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The Cloister by James Carroll

The love story of medieval French philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard and his protégée Heloise is now legendary, although it obscures the more provocative teachings for which Abelard was censured during his lifetime. Carroll deftly weaves Abelard’s radical opinions with the parallel storyline of a French Holocaust survivor and a Roman Catholic priest who are trying to make sense of their lives against overwhelming emotional odds in contemporary times. It’s a satisfying and seriously thought-provoking novel from this American reformer.

Maureen, Breakwater Books, Guilford