The Cloister

By James Carroll

Book Overview

From National Book Award-winning writer James Carroll comes a novel of the timeless love story of Peter Abelard and H lo se, and its impact on a modern priest and a Holocaust survivor seeking sanctuary in Manhattan.

Father Michael Kavanagh is shocked when he sees a friend from his seminary days at the altar of his humble parish in upper Manhattan--a friend who was forced to leave under scandalous circumstances. Compelled to reconsider the past, Father Kavanagh wanders into the medieval haven of the Cloisters and stumbles into a conversation with a lovely and intriguing docent, Rachel Vedette.

Having survived the Holocaust and escaped to America, Rachel remains obsessed with her late father's greatest scholarly achievement: a study demonstrating the relationship between the famously discredited monk Peter Abelard and Jewish scholars. Feeling an odd connection with Father Kavanagh, Rachel shares with him the work that cost her father his life.

At the center of these interrelated stories is the classic romance between the great philosopher Abelard and his intellectual equal, H lo se. For Rachel, Abelard is the key to understanding her people's place in history. And for Father Kavanagh, the controversial theologian may be a doorway to understanding the life he himself might have had outside the Church.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385541279
• ISBN13: 9780385541275
• Release Date: March 2018
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Cloister is an excellent novel about a chance meeting between a Catholic priest and a Jewish wom

This book spans time from the twelfth century, the time of Catholic theologian Peter Abelard and his lover Heloise, to the 1950's in New York City. A chance meeting between a Catholic priest Michael Kavanaugh and Cloister museum docent Rachel Vedette opens up an examination of each of their lives and how they've been impacted by the historical relationship between Catholics and Jews. It is a deeply moving book that also portrays the relationship of Abelard and Heloise and their lives in medieval France in a way that sheds light on history, theology, and how individual lives can be impacted by the forces of social organizations with roots in the ancient past. The writing is adept and intelligent, the characters very well developed, and the story is both extremely engaging and full of historical, theological, and philosophical insight! Highest recommendation!