Toward That Which is Beautiful

A young nun's commitment to her vocation is tested in this historical novel set in Peru. On a June day in 1964, Sister Mary Katherine "Kate" O'Neill slips away from a convent in the Andean mountains. The 25-year-old American nun has fallen hopelessly in love with Tom Lynch, a priest. Troubled by her undeniable attraction to the fiery Irishman and "afraid of her own desire," she flees in the night, with no money and no destination in mind. Over the next several days, she wanders throughout the South American country, connecting with kind strangers who help her on her journey. As she travels, she reflects on the events that have caused her to consider abandoning her calling. Meanwhile, flashbacks describe her childhood in St. Louis and time as a religious novice. In her novel, Wernicke, a former nun who once worked in Peru, turns what could be a simple tale of forbidden romance into something far more complex. Kate's struggle isn't just to reconcile her feelings for Father Tom with her calling to the sisterhood. She also wrestles with her purpose in coming to South America and whether her work is truly helping those she aims to serve. "Why are you here? Aren't there problems in your own country?" a Peruvian police officer asks the runaway sister. The author vividly captures both Kate's difficulty adapting to life in a foreign country where she barely speaks the language and her feelings of dislocation (both physical and spiritual) upon arriving in Peru. When she first meets Father Tom, altitude sickness causes her heart to race and makes it difficult to breathe, a preview of the way her love will eventually cause "a real physical hurt" in her heart. She must also struggle with unfamiliar feelings of doubt and a growing feeling that she may have no choice but to abandon the religious life that she chose as a teen. Sharply drawn supporting characters and rich descriptions of life in the Peruvian countryside add weight to the story. A moving, emotionally resonant tale of one woman's crisis of faith.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)