While most fictions emerge from some seed of conscious or unconscious experience, stories that closely parallel life, such as May Sarton’s “The Magnificent Spinster,’’ often lack the vitality and consistency of fully imagined fiction. So, too, “Unfinished Desires’’ resonates more with faithful recording than with vivid invention. Much is missing. Where is the story of Suzanne’s adult life between the ages of 36 and 85? And why just a summing up of the 55 years of separation in the lives of Tildy, Maud, and Chloe?
The nun’s story
Saga of three students and buried secrets in a Catholic girls school
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Godwin impressively addresses the advantages and liabilities of cosseted life. She exposes the handicap of limited vision, both literally and metaphorically, as Mother Ravenel becomes blind in old age. She reveals the particular devotion nuns have for their sisters and students. Mother Ravenel’s struggles with pride make her exercise of humility remarkably moving. For readers brought up in any orthodox tradition, “Unfinished Desires’’ will be provocative and rewarding reading.
Valerie Miner, the author of “After Eden’’ and 12 other books, teaches at Stanford University.
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