Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of regional and national identity. Their closure, carried out in just four years between 1536 and 1540, caused a dislocation of people and a disruption of life not seen in England since the Norman Conquest. Drawing on the records of national...

"A feat of immersive journalism, In Search of Buddha?s Daughters introduces 50 of the courageous nuns Toomey found and lived alongside for a time--women of all ages and walks of life, searching for peace and determined to help others find it, too. As a travelogue, it takes readers behind the walls of monastic dwellings and temples where few ever go. As an investigation, it is essential reporting on meditation, Buddhism, and the status of women today."--Amazon.com....

"A startling and strange debut novel about a young girl's desperate choice to isolate herself from the world England, 1255: Sarah is only seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman much like Saint Hildegard of Bingen, shut away in a small cell, measuring seven by nine paces, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth and the pressure to marry, she decides to renounce the world,...