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The Holy Habit: My Love Affair and Break-Up with the Convent

By: Renee-Therese Dearborn
Narrated by: Brigette Lundy-Paine
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Summary

The unflinching and evocative true story of a 17-year-old girl’s decision to marry Christ in a rebellion against her family, society, and everything she knows.

It was New Orleans, 1948. While her friends were dating and going nuts for boys and parties, Renee-Therese made it her mission to get herself into the Benedictine convent come hell or high water. Longing for a world of acceptance, she willingly commits herself to a life of humiliation and servitude that nearly engulfs her in loneliness. Still a teenager with little life experience, she witnesses death, rebirth, and love in ways she never could have imagined. Through her journey and sacrifice, she develops a deep and abiding confidence powerful enough to last a lifetime.

The author summarizes her experience at the convent: “I entered into a period of healing and growing, suffering and power. Had I known what humiliation and pain I would have to endure, I might have turned back and run as far as I could from the convent life. As it turned out, the blessings and grace that came to me, often superbly hidden in turmoil, gave me a new life, one filled with a sense of self-worth far beyond that which I believe I would have achieved had I remained in the world outside the convent. At seventeen years old, I was given the greatest gift I could imagine.”

Follow Renee-Therese as she recounts the rituals, hard work, and sacrifice of convent life in the late 1940s. You will feel like you are really there with her, listening to the conversations between the sisters and postulants, and learning about women friendships in the convent. Most of all, this is a story about the author’s relationship with herself, her destiny, and her faith.

A rare glimpse into the love story of a young girl seeking the convent with determination and fervor and her emotional and psychological journey of leaving the convent life for which she fought.

©2017 Renee-Therese Dearborn (P)2018 Renee-Therese Dearborn
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The Holy Habit review

I really enjoyed this rich book though was frustrated with the ending and would have liked to have heard what finally drove Sister Brigette to give up her vocation. I also feel the introduction would have been better as the ending because the ending was left hanging! I had to go back to the introduction to remind myself of her life after the convent. The intro was all too brief for me, though I guess the main purpose of the book was highlighting her time as a nun.

I liked the way the narrator told the story - with great humour in places. What a tough time the Sister had during her five years at the convent but she used it to grow and never lost faith in God.

I was very angry at times at the way she was treated by some of the not so nice Sisters. Her friendship with Sister David was very touching.

I would really recommend this book - I couldn't stop listening to it!

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