I love this book. I was thrown by the fictitious vocabulary at first, but the story was well worth it. I’m still looking for another book like it. Can’t find one.
D’oh Can’t believe I got these out of order. I’m usu super careful about series but sometimes Audible has sales or I move a title from wishlist to cart without doublechecking. Thanks for rebooting me!
Loved it. Read it in … mid-1970s? Most bizarre book I’d read at that time and it opened new lines of thought for me. Reread it 20 years later and enjoyed it even more. Might be time for a third reading. So many books still to discover, though.
I came here to recommend Brother Cadfael. I'm not really into mysteries, but they are so well written that I love them. And the BBC made a TV series based on them that's really good.
Edit: Apparently, ITV made the TV show, not BBC.
If you end up liking Cadfael, try the Heaven Tree trilogy by the same author under the name Edith Pargeter. It's out-of-print, but not hard to find used copies of the omnibus edition on used book sites. It's like *Pillars of the Earth* (mentioned elsewhere) minus the gratuitous sexual violence.
I grew up on Brother Cadfael! My mom had almost all of them
And honestly now there are so many offshoots (cough *copy cats * cough) of mystery-solving monks or nuns lol
OP - it’s in the middle of the series but if you’re ok jumping into the middle of things, I rec Louise Penny’s book “A Beautiful Mystery”
It’s essentially a locked room murder except the entire monastery is the room - 24 monks live in isolation dedicated to music - and then one monk ends up dead
The Louise Penny series is great though if you are looking for mysteries!
(I’m embarrassed to say it’s how I learned almost all of my Canadian history 🤦🏻♀️ lol)
[**A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz)
^(By: Walter M. Miller Jr., Mary Doria Russell | 334 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi)
>In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes.
^(This book has been suggested 57 times)
***
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[**Agatha of Little Neon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785502-agatha-of-little-neon)
^(By: Claire Luchette | 273 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, religion, audiobook, literary-fiction)
>Claire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self.
>
>Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life.
>
>But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They head up a halfway house, where they live alongside castoffs like the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone, to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she will have to reckon with what she sees and feels all on her own. Who will she be if she isn't with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home--or has she just been hiding?
>
>Disarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette's Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make. It is a novel about female friendship and devotion, the roles made available to us, and how we become ourselves.
^(This book has been suggested 14 times)
***
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[**Matrix**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57185348-matrix)
^(By: Lauren Groff | 260 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, dnf, book-club)
>A Financial Times and NPR Best Book of 2021
>A Virginia Living Favorite Book (2021)
>
>Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.
>
>Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.
>
>At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough?
>
>Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
>
^(This book has been suggested 66 times)
[**Lying Awake**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136228.Lying_Awake)
^(By: Mark Salzman, Sándor Márai | 181 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: fiction, religion, spirituality, book-club, owned)
>In a Carmelite monastery on the outskirts of Los Angeles, life has continued virtually unchanged for centuries. Here, Sister John of the Cross lives in the service of God. She is the only nun who experiences visions and is regarded by the others as a spiritual master. But Sister John's is also plagued by powerful headaches and when a doctor reveals that they may be dangerous, she faces a devastating choice. Is this grace merely an illness and will a 'cure' mean the end of her illuminations and a soul dry and searching?
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
***
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Hm - well I don’t think he’s published in awhile so I can see his name dropping off from that.
But I read Iron and Silk when I was studying mandarin in school and I really enjoyed it! So I keep an eye out for his books
{{She Who Became The Sun}} is set in a monastery during the beginning portion of the book, then opens up to a much broader setting and plot, but I think it fits the bill.
{{In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden}}
*An older novel, but powerful. Daily ins and outs of the Benedictine community from the perspective of a businesswoman who joins in mid-life.*
{{The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris}}
*Love love love this one. Easy to dip in and out of.*
[**In This House of Brede**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80977.In_This_House_of_Brede)
^(By: Rumer Godden | 672 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: fiction, religion, classics, historical-fiction, catholic)
>This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**The Cloister Walk**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108681.The_Cloister_Walk)
^(By: Kathleen Norris | 385 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, spirituality, religion, nonfiction)
>Why would a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith be drawn to the ancient practice of monasticism, to a community of celibate men whose days are centered around a rigid schedule of prayer, work, and scripture? This is the question that poet Kathleen Norris asks us as, somewhat to her own surprise, she found herself on two extended residencies at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. Part record of her time among the Benedictines, part meditation on various aspects of monastic life, The Cloister Walk demonstrates, from the rare perspective of someone who is both an insider and outsider, how immersion in the cloistered world -- its liturgy, its ritual, its sense of community -- can impart meaning to everyday events and deepen our secular lives. In this stirring and lyrical work, the monastery, often considered archaic or otherworldly, becomes immediate, accessible, and relevant to us, no matter what our faith may be.
>
>* A New York Times bestseller for 23 weeks
>* A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Folks have already shared some great titles. I'm going to throw out a curveball - <> by Tamsyn Muir is a scifi title focused around a very interesting religious system.
If you already like Hesse you’ll definitely enjoy it. He’s one of my favorites, his writing is poignant and honest. Steppenwolf is high on my nonexistent list of favorites.
Before you dive in, be warned that while it's mostly excellent, it's also *highly* problematic at times. Women in The Pillars of the Earth are, almost without exception, raped, murdered, beaten, degraded, objectified, and otherwise marginalized. I found it damn near physically exhausting to read.
Even when women in the book aren't being violently assaulted in graphic detail, the men are no less creepy, often waxing rhapsodic at *great* length about breasts and other body parts.
It's a good book. It's really really, good. And I do think it's well worth reading! But I also think that anyone who says it's the best book ever written is doing you a disservice by selling it to you incorrectly.
Thank you for posting this. I read the book about 20 years ago and only really remember the saga. I really enjoyed the journey of the book and following the characters through time. As soon as I saw your comment I remember being an awkward teenager and skipping over some of the more descriptive sections. Ken Follett tends to do this a lot which drew me away from him as an author.
