The Seraphic Scribe’s latest serial novel. Comic genius, imho.
“Jeepers,” said Sister Henrietta a third time. “Are you here?”
“Goodness gracious, no,” I said. “I don’t count. But there are plans afoot to paint my brother James once he and his wife finish their M.Divs. We wanted Freud, but when Freud saw Jamie, he said he’d already painted that face and was bored of it. He did Papa, as you see.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“Papa? Flourishing, I assure you. He was the grey-haired version of Grandpapa at breakfast.”
“Not Edward, Sigmund Freud.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“I must have misheard,” said the powder blue nun in a kindly voice, as if to a frightened child. “This portrait makes Edward look like his face is melting.”
“Well, Freud, you know,” I began, but Sister Henrietta turned on me the resolute look of a squirrel about to attack an acorn.
“Now, M.C., I want to talk to you about your future.”
“Do you, goodness. I thought your lot had given that sort of thing up, ha ha ha.”
“I don’t get you,” said the nun.
“Oh, er, eschatological joke. Sorry.”
“I’m not one for bathroom jokes,” said Sister Henrietta severely. “Especially not when one is considering one’s vocation.”
“Oh, er,” I said. “Vocation. Well, you see. I’ve got one.”
“Oh my child,” shouted Sister Henrietta, throwing up her hands. “I know it. I could sense it in you. As soon as you walked into the breakfast room, I said to myself, There’s our next novice.”
“No, no, no,” I said, alarmed. “No, dash it. I say, No. I mean, I have a vocation to the married life. Got a piece of paper to prove it. Also a wedding ring, as you see. And a husband, somewhere or other. London, probably. Or in the Shires, shooting things.”
All of it is here. (unfortunately the episodes are in reverse order, the first at the bottom).
Ready-to-read books are here (part one features your favourite ex-bloggers Aelianus and Boeciana): suitable for all audiences (ask Cath) but even funnier if you’re a Catholic.
This season’s new book is here. No news yet as to UK distributor 😦
[updated to add:] here’s what Novalis had to say about their trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair:
And our 2010 prospects, notably Dorothy Cummings’ Seraphic Singles: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Single Life (which you’ll be hearing more about in the coming months, so stay tuned) was the talk of numerous publishers we met with.