An Unquenchable Thirst (Book re: Mother Teresa)

[hue]

http://www.maryjohnson.co/an-unquenchable-thirst/

Why Write About Having Been a Nun?

I decided to write An Unquenchable Thirst, the memoir of my twenty years as a nun in the order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the day my youngest sister phoned to say she was about to marry a man she’d met twice; their guru had decided the two “could contain each other.” We human beings sometimes do odd things, especially when religion is involved. Odd and interesting and “not discussed in polite company” things. But it seems to me that what happens when we surrender our wills to religious figures—or deny our sexual natures or believe the Creator of the Universe speaks to us—are things that need to be discussed.

Over the ten years it took to write An Unquenchable Thirst, I worked to tell my story with as much honesty, skill, and compassion as I could muster. Revealing myself on the page often scared me, but I knew my story would resonate with readers only if I didn’t flinch at the embarrassing parts.

An Unquenchable Thirst provides an intimate, inside view of a closed society and of a woman still admired throughout the world, a woman I knew personally, Mother Teresa. The book doesn’t preach or whine; it simply tells my story, carrying the reader into my heart and mind. I hope you’ll find An Unquenchable Thirst engaging, and that it will spark lively discussion.