Publisher's Synopsis
The Adventures of Novice Number Nine is an exciting journey through the desert countryside with 23 year old Anne, who leaves the laid-back lifestyle of Southern California to join a small order of strict Trappistine nuns in Arizona. Following the fast pace of the monastic schedule, Anne rises at 3:15 at the sound of a bell, chants Psalms, meditates and grows vegetables, as she learns firsthand the meaning of the phrase ora et labora. Raised by parents with a father who finds his spirits in a bottle instead of a church, Anne's upbringing follows her into the cloister where a wayward hot air balloon, piecing together a mosaic of the Lady of Guadalupe, and competitive matches of ping-pong with a visiting abbot, unintentionally help her come to terms with her past. Anne discovers the dangerous elements in the desert - severe heat, wild boars, deadly rattlesnakes, drenching monsoon rains and electrifying lightning strikes - are not as difficult as struggling against something she can't see, when after two years, mysterious symptoms develop leading to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that forces her to give up her vocation. Broken, she realizes the embedded thorns from childhood must be removed before the redemptive power of healing can begin, starting her real journey.
