The Red Skirt: Memoirs of an Ex Nun

The Red Skirt: Memoirs of an Ex Nun by Patricia O'Donnell-Gibson. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780983611202.

A nine-year-old girl, impressionistic and dreamy, feels God has called to her through the voice of a missionary who speaks to her Catholic school class. The idea of this calling embeds itself deep within her, haunting her, and urging her to, ultimately, enter the convent. The Red Skirt: Memoirs of An Ex Nun is the very personal account of this young womans journey to find the place where she belongs. Sad as well as joyous, inspiring as well as unsettling, we follow her story through the five years she spends as an Adrian Dominican nun; as she tries to balance her desire for a secular life with her great fear of turning her back on Gods call. Poignant and insightful, The Red Skirt gives an unflinching glimpse of one womans internal, and decidedly human, struggle to leave behind the young, fearful girl who could not shake the words of the missionary, to become a strong woman who can accept an alternative spiritual philosophy, and, consequently, her place in the world.