The Land of Spices is my final book for Reading Ireland Month, and it’s a novel about two females—the Mother Superior of an Irish convent and Anna, a young girl who comes to the convent school as a student several years before the school usually accepts students.
Marie-Hélene, the Mother Superior, was very happy in her convent in Belgium, but feels isolated in Ireland. Some of the higher-ranking nuns in the convent find her cold and detached, although the ordinary nuns like her. And the Bishop doesn’t like his lack of authority over the order or that she is English. In the beginning of the novel, she has written a letter to the Mère Générale asking to be transferred when she notices Anna.
Anna at six is the youngest child ever admitted to the school. Her parents feel that their household is unsettled enough that the children are better off at school. The Mother Superior sees something pure and attentive in Anna, so she makes a point of having her memorize poems and come to her to recite them when she is young to help in her reserved way make Anna more comfortable.
This novel follows the lives of these two, Anna as she grows and develops intellectually and the Mother Superior as she does her best to guide the school and convent. It is said to be quite autobiographical, Anna being the stand-in for O’Brien herself.
I couldn’t always follow the subtleties of the Mother Superior’s devotion. As a girl, she had no intention of being a nun but turned to it after what she considered a betrayal by her much-loved father. However, she slowly finds herself suited to the life.
Religious devotion isn’t my thing, so I found Anna’s story a little more appealing. As the novel comes toward completion, though, it becomes more obvious why the two are paired, even though most of their lives at the convent are separate.
This novel is more about character and intellectual ruminations than plot, and so it’s a bit slow moving.
What? Me Read? 
I’m keen to try this. There is quite a bit of religion in The Ante-Room as well, so it may well be a theme throughout her work. Nice to see her being reviewed.
Yes, it isn’t always, but certainly some others of hers have dealt with religion in terms of something else. For example, in Mary Lavalle, it’s an affaire.