Gladys Pagendam

Compline: a Nun a Beatle a Life Gladys Pagendam

When a hip 17 year old leaves Liverpool at the height of Beatlemania to enter an Irish convent, little did she know that her life as a nun would include a unique relationship with Beatle George Harrison. Nan is a grandmother who once was this nun. As she nears death, her three grown-up granddaughters become curious about her life. Could her far-fetched tales really be true? Compline weaves together the story of the young nun in the 1960s with that of three generations of 21st-century women - their lives, their loves, their joys and sorrows. Compline dissolves boundaries of genre, time and place, between the real and the imagined. It is written to appeal to all ages. Nan's story emerges from diaries, letters, story-telling, memories, and poems. It is a blend of autobiography and fiction, but you never know which is which. Reviewers have commented that when they put Compline down they were still mulling it over afterwards. Others have said it made them laugh, it made them cry, but most of all, it entertained them.