The Farnear Journals — Christin Lore Weber

On the wild north shore of Lake Superior stands the beautiful Star of the Sea convent, home to a dwindling community of mostly old nuns, founded by the saintly but mildly heretical Sophie Marie Loire. Now their continued existence rests in the hands of the youngest among them, Mother Madalaina, darling of her elders, and confidant of the local bishop. In hopes of gleaning ideas and assistance for the community's survival, Madalaina invites three friends and former nuns to return for a visit during the time between the August feasts of the Transfiguration of Jesus and the Assumption of Mary into heaven. During this time secrets are revealed, souls are shaken, and choices must be made. In many ways a mythic tale, a fantasy of the mystic life of contemplative nuns, The FarNear Journals also reaches into the turbulent times of contemporary Catholicism. At the core of its characters, both women and men, is found the tension of balancing on the edge of faith's precipice. They live out a paradox that can break their hearts, in which keeping faith could mean to let it go. Christin Lore Weber, returns here to her most compelling subject: the heartache of Catholic women within their church, and their perennially renewed hopes for full inclusion.