New!
Cloistered : my years as a nun
Coldstream, Catherine2024
Books
Find it!
An astonishing memoir of twelve years as a contemplative nun in a silent monastery. Cloistered takes the reader deep into the hidden world of a traditional Carmelite monastery as it approaches the third Millennium and tells the story of an intense personal journey into and out of an enclosed life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Finding an apparently perfect world at Akenside Priory, in Northumberland, Catherine trusts herself to a group of twenty silent women, believing she is trusting herself to God. As the beauty and mystery of an ancient way of life enfold her, she surrenders herself wholly to its power, quite unaware of the complexity and dangers that lie ahead. Cut off from the wider world for decades, the community has managed to evade accountability to any authority beyond itself. When Sister Catherine realises that a mesmerising cult of the personality, with the distortions it entails, has replaced the ancient ideal of religious obedience, she is faced with a dilemma. Will she submit to this, or will she be forced to speak out? An exploration of the limits of trust, Cloistered shows us how far youthful idealism can take us along the road of self-surrender, and of how much harm is done when institutional flaws go unacknowledged. Catherine's honest account of her time in the monastery - and her dramatic flight from it - is both a love song to a lost community and an exploration of what is most compelling, yet most potentially destructive when closed human groups become laws unto themselves.
Main title:
Cloistered : my years as a nun / Catherine Coldstream.
Author:
Coldstream, Catherine, author
Imprint:
London : Chatto & Windus, 2024.©2024
Collation:
xx, 327 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN:
9781784745059 (hbk)9781784745059 (hbk)9781784745059
Dewey class:
271.97102B271.971
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
557752
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hampton Library | Adult Non Fiction - Biography | 271.971 COL | On Reserve Shelf - Awaiting collection within 10 days of this date. (Set: 23 Jul 2024) |
| Sandringham Library | Adult Non Fiction - Biography | 271.971 COL | Onloan - Due: 11 Sep 2024 |