But in the early 2000s, the Catholic Church was under siege as its secrets about child abuse could no longer be swept under the rug. She might have managed it a couple of decades ago. Agatha might have been content to be a nun forever in Lackawanna, Pennsylvania. It gave her Sisters Frances, Therese, and Mary Lucille to be her friends. It gave her Sister Roberta, a surrogate mother. The Catholic Church gave her structure and answers. Agatha’s memories showed me a young woman who was confused by the world. She had a lot of faith, although I don’t know if I’d say she was called to be a nun. Agatha of Little Neon is sometimes angry and sometimes melancholy, but there is a strange feeling of hope as Agatha learns to find her way in the world.Īgatha joined her order when she was a young woman.

Nearly all of the books I’ve read about loss of faith have characters who find peace in agnosticism or atheism. It is one of the most unusual books about the loss of faith that I’ve ever read because the titular character doesn’t lose her faith in god instead she loses her faith in the church that ordered her days and explained all mysteries.

Or has she just been hiding?ĭisarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette's Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make.Agatha of Little Neon, by Claire Luchette, is a curious and thoughtful book. Who will she be if she isn't with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she has to reckon all on her own with what she sees and feels. They take over the care of a halfway house, where they live alongside their charges, such as the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life.īut when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. Their world is contained within the little house they share. 'An enchanting, sparkling book about the many meanings of sisterhood.' -Kristin Iversen, Refinery29Ĭlaire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest selfĪgatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together.

A National Book Foundation '5 Under 35' Honoree

Claire luchette agatha of little neon