The Guineveres

By: Sarah Domet

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

“A first novel whose tone echoes that of Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides…This phenomenal, character-driven story is mesmerizing.” --Library Journal (starred review)

To four girls who have nothing, their friendship is everything: they are each other’s confidants, teachers, and family. The girls are all named Guinevere—Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win—and it is the surprise of finding another Guinevere in their midst that first brings them together. They come to The Sisters of the Supreme Adoration convent by different paths, delivered by their families, each with her own complicated, heartbreaking story that she safeguards. Gwen is all Hollywood glamour and swagger; Ginny is a budding artiste with a sentiment to match; Win’s tough bravado isn’t even skin deep; and Vere is the only one who seems to be a believer, trying to hold onto her faith that her mother will one day return for her. However, the girls are more than the sum of their parts and together they form the all powerful and confident The Guineveres, bound by the extraordinary coincidence of their names and girded against the indignities of their plain, sequestered lives.

The nuns who raise them teach the Guineveres that faith is about waiting: waiting for the mail, for weekly wash day, for a miracle, or for the day they turn eighteen and are allowed to leave the convent. But the Guineveres grow tired of waiting. And so when four comatose soldiers from the War looming outside arrive at the convent, the girls realize that these men may hold their ticket out.

In prose shot through with beauty, Sarah Domet weaves together the Guineveres’ past, present, and future, as well as the stories of the female saints they were raised on, to capture the wonder and tumult of girlhood and the magical thinking of young women as they cross over to adulthood.

©2016 Sarah Domet (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Domet’s debut is a luminous bildungsroman, brimming with wisdom about how girls view themselves, each other, and the world around them.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Domet’s lively writing is as original as her plot, which knits the Guineveres’ struggles together with stories of female saints. Poignant and often funny, Domet captures the fever of teenage desire by pinning it against the confines of a strict religious environment.” —Atlanta Magazine

“A first novel whose tone echoes that of Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides…This phenomenal, character-driven story is mesmerizing.” —Library Journal (starred review)

Beautifully read

Wonderful book, dark and lovely. Strong female characters in a compelling Catholic milieu. Will the war outside their walls change them for good, or ill? Almost a war book, but from a different, "home front" angle.

Nice Summer Read

It took a few chapters to get into the story but was soon captured by the tale and transported into life with the Guinveres. Interesting story of life, love, relationships, and growing up.

So dreary

Would you try another book from Sarah Domet and/or Erin Bennett?

No, thank you.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I can't believe how dreary and grey this book was.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Erin Bennett?

I can't tell. Her dreariness matched the material.

Do you think The Guineveres needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not for me. I'm not interested in hearing anything else the author has to say.

ehhh

I wish the story had focused more on their friendship and less on "their boys". I feel like a female centric book that spends so much time on the boys kind of misses the mark.

This is a horrible book

What disappointed you about The Guineveres?

The homoerotic portrayal of women saints.
The rape of a comatose man

Would you ever listen to anything by Sarah Domet again?

no

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I couldn't tell if there was one Guinevere narrating the book; or each one separately.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Revulsion

Any additional comments?

There should be a warning that this book is OFFENSIVE and makes a mockery of nuns who devote their lives taking care of young women.