A review by shirleytupperfreeman
River of Fire by Helen Prejean

We read and discussed this with a group and we all appreciated Prejean's story of her social justice 'awakening'. This memoir begins with her childhood in a loving catholic family and continues through the novitiate process and becoming a teacher and leader in the Sisters of St. Joseph. For years she resisted some of her colleague's arguments that a life following Jesus was a life immersed in the plight of the poor and oppressed. Once her mind and heart were opened to that call, she began living at Hope House - a mission on the edge of a housing project in New Orleans. This memoir ends where her famous book, Dead Man Walking, calling for the end of capital punishment, begins. Her writing style is personal, humorous and charming.