Women's Rites

In the Boston suburb of Revere in the 1960s, they are high school "best friends". Barbie Korman, beautiful, insecure, and Jewish, becomes a model after graduation. Maria Trapetti, intense, brilliant, and molded by her Italian Catholic heritage, enters a convent. But the overwhelming force in both their lives is the legacy of another woman, a woman who lived centuries before, a woman represented by an exquisitely carved figurine from the tiny island of Lanzarote, known simply as "The Lady" As the years pass Barbie finds herself in a passionate love affair with Joe Dianni, a Catholic priest. Maria yearns for the secular world and works with archeologist Hank Rolles. Both women search for their places in the world and, as more years pass, experience life's many rich possibilities. But always they - and the men in their lives - are drawn to "The Lady" of Lanzarote... WOMEN'S RITES - is that rare achievement - a sleek contemporary novel as well as a superb exploration of the large and compelling questions that face us all as we struggle to reap the rich promise of the past and give meaning to the present.

I was absolutely transposed reading this book. All the charachters, both male and female, are well-developed, rich persons. There are no perfect people here; all are incomplete, but each is moving toward the light. I immediately looked up other books by Beverly Byrne, but was disappointed to find they are largely out-of-print. What a waste! She has a unique voice and should be a familiar name in the literary world.