Convent Wisdom

This self-help book by two scholarly BFFs is full of wisdom gleaned from the lives of 16th and 17th-century nuns like Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Saint Teresa that is applicable to your most modern quandries. The cheeky and insightful volume is also brimming with fascinating historical details, like the penchants of some nuns for side hustles and eating spiders -- Melissa Febos * Marie Claire *
Nuns have long peppered my own writing because that's exactly what they are. Incendiary stuff. I tout this book madly because this is the back story that explains the inquisition we are now living through as well as revealing the fact that sixteenth-century nuns had the internet. I am panting with joy. And it's a wormhole into the elaborate, interior museum, sex club, library, bakery, community space and in diaspora the convent always was. Carmen and Ana, I thank you mightily for this profoundly useful and pleasure-seeking book -- Eileen Myles, author of CHELSEA GIRLS and AFTERGLOW
When it comes to advice on life and love, where else would you turn besides sixteenth century nuns? Convent Wisdom is here to help us get in the habit of learning from the past -- Nicole Tersigni, bestsellng author of MEN TO AVOID IN ART AND LIFE
Playful and inventive, Convent Wisdom is a delight for the intellectually curious reader. A pair of witty scholar-storytellers, Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita, share stories of their devotion to each other and of the 16th-century nuns whose lives parallel ours in surprising ways. Through some alchemy they've transformed what could have been a survey course in historical religious figures into a treasure chest of revelations and nuggets of self-help -- Anonymous, author of BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT
An invitation to sit at the cool nuns’ table, Convent Wisdom is for anyone who longs for more sisterhood, solitude, or sapphic drama (who doesn’t?). It’s at once juicy and funny and meticulously researched, an educational deep dive that’s also a fizzy joy to read. I’m already planning to gift it to several of my honourary sisters this year. I loved it! -- Betsy Cornwell, author of RING OF SALT
A wonderfully entertaining book. . . Convent Wisdom shows us that monasticism is not an anachronism, but rather a deep well from which we can draw guidance and comfort. The lives of the sisters and saints in Convent Wisdom are as relevant today as they were in their own time -- Sister Monica Clare, author of A CHANGE OF HABIT
Pick up Convent Wisdom for the clever cover art and intriguing title, stay for the fascinating stories and nun-ly wisdom ... With impressive research and writerly aplomb ... the duo enthusiastically populate seven sections - Girlfriends, Work, Body, Love, Money, Soul and Fame - with richly detailed, entertaining stories of indomitable, inspiring nuns ... Garriga and Urbita clearly regard the nuns as galvanizing influences and treasured friends; perhaps we should, too * BookPage *
With no shortage of comical but also keenly observed comparisons between past and future, [Convent Wisdom] charms * Publishers Weekly *
Popular religious history from a millennial perspective, served with a tongue-in-cheek slice of self-help ... Pithy comparisons catapulting the medieval into the modern abound, with comparisons of ecstatic religious choreography to Dua Lupa’s moves or postmortem incorruptibility as superior to Botox * Library Journal *
Convent Wisdom is above all an enormously funny, delightfully exaggerated, and sparkling book by two smart and spirited women. They have a wonderfully entertaining way of writing about a seemingly ultra-boring and unsexy subject: nuns. Using self-deprecation and irony, but done with respect — no one will regret taking a little stay-at-home retreat with this 'convent to go' * Trouw *
Convent Wisdom is as accessible as it is educational; told through witty prose and with vivid historical narratives, it’s a self-help book that is completely devoid of artifice. This is thanks in large part to its pitch perfect balance of nuanced analysis and research with humor and honesty * Forbes *
A cheeky exploration of the lives of cloistered nuns who, from a centuries-old vantage point, impart lessons applicable to the generational malaise and angst bedeviling modern life ... While frequently funny, Convent Wisdom deploys historical scholarship to challenge misconceptions of cloistered nuns as tame, and monastic life as severe and oppressive * New York Times *
We're having a vision: nuns are everywhere ... [Convent Wisdom] is proof of that: it shares nunnery insight that's more astute and intelligent than anything you'll find on Instagram, covering not only cloisters, candlelight, mortifications and hushed prayers but also friendship, money, FOMO, love, lesbianism, procrastination, imposter syndrome, work, fame and pop culture * Sunday Times Style *
A charming and quirky dual memoir * Kirkus Reviews *
Garriga and Urbita are historians who include detailed accounts of the nuns’ lives. But their careful attention to historicity does not make for dry storytelling (…) The internet slang is funny, the nuns’ stories are engaging, but perhaps the most profound story is that of the friendship between the two authors * The Presbyterian Outlook *
From taking control of your finances to navigating mental health, here are the solid life lessons we can learn from the convent * Telegraph *
Well, sisters, now there’s a self-help book. I have been reading, and highly recommend, Convent Wisdom, a delightful glimpse into the colourful lives of counter-reformation nuns. The florid religiosity (levitation, mystical visions, eating cat sick and cobwebs) might not be entirely relatable, but it’s thrilling to learn how powerful, purposeful women managed the unreasonable demands of male authority figures, made ends meet and lived on their own (and God’s) terms -- Emma Beddington * Guardian *