Barbara 's Reviews > The Ninth Hour

Alice McDermott’s “The Ninth Hour” is another fabulous read. McDermott’s shtick is using Catholicism as a backdrop of her gorgeously written novels. In “The Ninth Hour”, it’s the early 20th century in New York when Nuns were working parts of the community. It was a time when there were multiple Orders of Sisters. Nuns serviced the indigent, the sick, and the elderly. McDermott characterizes her nuns as being no nonsense, down-to-business women who tireless helped the community.

This story opens with a young man who commits suicide, leaving a young pregnant wife, Annie. Sister St. Savior is on her way back to the convent and notices a commotion involving a fire; she decides to stop by to see if she can offer assistance. Thus involves the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick and Poor and Annie, the young widow. The sisters take over, getting Annie’s husband buried, providing a job for Annie, orchestrating a friend for Annie, and helping to raise Annie’s baby, Sally.

There is no one main character in this work, although the story focuses on Annie and her daughter Sally. All the characters are richly constructed and carry the novel at different points. I particularly loved the Nuns. McDermott makes them human, flawed and interesting. My favorite was Sister Lucy.

McDermott writes beautifully. I savored every sentence I read. Her writing takes the reader back in time, and for a bit, the reader gets to be a part and remember the social energies and ethics of the time. I highly recommend this gem.