Collected's 24in24 - Jessica recommends... Cloistered - Catherine Coldstream

Jessica recommends... Ever wondered what life is really like in a religious order? Well it turns out that not even nuns are immune to power struggles, and personal ambition. What is remarkable about Catherine Coldstream's account of her time within the closed order is the charity with which she writes about the women who made her life miserable and drove her to question her vocation. She acknowledges their humanity and fallibity. More remarkable still is the fact that, despite everything that happens, she did not lose her faith!

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After the shock of her father’s death, twenty-four-year-old Catherine was left grieving and alone. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory.

Here she found a tight-knit community of dedicated women and peace in an ancient way of life. But as she surrenders to her final vows, all is not as it seems behind the Priory’s closed doors. Power struggles erupt – with far-reaching consequences for those within.

Catherine comes to realise that divine authority is mediated through flawed and all-too-human channels. She is faced with a dilemma: should she protect the serenity she has found, or speak out?A love song to a lost community and an honest account of her twelve years in the Order, Cloistered is also a cautionary tale about what can happen when good people cut themselves off from the wider world.

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Catherine Coldstream was born in London, and grew up loving music, words, and books. After converting to Roman Catholicism in her twenties, she spent twelve years in a Carmelite monastery where she lived the life of a silent contemplative nun. Since leaving her community she has studied at the Universities of Oxford, East Anglia, and London, and taught theology, philosophy, and ethics in schools. The effects of her years as a nun have never left her and continue to inspire and inform her writing.

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