Basing her vividly told story on scrupulously scholarly study of the Venetian archives, Laven provides the reader with astonishingly fresh, immediate insights into the fascinating reality of day-to-day convent existence...Mary Laven has produced an utterly engrossing narrative account of both the ordinary and extraordinary enclosed lives of Venetian women in the Renaissance. Her commanding scholarship never gets in the way of the engaging tale she has to tell. Beautifully readable, compassionate and humorous, her book is an important, serious study of a group of women hitherto largely hidden from history.' Lisa Jardine, Guardian

'Mary Laven is a meticulous researcher and a scrupulously honest historian...in the way she writes with such profound empathy about their lives, Laven has released the voices of the nuns of Renaissance Venice. it is a tremendous achievement, and makes compelling reading.' Artemis Cooper, Daily Telegraph

'Mary Laven's fascinating book will delight anyone who loves women, history and Venice. That probably means most of us.' Michele Roberts, Independent on Sunday

'In this unputdownable, beautifully written book, Mary Laven takes us behind the closed doors of the convents of late Renaissance Venice. She exposes the predicament of women who were incarcerated to satisfy the social and religious pressures of the time, and yet managed to create emotional and even sexual lives for themselves. Laven brilliantly evokes the atmosphere and drama of the period, while making a major contribution to the understanding of the place of women in early modern Europe.' John Cornwell

'Laven relates dramatic tales of secret trysts, while prostitutes and puppet shows, prelates and pimps, could all be encountered in the parlours of these well-endowed convents. Her scholarly and judicious account shows how these enclosed women could be both demurely virgin and extravagantly Venetian.' Margaret Reynolds, The Times

'Scholarly, diligent, with frequent moments of fun...it is essentially a work of analytic pathos and compassion, and of all its characters the one who will live longest in my memory is "a man named Santo who was found passing a rose to a nun through the grate."' Jan Morris, Independent

'Mary Laven has provided a fascinating glimpse into the life which once existed behind those empty walls.' Sarah Bradford, The Spectator

'Laven's splendid short account is to be read with thanks for living in the modern world.' Edwina Currie, New Statesman