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A gripping, cleverly conceived debut collection of 10 short stories that draw parallels between the lives of Christian women saints and the complex experiences of contemporary women. Each of the 10 stories revolves around a particular saint --- sometimes the saint appears and advises the protagonists, sometimes the very example of the saint is used as a jumping off point for the story. Throughout, O'Connell deals with difficult issues such as teenage pregnancy, incest, and abortion. Most of the protagonists are young women facing some crisis, usually one involving the consequences of sex.
In "Saint Therese of Lisieux," a Catholic high school girl named Kendra conceals a horrible secret: her father is molesting her. Her teacher asks her to write a paper on St. Therese of Lisieux, who had chosen a monastic life as a young girl. Kendra, with her secret, feels she knows why the saint chose to escape from the world. She dreams of a similar kind of escape. At story's end, she decides to put a stop to her father: "I've planned how to start saying no, decided how things are going to change." When her father attempts to molest her again, a strange odor emanates from Kendra --- it's a miracle she ascribes to St. Therese. Her father stops, although Kendra's psychological devastation seems to be only beginning.
In "Saint Dymphna," a teenage girl named Dymphna visits a clinic to have an abortion. She's harassed by a crowd of protesters who wait in front of the clinic, and one of the protesters publicizes her abortion to her Catholic high school classmates. Instead of the ignominy Dymphna expects to receive, she is accepted and forgiven --- her classmates get on their knees and pray for her. Having experienced an epiphany, Dymphna decides to join a monastery and become a nun.
In "Saint Anne," a single mother tries and fails to juggle work and motherhood. She ends up sleeping with her sleazy boss in order to get time off. While she's having sex with the predatory boss, Saint Anne (the patron saint of mothers) appears at the foot of her bed and tells her to stop debasing herself. This story ends there.
In "The Patron Saint of Travelers," perhaps the finest story in this fine collection, a group of young American women live together in a run-down apartment in London. One of them, Jane, spends the night with a rock and roll musician. When the musician drives her home the morning after, he gives her a medallion of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. This gesture, Jane believes, gives meaning and importance to their otherwise random sexual encounter. One of Jane's roommates, however, has been jilted by her lover and jumps from the apartment window to her death. The story shows how sex and love can be fraught with danger, how the two can be confused and confounding.
In these 10 stories, all of them involving difficult moral ambiguity, the protagonists try to find meaning in the seeming randomness of modern life. The young women face tough choices and suffer the consequences of their decisions, but they don't seem to have a lot of options. None of them are saints, but the collection makes us wonder if the detachment and asceticism of sainthood is relevant to the modern world. The saints O'Connell describes get involved --- they're not afraid of some heavy lifting in the realm of morals. The intercession of the saints is a vehicle for bringing moral guidance, a guidance no longer provided (it seems) by family, community, or church organizations. Whether you're religious or not, these stories resonate in their profound search for meaning. A fine debut collection painting a morally complex world.
--- Reviewed by Chuck Leddy
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