Paul and Lilia must reach their breaking points before they can decide whether their love is worth fighting for. Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood depicts the struggles of suffragettes against well-entrenched British sociopolitical mores. Lilia would rather destroy property and serve time in prison than see her spirit destroyed and imprisoned by marriage to a clergyman, while Paul wants nothing more than to settle down and keep Lilia out of harm’s way. They can’t deny their attraction, but they know they don’t belong in each other’s worlds. Lilia doesn’t believe in God, but she’s attracted to Paul’s intellect, ethics, and dazzling smile.Īs Lilia finds her calling in the militant Women’s Social and Political Union, Paul is increasingly driven to rise in the church. Paul, an Anglican priest, has a big ambition of his own: to become the youngest dean of St. Lilia wants to change women’s lives by advocating for the vote, free unions, and contraception. Escaping the constraints of life as a village schoolmistress, Lilia Brooke bursts into London and into Paul Harris's orderly life, shattering his belief that women. Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood - Escaping the constraints of life as a village schoolmistress, Lilia Brooke bursts into London and into Paul Harris’s. As the womens suffrage movement grows more militant, public opinion. Set in England in 1907, Impossible Saints is a novel that burns as brightly as the suffrage movement it depicts, with the emotional resonance of Tracy Chevalier and Jennifer Robson.Įscaping the constraints of life as a village schoolmistress, Lilia Brooke bursts into London and into Paul Harris’s orderly life, shattering his belief that women are gentle creatures who need protection. Set in England in 1907, Impossible Saints is a novel that burns as brightly as the suffrage movement it depicts, with the emotional resonance of Tracy Chevalier and Jennifer Robson. Written by Clarissa Harwood Review by Jeanne Greene.