Charlotte Wood: Stone Yard Devotional, Sceptre, paperback and ebook 

Longlisted for the Booker Prize this year, "Stone Yard Devotional"  is one of these books I would describe as strangely weird but so  beautifully written that you wonder how Charlotte Wood pulled it off. 

At times sobering and sad, I could not stop reading the story of a woman who leaves her husband and life behind, despite not being religious but in search of freedom and peace, to join a small community of nuns in the Australian outback. Add to that an invasion of mice in the convent,  the arrival of the remains of a former nun and another disturbing visitor not only the narrator shares a past with, it is not surprising that the feeling of why should I continue to read this strange story surfaced sometimes. 

But Wood is a remarkable writer, short chapters with reflections on life, flashbacks of the woman's past and  current challenges lend the novel an almost mediative quality.  It is a very special novel about female friendship, solidarity and perseverance. I am very glad I read it.  As was the case with The Weekend, her other brilliant novel about female friendship.