3.5 stars

The book follows Lise, as she falls in live with a pimp and begins to work for him, serves a prison sentence, and then joins a religious order.

The book also weaves in the stories of two girls that Lise more-or-less mentors.

There were a few instances where the sexual inferences were a little too detailed for my personal taste.

I think I would have preferred for the story to be told chronologically, instead of skipping around various timelines the way it did.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. ( )

4.5* I really enjoyed this redemption story. I have enjoyed all of Rumer Godden’s convent set stories. ( )

Young Englishwoman, Elisabeth Fanshawe becomes separated from her post as driver for the American Army on Liberation Day in Paris, May 1945. In a far-fetched beginning to the plot, she is set up by a pimp in a Paris brothel, becomes his lover and eventually the madame.
The story becomes more conventional from thereon, and we trace her slow awakening to the Catholic faith, once her life as a captive to the prostitution world disintegrates into a long gaol sentence.
The more convincing part of the novel is the tone change we note as Lise (as she is known) embraces the unconditional acceptance of the Dominican nuns, who offer her a freedom to live fully and lovingly.
Well written, absorbing narrative and shows a well researched understanding and appreciation of the world of nuns and convent life.

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy. Rumer Godden. 1976. This is the third book I have read by Godden. The Kitchen Madonna is a beautiful children’s book about icons. In House of this House of Brede is about a middle-aged woman who became a nun, and Black Narcissus concerned a group of nuns who went to Nepal and were seduced by the climate and eastern mysticism. In this book, a young British woman escaped her stifling home life by becoming an driver in WWII. She was separated from her group when Paris was liberated and came under the spell of Patrice who seduced and abused her even as she became a famous madam in his whore house. The story opens when she is being released from prison and is going directly to the Dominicaines de Bethanie, an order of nuns who visited women in prison. As she enters the convent, the story of why she was imprisoned is told in flashbacks. Between flashbacks we follow her journey the religious life. Godden draws a beautiful picture of the liturgical year of a convent and a realistic picture of life in a woman’s prison ( )

"He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid and He, who is mighty, hath done great things in me."
By sally tarbox on 25 December 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
This isn't quite up with Godden's superb 'In this House of Brede', but it's still an extremely gripping and beautiful tale, set in the French convent of the Sisters of Bethanie, whose remit is to work with 'fallen' women.
Lead character Lise is an Englishwoman sent to Paris as an army driver who somehow - implausibly, I thought - gets separated from her colleagues during the Liberation celebrations and falls in with a brothel owner. She begins a new life as his lover and later the madame of his establishment. And ultimately becomes 'La Balafree' (the Scarred One), serving a lengthy sentence in a harsh French prison...
Lise's story is intercut with life at the convent, where she embarks on a very different life upon her release. The calm, beautiful simplicity of the nuns' world, the different characters, all goes to make for a truly enjoyable read. ( )