On her twenty-first birthday Monica Baldwin - daughter of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin - entered one of the oldest and most strictly enclosed contemplative orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Twenty-eight years later, having realized she did not have a true vocation for the life of a nun, she obtained a special rescript from Rome and left the convent. But the world Monica had known and forsaken in 1914 was very different to the world she found when she emerged into it at the height of the Second World War - This book is the fascinating story of one woman's two very different lives, with lucid descriptions of the world of a novice, the duties of a nun's day, and the spiritual aspects of convent life. These are interwoven with the trials and tribulations of life in a new and alien world, as the author is confronted by fashions, interventions, politics and art that are totally unfamiliar to her. Humour, intelligence, an endearing humility and an exciting honesty characterize this remarkable book that gives readers both a glimpse into a hidden world and a uniquely fresh take on a familiar one.

Jacket illustration in Gardner's

About the Author
Monica Baldwin (1893--1975) was the niece of former UK Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who lived as a nun for 28 years before deciding to return to a normal life. She is the author of The Called and the Chosen and Goose in the Jungle: A Flight Round the World with Digressions.

Reviews
'What a wonderful book! Now that I have finished it I want to read it again ... whatever you think about nuns, whatever your religious views or lack of them, I don't see how you can fail to be enriched by this book.' John Betjeman 'A sympathetically written and extraordinarily interesting account of one of the strangest and most disturbing experiences a modern woman ever lived through.' Daily Mail 'Witty, enlightening, entertaining.' Daily Express 'A story brilliantly told.' Observer 'Witty and intensely moving.' Sunday Times 'Works well. Amazing.' Daily Telegraph 'Straightforward, quiet and sincere. Profoundly interesting.' The Spectator 'The book describes in fascinating detail life in an enclosed order.' Irish Times Baldwin tells her story well, and with a great deal of dry wit ... she has a fine sense not only for the strangeness of her new world, but for the naivety of her own response to it. The Tablet The contemplative life did not suit her, but she is one of its liveliest and most accessible expositors The Tablet



Book Information
ISBN 9780719816437
Author Monica Baldwin
Format Paperback
Page Count 308
Imprint The Crowood Press Ltd
Publisher The Crowood Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 390g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 140mm * 12mm