And Then They Were Nuns — Susan J. Leonardi

"Beatrice has probably told you that when someone starts talking about staying, we usually send her home for a while, away from the seductions of these holy hills, so she can decide whether she really wants to plant herself in a nunnery. And to make sure she's not running away. As I was."

Julian Pines Abbey. From 1965-2000, women come and stay or come and go, in a quiet experiment to remake religious and communal life. No tradition is safe from revision - not the tradition that says God is male, or that women can't be priests, or that nuns must be celibate.

With a vision both generous and uncompromising, And Then They Were Nuns tells the story of the women who, as Sister Anne says, come for all the wrong reasons and - if they stay - stumble on good ones, while they struggle (sometimes hilariously) with love, sex, community, snakes, neighbors, outhouses, poverty, goats, sanity, sobriety, sisterhood, compost, and the life of the spirit.

Includes a book club reader's guide.