Blanche de La Force, a young and fearful postulant living in 18th-century France, is
one of the main characters in Gertrud von Le Fort's novella, The Song at the Scaffold. Another key figure is Sister Marie of the Incarnation, a strikingly beautiful and courageous Carmelite nun. Both women live amid the horrors of the French Revolution, but while fragile Blanche struggles with a natural-born terror and fears death, Sister Marie is unwavering in her insistence of bravery and desires a bloody martyrdom. However, increasingly difficult circumstances offer more insight into their spiritual lives, revealing a closeness in the nature of their vocations: embracing God’s Willwill through their suffering and adopting the true spirit of sacrifice. In the end, although a formally different martyrdom awaits each of them, both of their sacrifices are accomplished through grace and give glory to God. Thus, while Blanche and Sister Marie differ vastly in appearance and personality, they are both called to strive for holiness through personal suffering and offer their lives to God in a final act of total love and submission.