clergy for a variety of reasons, or commissioned by rich patrons. Preparing the parchment was a time-consuming process.
In spite of the care taken during production blemishes could appear on the finished parchments. When that happened, the scribes would sometimes use embroidery to embellish and repair the skin.
While Sarah worked on altar clothes during her confinement, author Robyn Cadwallader doesn’t show her stitching on parchment. Sarah is still a young woman at the end of the novel though, so I like to image her working on a manuscript as she prays.
THE ANCHORESS
By Robyn Cadwallader
310 pp. Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $26.
WroteTrips™ 