The Anchoress

Synopsis

England, 1255. What could drive a girl on the cusp of womanhood to lock herself away from the world forever? Sarah is just seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a cell that measures only seven by nine paces, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth as well as pressure to marry the local lords son, she decides to renounce the worldwith all its dangers, desires, and temptationsand commit herself to a life of prayer. But it soon becomes clear that the thick, unforgiving walls of Sarahs cell cannot protect her as well as she had thought. With the outside world clamoring to get in and the intensity of her isolation driving her toward drastic actions, even madness, her body and soul are still in grave danger. When she starts hearing the voice of the previous anchoress whispering to her from the walls, Sarah finds herself questioning what she thought she knew about the anchor-hold and about the village itself. With the lyricism of Nicola Griffiths Hild and the vivid historical setting of Hannah Kents Burial Rites, Robyn Cadwalladers powerful debut novel tells an absorbing story of faith, desire, shame, fear, and the very human need for connection and touch. Compelling, evocative, and haunting, The Anchoress is both quietly heartbreaking and thrillingly unpredictable.