The Tulip & the Pope

by Deborah Larsen

Did you ever wonder why some girls choose to become nuns? Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the convent's closed doors? And, most importantly, why do young woman choose to leave the convent? All of this is explained in Larsen's quietly poetic memoir of her experiences in and out of the convent. At the age of 19, she entered a convent in Dubuque, Iowa to become a BVM. Initially devout and committed to the religious life, Sister Mary Deborah eventually develops doubts about her future and leaves after four years in the convent.

For anyone interested in the lives of postulants and novices, this memoir will be satisfying. It is also a gentle tale of a young woman who only thinks she knows what she wants at the tender age of nineteen.

1/8/06