Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where extraordinary things are happening under the cover of night.

Ranging across Europe and the Middle East, this book reconstructs the internal life, experience and aims of the medieval cloister. It also explores the many-sided relationships between the monasteries and the secular world from which they drew recruits.

In 1960, five young men arrived at the imposing gates of Parkminster in West Sussex, the largest centre of the most rigorous and ascetic monastic order in the Western world: the Carthusians. This is the story of their five-year journey into a society virtually unchanged in its behaviour and lifestyle since its foundations in 1084.

In a barbarous and fallen world, the monks of the Order of Leibowitz inherit the sacred relics and spend their lives copying, illuminating and interpreting the holy fragments. They vow to preserve ancient knowledge, but will man learn from his mistakes or will history repeat itself?

Brings together a selection of Cistercian Order's works. Featuring writings by St Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153), this bvolume also includes a description of Clairvaux, biogarphies of abbots and a series of stories, all drawing on the Scriptures to express personal forms of monastic theology.

This classic spiritually title, reissued with a new introduction by A M Allchin, beautifully distils Merton's long experience with contemplation.

Thomas Mertons affection for the spiritual nonconformists who once inhabited the deserts of the Near East shines through in these much-loved short tales of their acts and words of wisdom. Mertons free translation from the Latin sources presents their radical lives with humour and insight, relating them to Zen recluses, Hindu renunciates and all those who have ever fled conventional life in ...

A translation of the complete correspondence of Abelard and Heloise, this volume also includes a translation of The Calamities of Abelard , of the letters of Heloise and Peter the Venerable, and of selected songs, hymns, and laments of Abelard. It also includes a chronology, map, and index.

Thomas Merton is perhaps the most read and loved spiritual writer of the twentieth century. No Man Is an Island is the beloved sequel to his classic Seeds of Contemplation.

This narrative tells how Irish monks and scribes saved classical and religious heritage by copying the manuscripts of writers such as Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever.

The third book from the most gifted young travel writer at work today, author of the best-selling In Xanadu ('one of the best travel books produced in the last twenty years' -- Scotland on Sunday) and City of Djinns ('the best travel book I have ever read' -- George Mackay Brown).

When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed irrevocably: Mitya is placed under suspicion, Ivan's mental tortures drive him to breakdown, Alyosha tries to heal the family's rifts, and there is always the shadow of their bastard half-brother, Smerdyakov.

Philippa Talbot leaves her Civil Service career for a new calling - to join an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns. In this small community, each crisis is guided by the Abbess and the Sisters' shared bond of faith. It is here that Philippa must learn to forgive and forget the past.

One of the best-loved books of Christianity after the Bible, The Imitation of Christ is a passionate celebration of God and His love, mercy and holiness, which has inspired conversion and stimulated religious devotion for over five hundred years. With great personal conviction, Thomas a Kempis (1380 1471) demonstrates the individual's reliance on God and on the words of Christ, and the futility ..

In the spirit of Alain de Botton's 'Consolations of Philosophy', the Abbot Christopher Jamison, from BBC2's The Monastery suggests ways in which the teachings of St Benedict can be helpful in everyday life

The Desert Fathers were the first Christian monks, living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. The Desert Fathers' teachings and lives have inspired poetry, opera and art, as well as providing spiritual nourishment and a template for monastic life.