The Devoted: A Novel

by Blair Hurley

Overview

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize

“As tender and fervent as a prayer.”—New York Times Book Review

Nicole Hennessy’s world revolves around her Boston Zendo, to the chagrin of her Irish Catholic family. As she struggles to break free from a psychological and sexual entanglement with her mentor, her past finally catches up with her. A spellbinding confession of what it means to abandon one life for another, The Devoted asks what it takes, and what you’ll sacrifice, to find enlightenment.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393357301
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Blair Hurley is a Pushcart Prize winner whose work has been published in West Branch and Mid-American Review, among others. A native of Boston, she now lives in Toronto, where she teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

"A rich and entertaining novel about a woman, a seeker, whose life, existence and relationships are all centered around a devout Buddhist mediation practice in Boston—until they aren’t. I couldn’t put it down."

Favorite Reads of 2018 - Anne Lamott

"[Hurley's] hand is confident and steady as she layers Zen teachings into the already complicated history of her novel's focal character.… Hurley leaves you thinking and sorting through feelings long after her final page."

The Rumpus

"Provocative.… [A] terrifying but insightful warning not to look for easy answers offered by false prophets."

Time

"The Devoted, Blair Hurley’s stunning literary debut, pushes the boundaries of the traditional coming-of-age novel, offering instead a haunting, provocative tale of self-discovery and transformation in the fallout of exploitation and devastating loss.… Hurley is a gifted author who writes with startling beauty and tenderness, one heightened by a fierce, unwavering clarity."

Brooklyn Rail

"With absolutely spot-on descriptions of Boston, this spellbinding story adds much-needed nuance to the discussion of faith and what we’re willing to forsake in the name of absolution."

Booklist (starred review)

"The Devoted has a tone of genius behind every chapter and a powerful magnetism that is hard to resist."

New York Journal of Books

"A belated coming-of-age novel with a quest at its core, The Devoted is an assured and promising debut."

Vogue

"Provocative.… [A] terrifying but insightful warning not to look for easy answers offered by false prophets."

Time

06/04/2018
The complicated and often treacherous relationship between religious master and student fuels Hurley’s quietly chilling debut. In her early 20s, aimless, and grieving the recent death of her father, Nicole begins attending a zendo in the Boston area and is drawn to the master who dispenses wisdom there. He selects her out of the group for a secret sexual relationship, which continues for years. The bulk of the novel takes place 10 years after their meeting, with Nicole attempting to break away from their dysfunctional relationship by moving to New York, where her brother lives with his family, and making a life for herself. It backtracks through the intervening years and through Nicole’s childhood and adolescence, when she began to doubt the Catholic faith she was raised on and became drawn to Buddhism as a replacement. Though Hurley occasionally enters the point of view of the otherwise-unnamed master, he remains a shadowy figure. Nicole’s spiritual journey is realistically convoluted, and Hurley subtly brings out the parallels between the potential for sexual abuse in Buddhism and Catholicism. This thoughtful novel carefully untangles the often knotty interconnection between romantic and religious love, revealing the dangers inherent in each without denying their value. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-05-15
A young woman's life is controlled by her Zen Buddhist master in this debut novel about spirituality and sexual power.Nicole is having an affair with her Zen master. He spies her, a damaged spiritual seeker, in his Boston Zendo, "pretty in a half formed way," and he begins to groom her to abandon her sense of self while he takes advantage of her naiveté. She has a troubled past, and she goes to the Zendo in search of a connection that he is happy to abuse during their backroom private sessions. Nicole is haunted by guilt from her Catholic upbringing and a harsh secret involving her past as a teenage runaway; her master uses this to wrap her around his finger. "You are mine," he tells her. "No other teacher will want you, once you have been shaped by my instruction." Though her master makes a point of distancing himself from the patriarchal structure and rules of Catholicism, Nicole—who once wanted to be a nun and who rebelled against a strictly religious mother—is drawn to his firm commands. Even when she wants most fervently to escape him, her body responds to his voice "like church bells, like the smell of incense." Their sexual relationship lasts a decade. "They were teacher and student, very old, accustomed friends; [yet] each time he let his hand travel up her skirt, the shock was fresh." When Nicole realizes the relationship is too controlling and tries to take some liberty by moving away, making a new friend, and finding a new Zendo, her master creeps his way into her new life. He finds her and forces her hand: Abandon life as she knows it to be rid of him, or submit and be his.Not quite a spiritual thriller but a thoughtful exploration of faith, surrender, and ecstasy.

Kirkus Reviews