This is the story of a little girl, Nanda, a Catholic convert, and the four years she spends in a convent school. She is a little spitfire at times and very shy at others like most little girls. Her father, also a recent convert wants Nanda to receive a good education and to learn more about Catholicism.
Nanda is very nervous and intimidated at first but comes to love the rigid lifestyle behind the convent walls. She makes friends easily and must learn the hard way that close friendships are not encouraged by the nuns. She wants to be good, studious, and all that the nuns expect from the students, but occasionally messes up and gets in trouble.
This book was a rare treat. It was so very readable and is a rare glimpse into a world that has always been secreted away from me as a protestant and is just a lovely story. Antonia White writes with a fluid pen and the pages turn quickly as you are drawn into the story.
Another truly good read and I highly recommend it. ( )

An eye-opening work of turn-of-the-century fiction that captures with modern skill and classic agility the experience of growing up. Remarkable work. ( )

Frost in May, by Antonia White, tells the story of Nanda Grey, a nine year old girl who enters a Catholic convent school in the early 1930s. Her father has only recently converted to Catholicism and wants Nanda to get a solid foundation in the faith. The school caters to many of the upper class Catholics in Europe, and Nanda befriends several girls who are in a different social strata than she is. As she grows older, Nanda discovers that she loves literature and music, and while she is inoculated into Catholic dogma, she also finds herself occasionally questioning some of the things she is taught.

Frost in May is a coming of age story. While there is a long tradition of these types of stories focused on boys, White has made something different by focusing on a girl's experience at boarding school. I think, however, that because I am an American who was raised in a Protestant tradition, I probably missed some of the nuances and social/religious criticism of the book. There was an undercurrent of social class issues which would have probably been quite obvious to an English reader in the 1930s, but which was only hazily apparent to me. Additionally, while I am familiar with Catholicism to some extent, because I was not raised in the tradition I'm sure that some of the religious nuances were lost on me. Overall, Frost in May was an excellently written, well-plotted book, but one which did not resonate for me. ( )

very good about lonely, religious girl at catholic boarding school with nuns in all your business rooting out sin and finding sin in most things. ( )

I've heard good things about this book for years. When I was in the new used bookshop in Baton Rouge a few weeks ago, I found a copy. The new used bookshop is called "Thomas Savage." You should go there when you are in Baton Rouge.
Anyway, I started reading Frost in May about a week ago. It was hard to get into the book at first. It started making me cringe immediately. Not because it was boring or poorly written, but because I just KNEW something awful was going to happen to the main character. I felt she was doomed.
And she was.
The last few chapters of the book were so painful to read but utterly mesmerizing. I won't spoil the ending for those who haven't read it. All I'll say is sometimes there is nothing more evil and vindictive than a nun. ( )