The Ninth Hour

"The Ninth Hour begins with a suicide. The aftermath is handled with indisputable authority by a nun who works with the sick and poor, Sister St. Saviour, who arranges both a funeral for the dead man and a future for his pregnant widow, Annie. The young woman begins working in the laundry at the local convent where her daughter Sally spends much of her childhood. As Sally becomes steeped in the world of the nuns, her mother enters into a secret life beyond the convent. Alice McDermott carefully builds a world and a story that leads to an act of love so unexpected it will leave you lingering over the final page, wondering how she pulled it off."

"The opening sequence is a knockout, there is an unforgettable scene on a train, and the novel reveals itself to be a murder mystery past the halfway mark. She is a genius of the epiphany."

"I loved last fall's "Absolution" so much that I went searching for every McDermott I had missed."

"I also read Alice McDermott's terrific "The Ninth Hour," which stretches and coils time in a similar fashion to "Beloved.""