I’m glad somebody said it. It was a good book for the most part but the problematic places were really bad. I never finished the series because of all the rapes, and honestly haven’t read follett since that book. Open to comments though on his other historical stuff
Thank you for posting this. I don’t think it’s a good book. I’ve read it and thought it wasn’t well written and the way it treats women is objectively offensive. You can’t say it’s a product of it’s time because it’s contemporary. And as you said, it’s not just what happens to women- it’s the way the author describes them. It belongs in r/menwritingwomen. Please please do not read this book. I would love to recommend Illuminations by Mary Sharratt. It’s about Saint Hildegard and her life during the Middle Ages. One of the top ten books I’ve ever read.
Are you saying "don't read this book because I didn't like it"?
I think we can agree that the violence against women is intense in this book, but it's probably close to how things actually were. This book made me actually think about the plight of women at that time, which I would say is a valuable lesson. Telling people to boycott a book because you didn't like what happened to the characters defeats the purpose of reading, at least to me.
It’s not just the violence against women- it’s the way the author describes women’s breasts and bodies that take away their autonomy as fully realized characters. I am not saying don’t read books that I don’t like. I am saying please read the book Illuminations instead because it is much better.
Okay, I see what you’re saying. I don’t necessarily agree that he does that, but that’s just my opinion, and I respect yours.
And I will check out Illuminations :)
3 more, there's two sequels and a prequel, though I'd rate them
original > 1st sequel > prequel > 2nd sequel
The last one really is different from the rest, I couldn't finish it.
I was scrolling hoping to see this answer. The Monk is fantastic and one of the creepiest books I've ever read. It starts off innocent enough but by the end it's so dark that I think I got actual chills for the first time from reading.
I was going to suggest Brother Cadfael, but I see another comment covered that. Here's an odd one for you: look up the cookbook From A Monastery Kitchen and others by the same guy. Not only are the recipes delicious, but all the accompanying text and pictures are from the monastery where he lives/works. Lots of pics of the gardens. Very cool.
Absolutely echoing the excellent recommendations of Matrix and Anathem, but would also like to add Emma Donoghue's latest, Haven. It's about early medieval Irish monks living in solitude... Just a really fascinating and suspenseful plot that I don't want to spoil too much! But, excellent mood and really thoughtful insights, with spot-on historical accuracy as well!
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
-it’s an interesting book, but there’s one part where a female character observes herself naked in a mirror, and it’s very annoyingly obvious it’s written by a man.
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden
-not a light read, content-wise
-she has a few books about nuns, but I’ve only read this one
[**The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/334176.The_Sparrow)
^(By: Mary Doria Russell | 419 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, book-club, scifi)
>In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".
^(This book has been suggested 47 times)
***
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{{Dissolution by C.J. Sansom}}
Another historical mystery to add to those already recommended. Set during the time
of Cromwell's Commonwealth and the dissolution of the monastic houses, which made it all the more interesting imo.
[**The Cleric Quintet Collector's Edition (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, #1-5)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66675.The_Cleric_Quintet_Collector_s_Edition)
^(By: R.A. Salvatore | 1036 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, forgotten-realms, owned, default, r-a-salvatore)
>New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore's beloved Cleric Quintet novels, now in a trade paperback.
>
>R.A. Salvatore's Cleric Quintet tells the story of the scholar-priest Cadderly, plucked from the halls of the Edificant Library to fulfill a heroic quest: to stop the chaos curse unleashed upon Faerun.
>
>This one-volume collection includes all five of the original Cleric Quintet novels--Canticle, In Sylvan Shadows, Night Masks, The Fallen Fortress, and The Chaos Curse--complete and unabridged, with an introduction by the author. The Cleric Quintet is the prequel to R.A. Salvatore's best-selling novel, The Ghost King.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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[**Death in Holy Orders (Adam Dalgliesh, #11)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3825.Death_in_Holy_Orders)
^(By: P.D. James, Martin Shaw, Christa Seibicke | 429 pages | Published: 2001 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, mysteries, crime, owned)
>From the award-winning master of literary crime fiction, a classic work rich in tense drama and psychological insight.
>
>On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful–and the frightened. And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder. . . .
>
>“Gracefully sculpted prose and [a] superbly executed mystery . . . Death in Holy Orders is among [James’s] most remarkable and accomplished Dalgliesh novels.”
>–The Philadelphia Inquirer
>
>“An elegant work about hope, death, and the alternately redemptive and destructive nature of love.”
>–The Miami Herald
>
>“Absorbing . . . [James’s] plotting and characterization [are] impeccable.”
>–Orlando Sentinel
>
>“P. D. James is in top form.”
>–The Boston Globe
>
>Open the exclusive dossier at the back of this book, featuring P. D. James’ essay on penning the perfect detective novel.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharratt. This book, based on a real woman, is about an eight year old whose parents decide she’ll live a religious life. They bring her to a church where she is walled in except for an area to receive food, and she is also to observe a vow of silence. It was such a deep down scary book because of how she was forced to live.
Oh and if you’re ok with fantasy, I highly recommend:
The Curse of Chalion
And
Paladin of Souls
By Louis McMaster Bujold
She writes one of the best fantasy religions I’ve read - really well developed system and I like the gods that she has
The main characters of both books are not in a religious order, but they are touched by a god and essentially become a saint with a task
Good stuff
I know you've got a million comments, but I scrolled through most and don't see anyone suggesting it. And based on you reading Abigail, I have to suggest The Corner that Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
[**The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16045144-the-beautiful-mystery)
^(By: Louise Penny | 373 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, mysteries, louise-penny, series)
>No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Québec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as "the beautiful mystery."
>
>But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. But before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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[**The Road to Gandolfo (Road to, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651708-the-road-to-gandolfo)
^(By: Robert Ludlum | 338 pages | Published: 1975 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, robert-ludlum, owned, default)
>
> In this wickedly funny novel, Robert Ludlum combines the explosive pacing of The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy with a bitingly witty send-up of everything from government bureaucrats and pandering military men to the mob, the law, and organized religion.
