Lambs of GodVegetation grows out of the mouths of stone angels, and sheep wander through the chapel. For Iphigenia, Margarita and Carla, the rhythm of nature and the rituals of the Church have joined to make an encompassing whole. They pray, they do their daily tasks and, at the nightly knitting circle, they tell stories - stitching into their work the bright colours of fairy tale and myth. Brambles have enclosed the monastery and the three nuns have forgotten the world outside. Until Father Ignatius pushes his way through the undergrowth in the hope of finding prime real estate. In seeking to protect the life they so cherish, the nuns find themselves capable of drawing on unimagined depths of resourcefulness. Rich in smells and texture, and often wildly funny, Lambs of God draws on beliefs and fears deep within us and weaves them into a tapestry of dazzling originality. 'Lush and quirky, full of tangled stories, richly comic events and deep symbolism.' - Courier Mail 'The reason for success is clear: Lambs of God is a filmic, intensely sensual book, with a great idea at its core.' - The Weekend Australian 'A novel of wit, suspense and surprises, a disconcerting and potent combination of elements.' - Sunday Age |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... feel more numerous to imagine that the souls of the departed returned to them as sheep . Strangely enough the sheep , as much as sheep had any traces of individuality , took on the characteristics of the sister they were named for ...
... feel more numerous to imagine that the souls of the departed returned to them as sheep . Strangely enough the sheep , as much as sheep had any traces of individuality , took on the characteristics of the sister they were named for ...
Page 8
... feeling much better , left the house . As he walked down the path he noticed for the first time that the bushes bore splendid white roses . How strange that they were flowering in the depths of winter . Though he had no bounty to bring ...
... feeling much better , left the house . As he walked down the path he noticed for the first time that the bushes bore splendid white roses . How strange that they were flowering in the depths of winter . Though he had no bounty to bring ...
Page 13
... feel the first quivers of laughter . One of the sheep . One of the sheep taking hair from the nuns . After all the years of nuns taking wool from the sheep . Carla sat on her bed shaking with laughter , feeling the little squeaks and ...
... feel the first quivers of laughter . One of the sheep . One of the sheep taking hair from the nuns . After all the years of nuns taking wool from the sheep . Carla sat on her bed shaking with laughter , feeling the little squeaks and ...
Page 19
... feel warmth flush into her cheeks , her own warmth , and see orange light filtering through the thin membrane of eyelid . It was as if just beneath the skin her body held clusters of buds , all of them clamouring for the teasing fingers ...
... feel warmth flush into her cheeks , her own warmth , and see orange light filtering through the thin membrane of eyelid . It was as if just beneath the skin her body held clusters of buds , all of them clamouring for the teasing fingers ...
Page 27
... feeling that something had been omitted , but he was entranced by the story now and didn't want her to stop . This tatty woman in front of him , who had previously barely been able to grunt out one syllable was now transformed into a ...
... feeling that something had been omitted , but he was entranced by the story now and didn't want her to stop . This tatty woman in front of him , who had previously barely been able to grunt out one syllable was now transformed into a ...
Contents
Section 16 | 136 |
Section 17 | 143 |
Section 18 | 151 |
Section 19 | 159 |
Section 20 | 168 |
Section 21 | 174 |
Section 22 | 183 |
Section 23 | 200 |
Section 9 | 62 |
Section 10 | 77 |
Section 11 | 80 |
Section 12 | 92 |
Section 13 | 102 |
Section 14 | 114 |
Section 15 | 126 |
Section 24 | 214 |
Section 25 | 218 |
Section 26 | 231 |
Section 27 | 236 |
Section 28 | 247 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abbess Agnes sisters Arachne asked baby battery Beast Beauty Bishop blanket Blessed Virgin blood body bonesetter brambles bread breath Briar Rose candle Carla chapel clerical clothes clothes cold Colquhoun and Andrews Compline courtyard dark door Easter Eucharist eyes face Father Featheringale feel felt fingers fire fleece garment gingerbread gorse Grandmother Grandmother's grass ground hair hand head heard Ignatius Iphigenia and Margarita knew knitting lamb Lambs of God lanolin legs looked Lord monastery mouth moved needles never night nose nuns Perhaps picked prayed prayer priest pulled remembered Sext sheep Sister Cook Sister Iphigenia skin sleep smell smiled soft St Anne started stitches stood story sweet noises tell thing thought tiny took trying turned Vespers voice waited wanted watched wool words
Popular passages
Page 258 - Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Page 228 - AND when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre, at the rising of the sun.
Page 205 - What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it ? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Page 185 - My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Page 145 - But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Page 215 - I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
Page 258 - My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Page 226 - WHEN Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
Page 30 - God : praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.