For more than 10 years, thoroughly Protestant Kathleen Norris had been an oblate at a Benedictine monastery. In The Cloister Life, the celebrated author turns to the priory as her spiritual landscape, as she takes us through a liturgical year, inspiring us to evaluate our own lives and values. Norris provides tremendous insight into the languages, customs, ceremonies, and sexuality of the men and women who have chosen the cloistered life. With insight...

Kathleen Norris's masterpiece: a personal and moving memoir that resurrects the ancient term acedia, or soul-weariness, and brilliantly explores its relevancy to the modern individual and culture.