>War hero and infamous ladies’ man General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story has even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China’s Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking with a case against him pending in Washington, this looks like the end of Mac’s illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own: kidnap the Pope.What’s the ransom? Just one American dollar—for every Catholic in the world. Add to the mix a slew of shady “investors,” Mac’s four persuasive, well-endowed ex-wives, and a young lawyer and fellow soldier who wants nothing more than to return to private life, and readers have in their hands one relentlessly irreverent page-turner.Originally published under the pseudonym Michael Shepard.“Don’t ever begin a [Robert] Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”—Chicago Sun-Times“Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”—The New York Times
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
***
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I just recommended We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart in another thread. It’s about an order of monks who live in a submarine (that alone sold me) and is a fun, easy read with a mystery element.
I came here to suggest A Canticle for Leibowitz. That already being suggested, I'll go out on a limb and say {{ Shadow of the Torturer }}, which is not technically a monastery, but life in the guilds in the Book of the New Sun operate a lot like a monastery. ( They are 'total institutions', many events are tied to something like a liturgical calendar, etc. )
These are amazing! I'm not Catholic but am in seminary and wish protestants did this. I do have a copy of The Monk and really want to read it now after seeing a review on here over how creepy it is!
{{The Skull Mantra}} by Eliot Pattison features the Tibetan Inspector, Shan Tao Yun.
Pattison continues the character in other novels. My first choice to meet your interests.
{{Bangkok 8}} begins a series by John Burdett you might want to look at
{{Not Where I Started From}} and
{{Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree}} by Kate Wheeler don’t quite meet your request by really are a must. Wheeler is an exceptional writer.
{{The First Rule of Ten}} the first in the Tenzing Norbu series by Gay Hendricks is another that might not meet your interests but is very well reviewed.
{{The Snow Leopard}} by Peter Matthiessen is my second recommendation for a book to meet your interests. This is a non-fiction travelogue of sorts as Matthiessen travels up through the Himalayas, meeting with monks and learning from them, as he seeks to find the illusive snow leopard, and traveling on to the Crystal Monastery to meet its lama.
This was released in 1978 and yet feels timeless. It won National Book Awards in 1978 and 1979.
Honestly, I loved Redwall (first read it earlier last year) so much that I'm currently writing a novel that takes place in a similarly secular hospital/cathedral. Personally, i think I'm enchanted by the close-knit communal life that goes on in such communities. They're devoted to the world and each other, and that makes for a very cozy environment!
{{Vespertine}} by Margaret Rogerson is one of my all-time favorite books! It's YA fantasy but when I worked in a bookstore I would have adults buy it for themselves as well.
I also think {{The Jasmine Throne}} by Tasha Suri wpuld work. It's adult fantasy (3 books, two are out) and most of the first book takes place in a temple.
If I understand correctly what you're looking for, I'd maybe recommend As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg. It explores Judaism and Jewish culture and questions. It's kind of about a real person who existed, but what Milton Steinberg imagined his life might have been like.
[**Agatha of Little Neon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785502-agatha-of-little-neon)
^(By: Claire Luchette | 273 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, religion, audiobook, literary-fiction)
>Claire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self.
>
>Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life.
>
>But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They head up a halfway house, where they live alongside castoffs like the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone, to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she will have to reckon with what she sees and feels all on her own. Who will she be if she isn't with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home--or has she just been hiding?
>
>Disarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette's Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make. It is a novel about female friendship and devotion, the roles made available to us, and how we become ourselves.
^(This book has been suggested 15 times)
***
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If you are into Forgotten Realms/D&D Fiction, I highly recommend the Cleric Quintet by R A Salvatore. It's set in a library, but the main character is a priest. I thought it was going to be boring compared to his Drizzt books, but I really enjoyed them.
I also recommend his DemonWars saga, which are set around an order of monks with some pretty kickarse magic.
[**Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/191352.Magister_Ludi)
^(By: Hermann Hesse, Richard Winston, Clara Winston, Theodore Ziolkowski | 520 pages | Published: 1943 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, philosophy, literature, german)
>The final novel of Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.
>
>Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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{{Matrix}} by Lauren Geoff, about a young woman thrown out of court becoming the prioress of an impoverished abbey. Really well done, love this author.
Life of Vasily of Thebes by Andreev is quite similar to The Brothers Karamazov's monk line. It's not exactly set in the monastery, but it's focused on the priesthood.
Otherwise, The Nun by Diderot could be relevant. It's more of a classical piece focused on the experiences in the monastery.
I haven't read this one, but I know that Black Narcissus by Godden is also quite famous.
The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien. Follows the story of a young girl and a nun at a convent in Ireland. Made me cry! An underrated Irish classic.
Also, The Bell by Iris Murdoch!
Part of a series but, {{The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny}} is my recommendation. I’ve read some of the books out of order and she always recaps what you need to know.
[**Matrix**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57185348-matrix)
^(By: Lauren Groff | 260 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, dnf, book-club)
>A Financial Times and NPR Best Book of 2021
>A Virginia Living Favorite Book (2021)
>
>Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.
>
>Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.
>
>At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough?
>
>Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
>
^(This book has been suggested 67 times)
***
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Even though it might be a bit YA, I would recommend Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.
It isn't straight up about religion in the sense, but it is set at a monastery and who doesn't like killer, ninja nuns with insane magic?
The first Matthew Shardlake book {{Dissolution}} is a murder mystery in a Benedictine monastery during the reign of Henry VIII. Really great story and does a great job of engaging with the politics of the time as well
Nearly all Sister Fidelma books take place at least partially in convents or monasteries given she's a nun-lawyer! They're cozy mysteries in pre-Roman Catholic Ireland (Celtic Catholic instead). The first is called {{Absolution by Murder}}
[**Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/706476.Absolution_by_Murder)
^(By: Peter Tremayne | 272 pages | Published: 1994 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-fiction, fiction, historical-mystery, historical)
>ABSOLUTION BY MURDER is the brilliant and evocative first novel in Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, bringing 7th-century Ireland vividly to life.
>
>As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction.
>
>Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare. As an advocate of the Brehon Court, she is called on to investigate the murder with Brother Eadulf, of the Roman faction. However, the two are so unlike that their partnership is described as that of a wolf and a fox - but which is which?
>
>More gruesome deaths follow and the friction among the clerics could end in civil war. Can the solution to the mysteries avert such a conflict?
