And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life

by Jane Christmas

Overview

With humor and opinions aplenty, a woman embarks on an unconventional quest to see if she is meant to be a nun.

Just as Jane Christmas decides to enter a convent in mid-life to find out whether she is “nun material”, her long-term partner Colin, suddenly springs a marriage proposal on her. Determined not to let her monastic dreams be sidelined, Christmas puts her engagement on hold and embarks on an extraordinary year long adventure to four convents—one in Canada and three in the UK. In these communities of cloistered nuns and monks, she shares—and at times chafes and rails against—the silent, simple existence she has sought all of her life. Christmas takes this spiritual quest seriously, but her story is full of the candid insights, humorous social faux pas, profane outbursts, and epiphanies that make her books so relatable and popular. And Then There Were Nuns offers a seldom-seen look inside modern cloistered life, and it is sure to ruffle more than a few starched collars among the ecclesiastical set.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781553657996
Publisher:	Greystone Books
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	971,604
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jane Christmas is the author of Incontinent on the Continent, What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim, and The Pelee Project. She has three grown children and now lives in London, England.

Table of Contents

1 In the Beginning, There Was a Proposal 1

2 At a Crossroads 21

The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine

3 Battling Demons 85

Quarr Abbey

4 An Invalid Religion 131

St. Cecilia's Abbey

5 The Cloistered Castle 163

Order of the Holy Paraclete

6 The Winter Desert 215

Order of the Holy Paraclete

7 When Silence Knocks 257

Order of the Holy Paraclete

Epilogue 279

Acknowledgements 291

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2014
When her long-time beau finally proposed to Christmas, her desire to accept his marriage proposal was complicated by a competing desire—to explore a long-standing call to give her life to God through service as a nun. With clever wit and humor, as well as honest insight and candor, Christmas (Incontinent on the Continent) shares the details of her attempt to discern whether she has the dedication, discipline, perseverance, introspection, contemplative capability and spirit needed for a cloistered life. She seeks direction by registering as an aspirant in four different convents over a period of 18 months. Taking the plunge at an Anglican convent in Toronto, she then moves on to three Catholic communities in the U.K., including the exquisite 17th century Quarr Abbey monastery on the Isle of Wight. While participating in the nuns and monks' routines —celebrating "the offices," cooking and cleaning, spending hours in quiet contemplation, scripture reading, reflection and prayer—she struggles to stay focused, to maintain a contemplative state of mind, and to free herself from ever-intruding worldly thoughts and distractions. In the silence and simplicity of those hallowed halls, she challenges her self-perception, her personal issues and her demons well enough to see who she is and where she really belongs. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A thought provoking(and often amusing) journey ...This is the best kind of memoir, revealing,refreshing, and reflective enough to make readers turn many of the questions on themselves. A delightfultrip down the road less traveled." —BookList Starred Review

“A lovely, heartfelt tale. Get thee to a bookstore and buy it.”—AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

Praise for What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim:
"[Jane Christmas'] style is equal parts Nora Ephron and Bill Bryson" — Quill and Quire

From the Publisher

The title sets the tone for this amusing and enlightening journey of discovery and introspection. Narrator Elizabeth Wiley captures this approach with a delivery that moves smoothly between wry humor and serious musings. The author provides plenty of both as she explores a vocation she abandoned early in life but finds herself increasingly drawn to in middle age. The resulting chronicle of her sampling of Christian communities offers fascinating glimpses as she adjusts to convent life and uses the contemplative atmosphere to face a personal trauma. Wiley's conversational tone allows light moments to shine while providing gravity for darker memories. Her convincing British and Canadian accents add authenticity to this intriguing listening experience. M.O.B. 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile

The title sets the tone for this amusing and enlightening journey of discovery and introspection. Narrator Elizabeth Wiley captures this approach with a delivery that moves smoothly between wry humor and serious musings. The author provides plenty of both as she explores a vocation she abandoned early in life but finds herself increasingly drawn to in middle age. The resulting chronicle of her sampling of Christian communities offers fascinating glimpses as she adjusts to convent life and uses the contemplative atmosphere to face a personal trauma. Wiley's conversational tone allows light moments to shine while providing gravity for darker memories. Her convincing British and Canadian accents add authenticity to this intriguing listening experience. M.O.B. 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile