Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life

The author of the bestselling Amazing Grace demystifies a spiritual concept, exploring acedia--or soul-weariness--through her life as a writer; her marriage and the challenges of commitment in the midst of grave illness; and her keen interest in the monastic tradition. The extraordinary New York Times bestselling masterpiece from one of the most eloquent yet earthbound spiritual writers of our time (San Francisco Chronicle). Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books, yet she couldn't drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn't summon the energy for her daily tasks.

Even as she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battle with acedia, a word she had discovered in early Church text years earlier. Fascinated by this noonday demon, so familiar to those in the early and medieval Church, Norris knew she must restore this forgotten but important concept to the modern world's vernacular. An examination of acedia in the light of psychology, spirituality, the healing powers of religious practice, and Norris's own experience, Acedia & Me is both intimate and historically sweeping, brimming with exasperation and reverence, sometimes funny, often provocative, and always insightful.