Description
Book SynopsisSome nuns in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy strayed far from the paradigms of monastic life. In this book, the author resurrects forgotten tales and restores to life the long-silent voices of these cloistered heroines. The nuns of early modern Italy, it shows, set the standard for religious transgression in their own age - and beyond.
Trade Review"Monson, a... self-proclaimed 'archive mouse,' happily scurries into this forgotten repository, retrieving tales of sororal transgressions, which range from affairs to arson." (New Yorker) "Nuns Behaving Badly wears its learning with a smile, but it throws a sharp light into dark Roman Catholic corners." (Economist) "A gem of a book.... Monson writes with wry humour and a novelist's eye for detail, but the stories he uncovers would be extraordinary even without his narrative skill." (Literary Review)"