By Christina Uppal
Sister Angela is a nun in a Canadian convent whose contemplative life is disrupted when she receives an anonymous gift of a silver candlestick—a reminder of a harrowing accident that occurred when, as a student at a Catholic girls boarding school, she and her schoolmates staged a mock initiation rite that turned ugly and ultimately catastrophic. In this cross between The Secret History and Mariette in Ecstasy, Uppal is particularly incisive about the differences between how girls behave individually and in groups, the rigid hierarchies and shifting alliances teenagers form, and the simultaneously feverish and tentative ways in which young women learn about love and sex. Though the plot is marred by some loose ends and melodramatic touches, The Divine Economy of Salvation is an accomplished, disquieting debut by a gifted writer. (Algonquin, $23.95)
BOTTOM LINE: Skillful gothic chiller
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