Convent Girls

‘I think one of the reasons why I was never properly domesticated is because I was actually socialised by a gang of mad women in flapping black habits’ Germaine Greer. ‘If you have ever stood on a chair in front of 200 girls with your green knickers showing, reading out loud from a holy book – nothing truly daunts you after that’ Anne Robinson. ‘It was rather wonderful as a convent girl always to be with adults who knew a little less than you did. We were innocent, we were children but however poorly equipped we were, the nuns always had a little less information about life’ Clare Boylan The mere mention of ‘convent girls’ is enough to elicit a welter of responses & stories abound, from the hilarious to the sombre. In this brave, witty, often scathing collection of personal accounts, these women talk about what most affected their early lives: from spirituality to sexuality, this truly revealing collaboration both devastates and affirms the myth of the convent girl. Contributors include Maeve Binchy, Claire Boylan, Polly Devlin, Germaine Greer, Anne Robinson and Marina Warner.