by Rumer Godden introduction by Phyllis Tickle (2005)
Set in England, this is a novel about a successful career woman in her forties who renounces the world to enter Brede monastery, a cloistered order of English Benedictine nuns and what happens to her thereafter.
Rumer Godden
Front flap: The heroine is Lise, an English girl who, after the liberation of Paris, falls into bad company and, after a period in one of Paris’s smartest brothels, becomes a successful madam - *La Balafrée*, the Scarred One. The story of her prison sentence, her conversion, and her agonizing work among women whose experiences outdid even her own is also the story of one woman’s searing confrontation with her faith and, above all, herself.
Alan Judd
An excellent portrayal of life in the Army in Northern Ireland during the troubles, laced with good and plausible humour.
C. John Sommerville
"Secularization is a subject of daunting size and is filled with ambiguity. Through the use of insights gained from anthropology and sociology, and by studying an earlier period than is usually considered, this provocative work overcomes the usual obstacles to exploring and explaining why various aspects of life--art, language, work, play, technology, and power--became divorced from religious values in early modern England." "Sommerville helps modern readers understand what life was like in an age in which society was suffused with religion and was as basic to thought as the structure of language. Concentrating not only on a decline of religious belief, which is the last aspect of secularization, he shows that a transformation of England's cultural grammar preceded the loosening of belief, and that this was largely accomplished between 1500 and 1700, much earlier than commonly believed. Sommerville asserts that only when definitions of space and time changed, and language and technology were transformed (as well as art and play) could a secular world view be sustained." "Demonstrating that the process was more political and theological than economic or social, Sommerville shows that as aspects of daily life became divorced from religious values and controls, religious culture was supplanted by religious faith--a reasoned, rather than an unquestioned, belief in the supernatural." "The first large-scale treatment of the history of secularization, The Secularization of Early Modern England will greatly interest students of history, religion, sociology, anthropology, and literature."--BOOK JACKET.
Stephanie Laurens
Where are all the exciting men in London? After spending years in the glittering ballrooms of the ton, Amanda Cynster is utterly bored by the current crop of colorless suitors. Determined to take matters into her own hands, one night she shockingly goes where no respectable lady ever should, but where many an intriguing gentleman might be found. But titillating excitement quickly turns to panic when Amanda discovers she′s quite out of her depth. She looks around for help -- and is unexpectedly rescued by the Earl of Dexter. Lean, sensuous, and mysterious, he has delayed re-entering society, preferring instead a more interesting existence on its fringes. He′s the epitome of the boldly passionate gentleman Amanda has been searching for, but although his very touch makes it clear he′s willing to educate her in the art of love, Amanda has to wonder if such a masterful, lionized rake can be sufficiently tamed into the ways of marriage.