Mark Salzman: Lying Awake

By PHILIPPA JAMIESON

The words "nuns" and "American bestseller" aren't often seen in the same sentence. Here's a rare thing - a novel about the testing of faith of a Carmelite sister which has struck a chord in the ultimate capitalist nation. And it's written by a man.

Sister John of the Cross experiences profound mystic visions in which she sees all of life woven together in a sacred tapestry. Her vivid epiphanies inspire her to write poetry (which sells well, incidentally) and she is admired by the other nuns for her gift. It seems, after years in the cloister, she is finally feeling God's presence with the centre of her being.

But increasingly she is plagued by headaches which accompany the visions, and eventually the Mother Superior sends her to a specialist.

Sister John then faces a choice between surgery, or serious illness and possibly death. What should she do? Suffer, and continue to be as God made her? Or undergo treatment and risk losing her visions, which may be nothing more than hallucinations? This dilemma is the central question of the book.

"All of us will be tested in faith, again and again." Anyone, religious or not, who has suffered a crisis of faith can identify with the questions Sister John is asking. Who am I? What if I am not who I thought I was? What do I believe in if I find my illusions are shattered?

Los Angeles writer Mark Salzman's deceptively simple style is suited to the subject matter: it's plain, but cuts to the core of things. The soul-searching and religious yearning of Sister John's interior dialogue with God contrasts with the Zen-like metaphor of descriptions of the natural world.

The story is told in the present, with forays back to other turning points in Sister John's life: in her childhood, and when entering the convent. The author writes with a sensitive, sometimes humorous touch about the personalities and the daily lives of the sisters.

Lying Awake leaves an imprint after reading, as though you've been staring at something and when you look away get the reverse image. It's a tastefully produced hardback, illustrated with several numinous black and white woodcuts (irritatingly, no artist's name appears), and would make a thoughtful gift for contemplatives in all senses of the word.

* Philippa Jamieson is a Dunedin freelance writer.

Bloomsbury
$49.95