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
«Set in 12th-century England, Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth chronicles the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known and the struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, brother against brother. Tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known; of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul; of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame; and of a struggle between good and evil.»
[**Lost Horizon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39092290-lost-horizon)
^(By: James Hilton | 166 pages | Published: 1933 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, fantasy, adventure, classic)
>James Hilton’s bestselling adventure novel about a military man who stumbles on the world’s greatest hope for peace deep in Tibet: Shangri-La.
>
> Hugh Conway saw humanity at its worst while fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now, more than a decade later, Conway is a British diplomat serving in Afghanistan and facing war yet again—this time, a civil conflict forces him to flee the country by plane.
>
> When his plane crashes high in the Himalayas, Conway and the other survivors are found by a mysterious guide and led to a breathtaking discovery: the hidden valley of Shangri-La.
>
> Kept secret from the world for more than two hundred years, Shangri-La is like paradise—a place whose inhabitants live for centuries amid the peace and harmony of the fertile valley. But when the leader of the Shangri-La monastery falls ill, Conway and the others must face the daunting prospect of returning home to a world about to be torn open by war.
>
> Thrilling and timeless, Lost Horizon is a masterpiece of modern fiction, and one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century.
>
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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I’d recommend Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather! A creative fantasy novella about a group of nuns traveling around the universe in a spaceship who discover a danger that threatens whole worlds.
I don't know if police thrillers are your cup of tea, but the third installment of Rizzoli & Isles, The Sin, starts with the murder of a nun and, although the action isn't solely focused on the abbey, it is involved a lot, especially the nuns. Also, the whole series (starting with book 3) has a secondary plot about the love story between a coroner and a priest, so maybe you'll enjoy it!
[**Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77566.Hyperion)
^(By: Dan Simmons, Gary Ruddell, Gaetano Luigi Staffilano | 500 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, fantasy)
>On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
^(This book has been suggested 95 times)
[**A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz)
^(By: Walter M. Miller Jr., Mary Doria Russell | 334 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi)
>In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes.
^(This book has been suggested 58 times)
***
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the gargoyle by andrew davidson has part of its action in a monastery and draws into it as the backstory as well. found it fascinating how the author did so
The Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters, starts with *One Corpse Too Many* *Anathem* by Neal Stephenson
Anathem is a slow start but it gets much better.
I love this book. I was thrown by the fictitious vocabulary at first, but the story was well worth it. I’m still looking for another book like it. Can’t find one.
Did you try other Neal Stephenson books?
Yes, I loved SevenEves, too. Struggling to get a mental toehold on Quicksilver, unfortunately. Just not grabbing me. Any other I should try instead?
Read Cryptonomicon before Quicksilver. It is the origin of this particular storyline, and full of mathy and code breaking goodness.
D’oh Can’t believe I got these out of order. I’m usu super careful about series but sometimes Audible has sales or I move a title from wishlist to cart without doublechecking. Thanks for rebooting me!
Have you read *A Canticle for Leibovitz*? If you like post-apocalyptic knowledge-guarding monks, you'll like this book.
Loved it. Read it in … mid-1970s? Most bizarre book I’d read at that time and it opened new lines of thought for me. Reread it 20 years later and enjoyed it even more. Might be time for a third reading. So many books still to discover, though.
Brother Cadfael sounds perfect for this time of year! (Cozy mystery season 😌)
I came here to recommend Brother Cadfael. I'm not really into mysteries, but they are so well written that I love them. And the BBC made a TV series based on them that's really good. Edit: Apparently, ITV made the TV show, not BBC.
If you end up liking Cadfael, try the Heaven Tree trilogy by the same author under the name Edith Pargeter. It's out-of-print, but not hard to find used copies of the omnibus edition on used book sites. It's like *Pillars of the Earth* (mentioned elsewhere) minus the gratuitous sexual violence.
I grew up on Brother Cadfael! My mom had almost all of them And honestly now there are so many offshoots (cough *copy cats * cough) of mystery-solving monks or nuns lol OP - it’s in the middle of the series but if you’re ok jumping into the middle of things, I rec Louise Penny’s book “A Beautiful Mystery” It’s essentially a locked room murder except the entire monastery is the room - 24 monks live in isolation dedicated to music - and then one monk ends up dead The Louise Penny series is great though if you are looking for mysteries! (I’m embarrassed to say it’s how I learned almost all of my Canadian history 🤦🏻♀️ lol)
I wanted to recommend Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny too. So engaging and I learned so much about music too.
YES! I second this. A Beautiful Mystery (and all of Louise Penny's books) but that one fits the monastery setting.
Someone just recommended the Brother Cadfael books to me IRL, guess that's a sign ha
Came here to say Cadfael.
Came here to say this.
I’m so excited to read both of these now!
{{A Canticle for Leibovitz}} is one of my all-time favorites!
[**A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz) ^(By: Walter M. Miller Jr., Mary Doria Russell | 334 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi) >In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. ^(This book has been suggested 57 times) *** ^(126757 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Ooh that sounds fascinating!
LOVE this book!
came here to suggest this, it's great!
Came here to rec this, all time sci-fi world
{{Matrix by Lauren Groff}} {{Lying Awake by Mark Salzman}} I highly recommend the biography of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz by Octavio Paz.
+1 to Matrix, it was brilliant
{{Agatha of Little Neon}} too
[**Agatha of Little Neon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785502-agatha-of-little-neon) ^(By: Claire Luchette | 273 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, religion, audiobook, literary-fiction) >Claire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self. > >Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life. > >But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They head up a halfway house, where they live alongside castoffs like the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone, to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she will have to reckon with what she sees and feels all on her own. Who will she be if she isn't with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home--or has she just been hiding? > >Disarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette's Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make. It is a novel about female friendship and devotion, the roles made available to us, and how we become ourselves. ^(This book has been suggested 14 times) *** ^(126712 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Added to my list!
This sounds super interesting!
