A Mortal Glamour

A Mortal Glamour, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Juno Books, 2007

Set in 14th Century France, times are hard at the convent La Tres Saunte Annunciacion. The plague has come, killing many of the area's residents. The Catholic Church has two popes; one is in Rome, while the other rules from the French city of Avignon. The convent is doing the best it can, offering a meal and a bed for any passing travelers.

Aungelique, one of the sisters at the convent, is a headstrong young woman, and the daughter of a Baron. She is there only because of a huge disagreement with her father over whom she should marry. Aungelique has discovered the pleasures of the flesh (a major sin for a nun), and runs away from the convent, twice. She wants to live with, and learn from, Comtesse Orienne, the most sexually accomplished courtesan in Europe. Each time, she is convinced to return to the convent by Orienne.

Soon, screams of pleasure and pain are heard from behind the door to Aungelique's room, accompanied by bruises and scratches all over her body. It is as if she is being ravished by some invisible demon. She is ordered to fast, and keep all-night vigils, praying for God's assistance, but it does not help. In fact, the "disease" spreads to other sisters, one of whom becomes pregnant, and dies in childbirth. An investigator is sent; he thinks that the best way to drive the demons out of the nuns is by physically beating them. He and Orienne cross paths; after a night of passion, he turns from an arrogant person convinced that he is right into feeling like the biggest sinner who ever walked the earth. The last resort for the authorities is to destroy the convent, and take everyone involved away to be burned at the stake.

An abridged version of this book was published in the mid-1980s. Here is the unabridged, author-approved version, and it is very much worth reading. It is quite dark and spooky (at which Yarbro is a master), and is a really well-done story.