Armstrong begins this spellbinding story of her spiritual journey with her departure in 1969 from the Roman Catholic convent she had entered seven years before--hoping, but failing, to find God. Powerfully engaging, often heartbreaking, but lit with bursts of humor, "The Spiral Staircase" is an extraordinary history of self.

In 1535, England is hardly a wellspring of gender equality; it is a grim and oppressive age where women-even the privileged few who can read and write-have little independence. In The Butchers Daughter, it is this milieu that mandates Agnes Peppin, daughter of a simple country butcher, to leave her family home in disgrace and live out her days cloistered behind the walls of the Shaftesbury Abbey. But with her great intellect, she becomes the assistant...

"Rose Donovan looks for the good in everyone. With her sister-in-law, Peg, that sometimes requires a lot of searching. Even a sixty-something former nun like Rose has her limits, and gruff Peg Turnbull sure knows how to push them. But after forty years of bickering, they’re attempting to start over, partnering up to join the local bridge club. Peg and Rose barely have a chance to celebrate their first win before one of the club’s most accomplished...

A nun in 1950s Ireland abandons the veil to run a farm inherited from her father. Sister Mary Thomas is good looking and flirtatious, and suitors queue at her door. But she does not want a husband, only a child, and eventually she gives birth to one, scandalizing the district and getting a priest into trouble. By the author of Celibates and Other Lovers.

The 1950s was a boom time for the Catholic Church in America, with large families of devout members providing at least one son or daughter for a life of religious service. Boston was at the epicenter of this explosion, and Bill Manseau and Mary Doherty - two eager young parishioners from different towns - became part of a new breed of clergy, eschewing the comforts of homey parishes and choosing instead to minister to the inner-city poor. Peter Manseau's...

A devout woman finds herself adrift in late 19th century Central America in this novel of "deep imagination, stylistic verve, and psychological acuity" (The Washington Post). Set in late nineteenth century Central America and New York City, The Divine Husband tells the story of María de las Nieves Moran, whose brief career as a nun is ended in the wake of revolution. Forced to make her way in the secular world, María is surrounded by an unforgettable...

Presents a memoir of the author's time spent in a Mississippi convent, where, although intent on pursuing her desire to become a nun, she gradually becomes aware of the pleasures and emotional complexities of the world she has left behind.