Book Reviews

Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley. I really liked reading this book. It was a very well written quick read with only 200 pages. Horsley tells the story of a Gwynneve, a sixth century Irish nun, through her memoirs. Gwynneve writes of her childhood and young adult life. She was raised in a pagan society and trained as a druid when Ireland was converting to Christianity. It continues on through her current situation as a nun at St. Brigit’s convent where she is writing her story between translating Christian works. The story was fun to read because of the descriptive writing and well developed characters. The Celtic words, while providing some authenticity to the story, were a bit difficult to get through. There were some times when the story slowed a bit, but generally it moved quickly telling an interesting story of her life. I thoroughly enjoyed the way women were presented as such strong characters. The plot was intriguing and kept me reading even when it slowed down. I particularly enjoyed the ending. Some indicated, in other reviews, that it was very predictable, but while I wasn’t surprised by it, I wasn’t expecting it either. It summed everything up nicely. I recommend the book. I don’t know the history at all and have never had much interest in the time period, but Horsley made it fun to read about. Since it is a novel, I won’t be quoting it an historical reference, but it was enjoyable to read.