A review by thuglibrarian
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream

4.0

It might surprise readers to realize that author Catherine Coldstream was not born Catholic. Instead, after the trauma of her father's death she searched for something that felt like home and found it in a Carmelite monastery. She entered a silent order, an order that says to gain Jesus one should take on a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. Catherine would then spend the next 10 years in silence except for a few times per day where she was allowed to talk quietly and in hushed tones to the others. But the silence and rules were worth it as she was a young woman with ideals, a true love of God and assumed that the other Nuns in her order would feel the same. Catherine found that not to be the case, and spent many years trying to reconcile that dichotomy before eventually realizing that the difference was too great. For instance, she endured physical beatings, public humiliation (within the cloister), fights for power among factions of the Nuns and more. This is not a tell-all book and readers should not expect this to be a salacious read. This is a introspective book, a quiet book filled with a woman's obvious love for God and her journey to find him, and in the end realizing that it doesn't have to be as a Carmelite.

*I read an advance copy and was not compensated.