"Why would a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith be drawn to the ancient practice of monasticism, to a community of celibate men whose days are centered around a rigid schedule of prayer, work, and scripture? This is the question that Kathleen Norris herself asks as, somewhat to her own surprise, she found herself on two extended residencies at a Benedictine monastery. Yet upon leaving the monastery,...

Introduces the story of the twin saints, Benedict and Scholastics, and describes how their experiences as children in Northern Italy influenced their accomplishments in their adult lives.

The author shares a memoir of life at liberal, bohemian Bennington College in the 1960s and her friendships with Jim Carroll, Denise Levertov, Erica Jong, James Merrill, Stanley Kunitz, and other notable poets.

Antonia Shimerda, the destitute child of Bohemian immigrants, and Jim Burden, a native Virginian who, after being orphaned at the age of ten, is sent to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Jim goes to Harvard, becomes a traveling busnissman,a nd returns to Nebraska infrequently; Antonia elopes with a shiftless railroad conductor, comes home disgraced, and finds happiness with Anton Cuzak, a gentle farmer.