In choosing the title, the author would seem to imply 'always a Catholic', but this extremely funny, irreverent comedy based on her own school days in a London convent certainly belies the church's claim, as far as the author is concerned. For what emerges rather is the resilience of children to survive - in spite of, not because of, their upbringing and indoctrination. Period 1956-57.
All the girls in Class 5A are called Mary (apart from one Maria). One, an innocent who has not yet learned the gentle art of deception, finds herself the perpetual scapegoat. The author concentrates principally on the amusing ways the girls deal with the dogma constantly pumped into them. Hilarious moments have a more serious underlying theme: how true does much of this remain today?

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