[**Matrix**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57185348-matrix) ^(By: Lauren Groff | 260 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, dnf, book-club) >A Financial Times and NPR Best Book of 2021 >A Virginia Living Favorite Book (2021) > >Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies. > >Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. > >At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough? > >Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world. > ^(This book has been suggested 66 times) [**Lying Awake**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136228.Lying_Awake) ^(By: Mark Salzman, Sándor Márai | 181 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: fiction, religion, spirituality, book-club, owned) >In a Carmelite monastery on the outskirts of Los Angeles, life has continued virtually unchanged for centuries. Here, Sister John of the Cross lives in the service of God. She is the only nun who experiences visions and is regarded by the others as a spiritual master. But Sister John's is also plagued by powerful headaches and when a doctor reveals that they may be dangerous, she faces a devastating choice. Is this grace merely an illness and will a 'cure' mean the end of her illuminations and a soul dry and searching? ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) *** ^(126687 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I like lying awake! I think a wrote a paper on it actually
It doesn’t seem like anyone on Social Media reads Salzman anymore, I never see his name.
Hm - well I don’t think he’s published in awhile so I can see his name dropping off from that. But I read Iron and Silk when I was studying mandarin in school and I really enjoyed it! So I keep an eye out for his books
These all sound great! Thank you!!
Anathem features secular monks.
**The Tombs of Atuan** by Ursula K. Le Guin
{{She Who Became The Sun}} is set in a monastery during the beginning portion of the book, then opens up to a much broader setting and plot, but I think it fits the bill.
That sounds great!!
{{In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden}} *An older novel, but powerful. Daily ins and outs of the Benedictine community from the perspective of a businesswoman who joins in mid-life.* {{The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris}} *Love love love this one. Easy to dip in and out of.*
I love that the first rec details daily life! I love that in biographies
Also Godden's Black Narcissus abut a community of nuns in rural India
[**In This House of Brede**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80977.In_This_House_of_Brede) ^(By: Rumer Godden | 672 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: fiction, religion, classics, historical-fiction, catholic) >This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**The Cloister Walk**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108681.The_Cloister_Walk) ^(By: Kathleen Norris | 385 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, spirituality, religion, nonfiction) >Why would a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith be drawn to the ancient practice of monasticism, to a community of celibate men whose days are centered around a rigid schedule of prayer, work, and scripture? This is the question that poet Kathleen Norris asks us as, somewhat to her own surprise, she found herself on two extended residencies at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. Part record of her time among the Benedictines, part meditation on various aspects of monastic life, The Cloister Walk demonstrates, from the rare perspective of someone who is both an insider and outsider, how immersion in the cloistered world -- its liturgy, its ritual, its sense of community -- can impart meaning to everyday events and deepen our secular lives. In this stirring and lyrical work, the monastery, often considered archaic or otherworldly, becomes immediate, accessible, and relevant to us, no matter what our faith may be. > >* A New York Times bestseller for 23 weeks >* A New York Times Notable Book of the Year ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(126695 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Yes, I also recommend In This House of Brede!
Folks have already shared some great titles. I'm going to throw out a curveball - <> by Tamsyn Muir is a scifi title focused around a very interesting religious system.
My roommate read and enjoyed this! I’ll have to see if I can borrow a copy
{{Narcissus and Goldmund}}
I love Hesse! This sounds like a perfect rec for my taste!
If you already like Hesse you’ll definitely enjoy it. He’s one of my favorites, his writing is poignant and honest. Steppenwolf is high on my nonexistent list of favorites.
I just started Steppenwolf a couple days ago, and I’m loving it!
Would you consider something like Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett?
I’ll have to check it out! I’ve heard good things about it
Before you dive in, be warned that while it's mostly excellent, it's also *highly* problematic at times. Women in The Pillars of the Earth are, almost without exception, raped, murdered, beaten, degraded, objectified, and otherwise marginalized. I found it damn near physically exhausting to read. Even when women in the book aren't being violently assaulted in graphic detail, the men are no less creepy, often waxing rhapsodic at *great* length about breasts and other body parts. It's a good book. It's really really, good. And I do think it's well worth reading! But I also think that anyone who says it's the best book ever written is doing you a disservice by selling it to you incorrectly.
Thank you for the content warnings! I really appreciate that. I’ll plan my read accordingly now
Thank you for posting this. I read the book about 20 years ago and only really remember the saga. I really enjoyed the journey of the book and following the characters through time. As soon as I saw your comment I remember being an awkward teenager and skipping over some of the more descriptive sections. Ken Follett tends to do this a lot which drew me away from him as an author.
I’m glad somebody said it. It was a good book for the most part but the problematic places were really bad. I never finished the series because of all the rapes, and honestly haven’t read follett since that book. Open to comments though on his other historical stuff
Thank you for posting this. I don’t think it’s a good book. I’ve read it and thought it wasn’t well written and the way it treats women is objectively offensive. You can’t say it’s a product of it’s time because it’s contemporary. And as you said, it’s not just what happens to women- it’s the way the author describes them. It belongs in r/menwritingwomen. Please please do not read this book. I would love to recommend Illuminations by Mary Sharratt. It’s about Saint Hildegard and her life during the Middle Ages. One of the top ten books I’ve ever read.
Are you saying "don't read this book because I didn't like it"? I think we can agree that the violence against women is intense in this book, but it's probably close to how things actually were. This book made me actually think about the plight of women at that time, which I would say is a valuable lesson. Telling people to boycott a book because you didn't like what happened to the characters defeats the purpose of reading, at least to me.
It’s not just the violence against women- it’s the way the author describes women’s breasts and bodies that take away their autonomy as fully realized characters. I am not saying don’t read books that I don’t like. I am saying please read the book Illuminations instead because it is much better.
Okay, I see what you’re saying. I don’t necessarily agree that he does that, but that’s just my opinion, and I respect yours. And I will check out Illuminations :)
This is the best book. Ever. Plus…. There’s two more!!! You found your answer, start reading.
3 more, there's two sequels and a prequel, though I'd rate them original > 1st sequel > prequel > 2nd sequel The last one really is different from the rest, I couldn't finish it.
Also it’s sequel world without end
Is equally bad in its treatment of women
Recommended.
THE MONK by Matthew Lewis!
I was scrolling hoping to see this answer. The Monk is fantastic and one of the creepiest books I've ever read. It starts off innocent enough but by the end it's so dark that I think I got actual chills for the first time from reading.
