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The Spiral Staircase

My Climb Out Of Darkness

by Karen Armstrong

Summary

Karen Armstrong spent seven years in a convent (which she described in a previous memoir) and, when she left, was at a loss as to what to do with her life. In THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, she writes about her difficulties, as she first picked up a couple of advanced degrees, then taught in a private school, a job she eventually lost-after which she became severely depressed. Before she was finally diagnosed as an epileptic, she went through years of therapy, anorexia, and suicide attempts. Finally, she found her métier as a writer on religious subjects and watched her life turn around.

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Media Reviews

"Well-written and relentlessly self-aware."

   -- Kirkus

"[F]ull of riches."    -- Michele Roberts

   -- Literary Review

"THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE isn't exactly a cheerful book. But it's a pleasure to read simply because it's an honest and hopeful one....Armstrong's innocence is both funny and touching, but it's her penetrating intelligence-and her valiant efforts to put it to use in the world-that really earn our compassion."    -- Stephanie Zacharek

   -- Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.)

"In...Armstrong's memoir there lurks a wisdom about the making and remaking of a life, the retracing of steps and the relentless pushing forward, from which all of us could learn."    -- Lauren F. Winner

   -- New York Times Book Review

"In the end Armstrong passes with flying colours the test she proposes for a good theology, namely, that it involve and understanding of the divine that makes one kind and empathetic,and that impels one to express this sympathy in concrete acts of loving kindness. The book as a whole is testimony to that."    -- Fiona Ellis

   -- Times Literary Supplement

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2005
Size: 5.25 x 7.75 inches
Weight: 0.55 pounds
Pages: 305

Publisher's Notes

The moving story of her own search for God by the highly-acclaimed author of the bestselling A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism; and Islam: A Short History.

In 1969, after seven years as a Roman Catholic nun -- hoping, but ultimately failing, to find God -- Armstrong left her convent. She knew almost nothing of the changed world she was entering, and she was tormented by panic attacks and inexplicable seizures. Her struggle against despair was fueled by a string of discouragements -- failed spirituality, doctorate and jobs, fruitless dealings with psychiatrists -- but finally, in 1976, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and given proper treatment. She then began the writing career that would become her true calling, and as she focused on the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, her own true inner story began to emerge. She would come to experience brief moments of transcendence through her work -- the profound fulfillment that she had not found in the long hours of prayer as a young nun.

Powerfully engaging, often heart-breaking, but lit with bursts of humour, The Spiral Staircase is an extraordinary history of self.


From the Hardcover edition.

Other Editions

• Hardcover - Random House Inc (2004) - from $3.99
• Paperback Reprint - Random House Inc (2005) - from $1.76

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