The Convent

There is no getting away from the past ... A breathtaking novel from Maureen McCarthy, spanning generations, that will be devoured by young women, their sisters, friends, mothers and grandmothers.

'I woke up with a feeling about today,' Stella says dreamily. 'Something truly amazing is going to happen.' 'To us or to the world?' I say. 'To you.' 'To me?' I laugh. 'Nothing ever happens to me, Stella.' 'But today it will.' 'Will it be good?' She looks thoughtful and then frowns. 'I ... I don't know.'

Peach is nineteen and pretty happy with the way things are. She has her university work, two wildly different best friends, her sister, Stella, to look after and a broken heart to mend. But when she takes a summer job at a cafe in the old convent, her idea of who she is takes a sharp turn into the past.

Where once there were nuns, young girls and women who had fallen on hard times, Peach discovers secrets from three generations of her family. As their stories are revealed, Peach is jolted out of her comfort zone. But does she really want to know who she is?

Warm and real, intense and provocative, Maureen McCarthy's The Convent shows in vivid detail how fate and the choices we make ripple and reverberate through time.

A novel to fall in love with.

About the Author

Maureen McCarthy, the ninth of ten children, grew up on a farm near Yea in Victoria. After working for a while as an art teacher, Maureen became a full-time script writer.

Her novels include Ganglands, Cross My Heart (shortlisted for the 1993 NSW Premier's Award, the 1994 Victorian Premier's Award, the 1994 SA Festival Award and the 1994 Multicultural Children's Literature Award), Chain of Hearts (shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the 2000 NSW Premier's Literary Awards), Flash Jack and the In Between series, which was adapted from scripts Maureen co-wrote with Shane Brennan for the SBS TV mini-series. Her bestselling and much-loved book Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get a Life was made into a highly successful four-part mini-series produced by Trout Films in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. When You Wake and Find me Gone was published in 2002.

BOOKTOPIA INTERVIEW: MAUREEN MCCARTHY ANSWERS BOOKTOPIA'S TEN TERRIFYING QUESTIONS - CLICK HERE