The Sisters of St Croix

By Diney Costeloe

A gripping story of love, death and danger in Nazi-occupied France from the bestselling author of The Throwaway Children.

When Adelaide Anson-Gravetty finds out her father is not the man who raised her, she is both shocked and intrigued. Determined to find out more about her new family, she travels to the convent of Our Lady of Mercy in France to meet her aunt, the Reverend Mother.

But when France falls to the German army, Adelaide and the nuns are soon in the thick of a war that threatens both their beliefs and their lives. Collaborating with the Resistance, sheltering Jewish orphans, defying the rulings of Vichy France: these are dangerous activities in dangerous times.

These courageous women must give all they've got in order to protect the innocent from the evil menace of the Nazi war machine.

What readers are saying about THE SISTERS OF ST CROIX:

'I enjoyed this book from the beginning to its end... Its portrayal of the horror and brutality of war and its effect on innocent people is masterly. The description of an occupied France in the Second World War is wonderfully real and the characters are so vivid and appealing... I was captured by the strength of the prose and the pathos of the narrative... This is a story that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone'

'I was absolutely mesmerised by the pace and the depth of the story telling... A very moving story beautifully written'

'I have never been so affected by a book as I was by the Sisters of St. Croix'

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jul 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781784972592

Diney Costeloe

Diney Costeloe is the author of twenty-three novels, several short stories, and many articles and poems. She has three children and seven grandchildren, so when she isn't writing, she's busy with family. She and her husband divide their time between Somerset and West Cork. Find Diney online at dineycosteloe.co.uk, or on Twitter @Dineycost

Reviews for The Sisters of St Croix

[pamv-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was hard to put down throughout the entire story! I have given it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the way that it ended. It felt like a completely different author came up with and wrote the ending.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Sisters of St. Croix by Diney Costeloe is a novel of historical fiction set during the German invasion of France during World War II. I found this to be an interesting story, but I wish the author had only written about the nuns in the convent and their resistance efforts as I found this much more interesting than the rest of the story, although this quibble could simply be because I have read so many books about the French resistance that I found a great deal of repetition.The author has obviously done a great deal of research into the day to day life in a convent as well as the cruelty and hardships of the war and the unrelenting hunt for both resisters and people of the Jewish faith. I had read before that many priests and nuns were a valuable part of the resistance and through their efforts many lives, particularly children, were saved.The book moved along quickly and drew the reader into the harrowing story about an English woman dropped into France to assist in the resistance. She was chosen to be placed in this particular area as her aunt was the Mother Superior of the convent at St. Croix and was known to have already helped an English airman to escape. Thanks to their efforts they are able to rescue a number of Jewish children and lead them to safety right under the eye of the S.S.The story was gripping and certainly held my attention. At times I felt the resolutions were a little too tidy and as I stated above, I would have liked to continue on with Mother Marie-Pierre’s story, but I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the French Resistance.