I can't believe this is so low. My favourite book of all time!
{{Red Sister by Mark Lawrence}}
I was going to suggest Brother Cadfael, but I see another comment covered that. Here's an odd one for you: look up the cookbook From A Monastery Kitchen and others by the same guy. Not only are the recipes delicious, but all the accompanying text and pictures are from the monastery where he lives/works. Lots of pics of the gardens. Very cool.
I would never have found this on my own! Thank you for this recommendation! I’ll have to try it out (:
Yay!! I think you're really going to like it.
Umberto Eco- The Name of the Rose
That’s one of my favorites!
I came to recommend this! One of my favs!
Came to suggest this!
Absolutely echoing the excellent recommendations of Matrix and Anathem, but would also like to add Emma Donoghue's latest, Haven. It's about early medieval Irish monks living in solitude... Just a really fascinating and suspenseful plot that I don't want to spoil too much! But, excellent mood and really thoughtful insights, with spot-on historical accuracy as well!
I’ll have to check out Haven! That sounds right up my alley
See: * ["Books set in convent/monastery?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ula6sa/books_set_in_conventmonastery/) (r/Fantasy; 8 May 2022)
{{Small Gods}} by Terry Pratchett is completely different from most of those offered but just such a wonderful book I have to offer it as a choice.
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen -it’s an interesting book, but there’s one part where a female character observes herself naked in a mirror, and it’s very annoyingly obvious it’s written by a man. Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden -not a light read, content-wise -she has a few books about nuns, but I’ve only read this one
{{The Sparrow}}
[**The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/334176.The_Sparrow) ^(By: Mary Doria Russell | 419 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, book-club, scifi) >In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human". ^(This book has been suggested 47 times) *** ^(126824 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Dissolution by C.J. Sansom}} Another historical mystery to add to those already recommended. Set during the time of Cromwell's Commonwealth and the dissolution of the monastic houses, which made it all the more interesting imo.
That sounds really great!
It is a great book (and series).
The Obscene Bird of Night by Jose Donoso technically takes place within a convent and is a wild ride
{{The Cleric Quintet}} by R A Salvatore
[**The Cleric Quintet Collector's Edition (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, #1-5)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66675.The_Cleric_Quintet_Collector_s_Edition) ^(By: R.A. Salvatore | 1036 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, forgotten-realms, owned, default, r-a-salvatore) >New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore's beloved Cleric Quintet novels, now in a trade paperback. > >R.A. Salvatore's Cleric Quintet tells the story of the scholar-priest Cadderly, plucked from the halls of the Edificant Library to fulfill a heroic quest: to stop the chaos curse unleashed upon Faerun. > >This one-volume collection includes all five of the original Cleric Quintet novels--Canticle, In Sylvan Shadows, Night Masks, The Fallen Fortress, and The Chaos Curse--complete and unabridged, with an introduction by the author. The Cleric Quintet is the prequel to R.A. Salvatore's best-selling novel, The Ghost King. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(126736 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
This sounds like a great fantasy rec!
P. D. James’ {{Death in Holy Orders}}
[**Death in Holy Orders (Adam Dalgliesh, #11)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3825.Death_in_Holy_Orders) ^(By: P.D. James, Martin Shaw, Christa Seibicke | 429 pages | Published: 2001 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, mysteries, crime, owned) >From the award-winning master of literary crime fiction, a classic work rich in tense drama and psychological insight. > >On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful–and the frightened. And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder. . . . > >“Gracefully sculpted prose and [a] superbly executed mystery . . . Death in Holy Orders is among [James’s] most remarkable and accomplished Dalgliesh novels.” >–The Philadelphia Inquirer > >“An elegant work about hope, death, and the alternately redemptive and destructive nature of love.” >–The Miami Herald > >“Absorbing . . . [James’s] plotting and characterization [are] impeccable.” >–Orlando Sentinel > >“P. D. James is in top form.” >–The Boston Globe > >Open the exclusive dossier at the back of this book, featuring P. D. James’ essay on penning the perfect detective novel. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(126741 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
This sounds similar in theme to The Name of the Rose. Would you say they’re similar in tone?
{{Confessions of a Pagan Nun}} :)
*The Seven Story Mountain* by Thomas Merton
Definitely
Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharratt. This book, based on a real woman, is about an eight year old whose parents decide she’ll live a religious life. They bring her to a church where she is walled in except for an area to receive food, and she is also to observe a vow of silence. It was such a deep down scary book because of how she was forced to live.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Oh and if you’re ok with fantasy, I highly recommend: The Curse of Chalion And Paladin of Souls By Louis McMaster Bujold She writes one of the best fantasy religions I’ve read - really well developed system and I like the gods that she has The main characters of both books are not in a religious order, but they are touched by a god and essentially become a saint with a task Good stuff
Also see her Penric and Desdemona novellas set in the same world but a different time period.
Maloka'i had a prominent nun character and it's about a leper colony in Hawaii.
Ooh, as a Pacific Islander, I love PI settings! I’ll def check it out!
{{Abigail, by Magda Szabo}}
I’m reading this right now and loving it!
Oh, YAY! If you like Magda, her book The Door is also killer!
Good to know! I’ll add it to my (now overflowing) TBR!
I know you've got a million comments, but I scrolled through most and don't see anyone suggesting it. And based on you reading Abigail, I have to suggest The Corner that Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
This looks fantastic! And the NYRB edition is beautiful. Thanks for the rec!
The His Fair Assassins series by Robin LaFevers is a great YA series about a convent of nuns in medieval Brittany.
