Subtitled, ‘a true love story which bursts the bounds of the cloister’, this book is a good read, well written and full of lessons both natural and spiritual. The author was a novice nun in an Anglican convent who was struggling to curb her independent spirit and come to terms with living in a convent and the man who became her husband was an abbot in a Benedictine Anglican monastery to which he was bound by the vows he had taken many years earlier. It is thought provoking, having relevance to all those who may have gotten caught up in church connections and godly service which gradually prove to be restrictive and in which the negatives prove stifling to the growth and development of the walk of faith with God. It is intriguing to consider just how that which was a blessing can become spiritually claustrophobic. In his case the commitment to God and the life he led in the monastery proved to inadequate in the process of his continuing sanctification. His manhood was not coming to flower as he lived in what increasingly proved to be a winter of religious practice and personal dedication. His birth name was David, his monastic name was Wilfred, David had become submerged in Wilfred, Wilfred lived a cloistered and safe life but when Helen came into his life David began to emerge to do battle with this other persona that he had fashioned in his obedience to God. Helen herself had found it impossible to take on further vows in her convent, with pain and difficulty she withdrew. There were many misunderstandings surrounding this, criticisms against her but it would be true to say that this path helped form her into the woman whose love eventually awakened in David his true humanity. This whole process forms the basic substance of the book. It took three years to see David triumph over Wilfred and for David to find grace and strength to come out from his vows and position of leadership and this was not without hurts on many sides. Perhaps there are those in some circles who would define this as the life of the Spirit triumphing over the religious and well-intentioned flesh. The couple became husband and wife, they continue to work in the Anglican church and have a family. For those discovering the negatives linked with their particular Christian community or fellowship and also hungering to walk on with God in the path of pilgrimage this book is a worthwhile read. It also should give pause to leaderships who in their communities, often unconsciously seek to conform all those within their communities to one type and pattern. Those interested in getting a copy of this book it is easily available second hand a there are some new copies available on the internet.
