Shining Agnes by Sara Banerji

Shining Agnes by Sara Banerji (5/5)
A Bloomsbury Reader

1990; 2012, Bloomsbury, 200 pgs
Ages: 18+
(US) - (Canada) - (Kindle)

"In a once great, now falling, mansion live an aristocratic family: Alice, huge, sad and longing for love; her paralyzed mother who is subject to wild and eccentric enthusiasms; and the foster child Agnes, whose desire to be an actress sets in motion a train of bizarre and horrifying events. 

Then love comes to Alice in the form of beautiful but furtive Vincent who has moved in next door. But does he want Alice for herself or for the treasures that she digs from the rubble of her tumbled home? And how does he view Alice's obsession with compost, the making of which she compares to the growth of spirituality and the purging away of sin? 

Black comedy lurks beneath the surface of this gloriously imaginative novel from the author of Cobweb Walking, The Wedding of Jayanthi Mandel and The Tea-Planter's Daughter."

Brilliant!  A novel of Catholicism, miracles, apparitions, infidelity, murder and paedophilia   The first chapter had me hooked and I read continuously until I had finished.  A beautiful story of redemption and faith.  A very dark story at times but with an amazing ending that left my heart full of love and happiness for the main character, Alice.  I must read this author again!  A caveat: however much *I* enjoyed this book, I do realize that some people will find it rather morbid and the themes perhaps off-putting.  So not a book for everyone, but certainly my kind of book.  Very much looking forward to my next read by Banerji.