-I have been reading Lady Julian of Norwich, - declares C.S. Lewis in a letter to his former pupil, the Benedictine mystic Bede Griffiths. -A dangerous book, clearly. I'm glad I didn't read it much earlier.- Thomas Merton wrote simply, -There can be no doubt that Julian is the greatest of the English mystics.-
Few texts have had held such interest or been the object of such enduring devotion as has Julian of Norwich's 14th-century classic A Revelation of Love. This great work -- along with The Cloud of Unknowing and Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle -- form the...

Though a familiar name, little was known about the English mystic Margery Kempe (c. 1373-c. 1440) for hundreds of years except that she had an association with the great Julian of Norwich. This all changed in 1934 with the discovery of The Book of Margery Kempe in a library where it had lain hidden for four hundred years. Finding Margery's own story was important not just because of the light it shed on her life, but it also turned out to be the first known autobiography in the English language. Even more intriguing to the experts of the day, this unique document was written by a...

The autobiography of one of the most popular saints in history, now available in a new translation.
Beyond being recognized as the patron saint of Ireland (perhaps for having chased some nonexistent snakes off the Emerald Isle), little else is popularly known about Saint Patrick. And yet, Patrick left behind a unique document, his Confession, which tells us much about both his life and his beliefs. This autobiography, originally written in the fifth century, and short by modern standards, is nonetheless a work that fascinates with its glimpse into the life of an intriguing man,...

The 365 daily readings from Wisdom of the Cloister offer the serenity of monastic life to a wide audience. Especially intended to serve the general reader, this collection surveys the whole of Christian monasticism. Included here are a full range of writings, from the earliest desert mothers and fathers to contemporary monastics.
John Skinner, author and translator of many texts of spirituality, invites the reader to peruse these varied writings using the immediately accessible style of reading known as lectio divina. This custom, traditionally favored by monks, works on the...

The Fiction of Anita Brookner is the first full-length study of this controversial contemporary writer. After discussing critical assessments of Brookner, and attempts to relate her to various classics and contemporaries, Dr Skinner skilfully combines insights from recent narrative theory with close analyses of nine novels. Moving from the first novels, and their close relations to French literary models, he goes on to trace the increased sophistication of Hotel du Lac and the technical innovations of its successors.