A guide based on the ancient Rule of Benedict that provides a practical model upon which to build a satisfying life.

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.

Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the passage of death. Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat set out to find what their deaths can reveal about the greatest mystery faced by everyone--the end of life. How to die? How to respond to our fear of death? To answer these and other questions, Diat traveled to eight European monasteries including Solesmes Abey and the Grande Chartreuse. Through extraordinary interviews...

Examines aspects of daily life in a medieval monastery, discussing obedience and discipline, spiritual and contemplative activities, good works, education and the arts, and other topics.

"... The result of more than thirty interviews with abbots, nuns, monks, and other seekers at monasteries and retreat centers. Carlson reveals the untapped wisdom of these men and women in their own words as they speak with hope to a suffering world"--P. [4] of cover.