The Divine Economy of Salvation

I found Sister Angela's story fascinating. The story begins with a brief description of Sister Angela's duties within the convent. When she receives the silver candle holder, she begins going back in time and telling us the story of her life when she was 14 - her mother was ill, she and her sister, Christine, are separated and sent to Catholic schools away from home. The story of how Angela copes (with her mother's illness and feelings of homesickness, worry, and loneliness) - her feelings about the friends she makes in "the Sisterhood" and the things these friends do together, is engrossing to read - compelling without being overly dramatic or exaggerated. The tragedies of Angela's life are withheld from the reader at first, making it feel like a sort of mystery needs to be solved. Gradually, what she seems to be hiding from, unwilling (or unable) to face - all unravels in a bit of a hurry, and while I understood most of what was going on, I was left a little uncertain and still curious about how some of these problems were resolved (esp. with the less traumatic issues such as Angela's relationship with her sister and father, but also with characters surrounding the mystery of the candle holder) - then again, maybe that's how the author intended to leave the reader - with a realistic sense of some things just not being able to be resolved, but with Angela's sense of hope and focus on life.