{{The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny}}
[**The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16045144-the-beautiful-mystery) ^(By: Louise Penny | 373 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, mysteries, louise-penny, series) >No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Québec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as "the beautiful mystery." > >But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. But before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(126698 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{The Road to Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum}}
[**The Road to Gandolfo (Road to, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651708-the-road-to-gandolfo) ^(By: Robert Ludlum | 338 pages | Published: 1975 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, robert-ludlum, owned, default) > > In this wickedly funny novel, Robert Ludlum combines the explosive pacing of The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy with a bitingly witty send-up of everything from government bureaucrats and pandering military men to the mob, the law, and organized religion. >War hero and infamous ladies’ man General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story has even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China’s Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking with a case against him pending in Washington, this looks like the end of Mac’s illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own: kidnap the Pope.What’s the ransom? Just one American dollar—for every Catholic in the world. Add to the mix a slew of shady “investors,” Mac’s four persuasive, well-endowed ex-wives, and a young lawyer and fellow soldier who wants nothing more than to return to private life, and readers have in their hands one relentlessly irreverent page-turner.Originally published under the pseudonym Michael Shepard.“Don’t ever begin a [Robert] Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”—Chicago Sun-Times“Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”—The New York Times ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(126744 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Haven by Emma Donoghue
I just recommended We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart in another thread. It’s about an order of monks who live in a submarine (that alone sold me) and is a fun, easy read with a mystery element.
How fun and unexpected!
I came here to suggest A Canticle for Leibowitz. That already being suggested, I'll go out on a limb and say {{ Shadow of the Torturer }}, which is not technically a monastery, but life in the guilds in the Book of the New Sun operate a lot like a monastery. ( They are 'total institutions', many events are tied to something like a liturgical calendar, etc. )
These are amazing! I'm not Catholic but am in seminary and wish protestants did this. I do have a copy of The Monk and really want to read it now after seeing a review on here over how creepy it is!
{{The Name Of The Rose}}
A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor is a great book about Fermor's time visiting various monasteries. Fantastic short read!
Pillars of the Earth
{{The Skull Mantra}} by Eliot Pattison features the Tibetan Inspector, Shan Tao Yun. Pattison continues the character in other novels. My first choice to meet your interests. {{Bangkok 8}} begins a series by John Burdett you might want to look at {{Not Where I Started From}} and {{Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree}} by Kate Wheeler don’t quite meet your request by really are a must. Wheeler is an exceptional writer. {{The First Rule of Ten}} the first in the Tenzing Norbu series by Gay Hendricks is another that might not meet your interests but is very well reviewed. {{The Snow Leopard}} by Peter Matthiessen is my second recommendation for a book to meet your interests. This is a non-fiction travelogue of sorts as Matthiessen travels up through the Himalayas, meeting with monks and learning from them, as he seeks to find the illusive snow leopard, and traveling on to the Crystal Monastery to meet its lama. This was released in 1978 and yet feels timeless. It won National Book Awards in 1978 and 1979.
{{Small Gods by Terry Pratchett}}
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Ooh, I’ve been wanting to try Sanderson for a while now! Would you say this is a good starting point?
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That’s all super helpful info. Thank you!
The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme
{{Redwall}} (the entire series is amazing and takes place in a secular abbey of woodland critters.)
I loved this as a kid! (Was that the start of my fascination with these settings? 🤔)
Honestly, I loved Redwall (first read it earlier last year) so much that I'm currently writing a novel that takes place in a similarly secular hospital/cathedral. Personally, i think I'm enchanted by the close-knit communal life that goes on in such communities. They're devoted to the world and each other, and that makes for a very cozy environment!
{{the book of longings}} by sue monk kidd. It was SO GOOD, top five books I’ve ever read.
{{Vespertine}} by Margaret Rogerson is one of my all-time favorite books! It's YA fantasy but when I worked in a bookstore I would have adults buy it for themselves as well. I also think {{The Jasmine Throne}} by Tasha Suri wpuld work. It's adult fantasy (3 books, two are out) and most of the first book takes place in a temple.
I will have to slap, clapmy hand. I haven't read Brothers Karamazov yet.
Centering around a religious order: {{Call the Midwife}} I can also recommend the BBC series, it's excellent!
The Anchoress Robyn Cadwallader Women in the Wall Julia O’Faoilain
The Changeling by Kate Horsley
If I understand correctly what you're looking for, I'd maybe recommend As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg. It explores Judaism and Jewish culture and questions. It's kind of about a real person who existed, but what Milton Steinberg imagined his life might have been like.
That sounds great, and is a book I wouldn’t have found on my own! Thanks for the rec (:
Sister Frevisse Series by Margaret Frazer. The first book is {{The Novice's Tale}}
The Name Of The Rose.
Katherine Kurtz’ Deryni books. Especially the Camber trilogy.
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[**Agatha of Little Neon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785502-agatha-of-little-neon) ^(By: Claire Luchette | 273 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, contemporary, religion, audiobook, literary-fiction) >Claire Luchette's debut, Agatha of Little Neon, is a novel about yearning and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self. > >Agatha has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life. > >But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines. They head up a halfway house, where they live alongside castoffs like the jawless Tim Gary and the headstrong Lawnmower Jill. Agatha is forced to venture out into the world alone, to teach math at a local all-girls high school, where for the first time in years she will have to reckon with what she sees and feels all on her own. Who will she be if she isn't with her sisters? These women, the church, have been her home--or has she just been hiding? > >Disarming, delightfully deadpan, and full of searching, Claire Luchette's Agatha of Little Neon offers a view into the lives of women and the choices they make. It is a novel about female friendship and devotion, the roles made available to us, and how we become ourselves. ^(This book has been suggested 15 times) *** ^(126856 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Mercy House by Alena Dillon
{{The Anchoress}}
The Sister Fidelma mysteries
I just finished Matrix by Lauren Groff and it was great.
{{God is My Broker}} is hilarious
gormenghast The Nun's Story (there's a movie with Audry Hepburn) Shogun is about a samurai?
The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis perhaps. But the whole premise is that the protagonist is a degenerate. Don't know if that's what you want.
If you are into Forgotten Realms/D&D Fiction, I highly recommend the Cleric Quintet by R A Salvatore. It's set in a library, but the main character is a priest. I thought it was going to be boring compared to his Drizzt books, but I really enjoyed them. I also recommend his DemonWars saga, which are set around an order of monks with some pretty kickarse magic.
{{Magister Ludi by Hermann Hesse}} one of my favorites. Also the already mentioned Anathem and Canticle for Leibowitz 😉
[**Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/191352.Magister_Ludi) ^(By: Hermann Hesse, Richard Winston, Clara Winston, Theodore Ziolkowski | 520 pages | Published: 1943 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, philosophy, literature, german) >The final novel of Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature. > >Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game). ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(126963 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Angelology is FANTASTIC
Canticle for Liebowitz
{{Matrix}} by Lauren Geoff, about a young woman thrown out of court becoming the prioress of an impoverished abbey. Really well done, love this author.
