Upton Bell Collection at UMass Lowell Libraries

"A refreshing, almost curious study of one very modern man's investigation of the spiritual life." LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW Joseph is a well-known journalist who lives a very public life. Yet in is way he is a devout Catholic, drawn to the cloistered life of a Trappist monastery he had visited years before on a story. He's hoping to write a book about the hidden souls there, but his visits with the charismatic Father Columban begin to waken his long-dormant spirituality. Then he begins to hear stories about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the recent death of a young, aspiring monk. And as he struggles between the sacred and the profane, Joseph begins to wonder which is worse.... From the Paperback edition.