[Children of the Black Sabbath] is a forceful tale of personal and social anguish. It is the story of Sister Julie of the Trinity, born of parents who practise quasi-occult rites such as incestuous "initiations" and drunken orgies….

The novel is, simultaneously, the most traditional and the most unique on the Quebec literary scene…. Anne Hébert makes the point unequivocally at several instances and readers acquainted with Quebec's literature will find the portrayal of the people suffering under the yoke of climate and clergy more than familiar. The worldliness and hypocrisy of the Church, another theme "exposed" here, is also not without literary precedent…. In fact, an analysis of the thematic content will yield very little that is new or dynamic.

What, then, lends the book the awesome power discerned in it by various critics? Its strength, one might suggest, lies in its force of language, evident...