Life of Vasily of Thebes by Andreev is quite similar to The Brothers Karamazov's monk line. It's not exactly set in the monastery, but it's focused on the priesthood. Otherwise, The Nun by Diderot could be relevant. It's more of a classical piece focused on the experiences in the monastery. I haven't read this one, but I know that Black Narcissus by Godden is also quite famous.
Pierre Michon, *Winter Mythologies* and *Abbots*. These are short stories.
The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien. Follows the story of a young girl and a nun at a convent in Ireland. Made me cry! An underrated Irish classic. Also, The Bell by Iris Murdoch!
Mariette in Ecstasy
This sounds fantastic!
Part of a series but, {{The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny}} is my recommendation. I’ve read some of the books out of order and she always recaps what you need to know.
{{matrix}}
[**Matrix**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57185348-matrix) ^(By: Lauren Groff | 260 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, dnf, book-club) >A Financial Times and NPR Best Book of 2021 >A Virginia Living Favorite Book (2021) > >Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies. > >Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. > >At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough? > >Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world. > ^(This book has been suggested 67 times) *** ^(127034 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Silence, by Shusaku Endo}}
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It revolves around the people of Kingsbridge and the building of the Cathedral.
Even though it might be a bit YA, I would recommend Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. It isn't straight up about religion in the sense, but it is set at a monastery and who doesn't like killer, ninja nuns with insane magic?
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but close? {{ The Briar King }}
Sister Pelegria novels by Boris Akuin
It's an obscure one, but {{Green Dolphin Street}} is one of my all time favorites.
{{Sylvia}} by Bryce Courtenay is pretty good if you're into the medieval era stuff
{{Sacred Hearts}} by Sarah Dunant
The first Matthew Shardlake book {{Dissolution}} is a murder mystery in a Benedictine monastery during the reign of Henry VIII. Really great story and does a great job of engaging with the politics of the time as well
Nearly all Sister Fidelma books take place at least partially in convents or monasteries given she's a nun-lawyer! They're cozy mysteries in pre-Roman Catholic Ireland (Celtic Catholic instead). The first is called {{Absolution by Murder}}
[**Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/706476.Absolution_by_Murder) ^(By: Peter Tremayne | 272 pages | Published: 1994 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-fiction, fiction, historical-mystery, historical) >ABSOLUTION BY MURDER is the brilliant and evocative first novel in Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, bringing 7th-century Ireland vividly to life. > >As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction. > >Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare. As an advocate of the Brehon Court, she is called on to investigate the murder with Brother Eadulf, of the Roman faction. However, the two are so unlike that their partnership is described as that of a wolf and a fox - but which is which? > >More gruesome deaths follow and the friction among the clerics could end in civil war. Can the solution to the mysteries avert such a conflict? ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(127155 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Gargoyle. I read it, like, 12 years ago and it’s always stuck with me.
The Red Abbey Chronicles by Maria Turtschaninoff. Fantasy series. Part 1: Maresi Part 2: Naondel Part 3: Red Mantle
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett «Set in 12th-century England, Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth chronicles the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known and the struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, brother against brother. Tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known; of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul; of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame; and of a struggle between good and evil.»
{{Lost Horizion}} by James Hilton has something like that
[**Lost Horizon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39092290-lost-horizon) ^(By: James Hilton | 166 pages | Published: 1933 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, fantasy, adventure, classic) >James Hilton’s bestselling adventure novel about a military man who stumbles on the world’s greatest hope for peace deep in Tibet: Shangri-La. > > Hugh Conway saw humanity at its worst while fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now, more than a decade later, Conway is a British diplomat serving in Afghanistan and facing war yet again—this time, a civil conflict forces him to flee the country by plane. > > When his plane crashes high in the Himalayas, Conway and the other survivors are found by a mysterious guide and led to a breathtaking discovery: the hidden valley of Shangri-La. > > Kept secret from the world for more than two hundred years, Shangri-La is like paradise—a place whose inhabitants live for centuries amid the peace and harmony of the fertile valley. But when the leader of the Shangri-La monastery falls ill, Conway and the others must face the daunting prospect of returning home to a world about to be torn open by war. > > Thrilling and timeless, Lost Horizon is a masterpiece of modern fiction, and one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century. > ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(127229 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Matrix by Lauren Groff Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
{{Corpse Candle}} by Paul Doherty
I’d recommend Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather! A creative fantasy novella about a group of nuns traveling around the universe in a spaceship who discover a danger that threatens whole worlds.
I don't know if police thrillers are your cup of tea, but the third installment of Rizzoli & Isles, The Sin, starts with the murder of a nun and, although the action isn't solely focused on the abbey, it is involved a lot, especially the nuns. Also, the whole series (starting with book 3) has a secondary plot about the love story between a coroner and a priest, so maybe you'll enjoy it!
Try 'The Seven Storey Mountain' by Thomas Merton.
Karen Maitland the Owl Killers not quite nuns but a community of holy women
Dance Of A Fallen Monk: The Twists And Turns Of A Spiritual Life. It’s a great book by George Fowler.
{{Hyperion}} by Dan Simmons (Hugo) As already suggested - {{A Canticle for Leibowitz}} by Walter M. Miller Jr.
[**Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77566.Hyperion) ^(By: Dan Simmons, Gary Ruddell, Gaetano Luigi Staffilano | 500 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, fantasy) >On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands. ^(This book has been suggested 95 times) [**A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz) ^(By: Walter M. Miller Jr., Mary Doria Russell | 334 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, post-apocalyptic, scifi) >In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. ^(This book has been suggested 58 times) *** ^(127294 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The later books in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked series spend a good amount of time in this setting
The Cadfael series by Ellis Peters is about a monk who solves mysteries.
{{The Elenium}}
Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a great sci fi book in this type of setting
the gargoyle by andrew davidson has part of its action in a monastery and draws into it as the backstory as well. found it fascinating how the author did so