Keeping the Faith (1988)

Keeping the Faith was Carol's debut novel and was shortlisted for the  Whitbread Book Awards. 

I never doubted the Bridegroom would be back. Nor did I doubt that when he returned I should want him to find me among the virgins who were wise. Only I knew from the beginning I should be found among the fools. 

As far back as she can remember, keeping the faith has not been easy for Maud. Brought up amid the austere Plymouth Brethren, her religious life has been intense and demanding. Yet her faith has never brought the happiness it promised; instead it has bred guilt and resentment and set her apart from other people. 

In a brilliantly controlled novel, Carol Clewlow presents Maud’s reflections on her years of struggle with her doctrine and her instinct, her faith and her womanhood. 

A poignant and unflinching first novel that candidly examines the nature of religious belief, Keeping the Faith is a work of exceptional maturity and poise – a remarkable debut. 

‘A beautiful novel… like a spider’s web, delicate and fragile but cunningly constructed and remarkably strong.’ Margaret Foster Independent 

‘With an utterly charming blend of humour and compassion, Miss Clewlow evokes infancy, adolescence and the bitter death of innocence’ – Daily Telegraph