A Piece of the Night by Michele Roberts

Julie Fanchot, French born, English convent-school educated, learns to please. The seductive daughter, Virgin Mary, romantic heroine, perfect wife and mother: she can be all of these. But Julie knows she is also the witch, the whore, the madwoman, the insatiable, the lesbian.

After years of absence she returns to Normandy to care for her sick mother. Her parents are alienated by the choices she has made: divorce, single motherhood, a communal life with women. Slipping between the cracks of time, amid the familiar icons of church and childhood, Julie remembers. Peace has to be won.