Six women mystics, from the Age of Faith comes this work of spiritual rediscovery, casting light on six women mystics who teach us that "the experience with God is inexhaustible." Extensively researched, Enduring Grace draws from actual letters, teachings, and sacred poetry of these real historical figures to portray how God can enter the life of anyone and help create divinity in flesh and blood form. Author Carol Flinders combs rare archival sources and recently discovered documents to take us to the very heart of feminine mystical experience. She documents the spiritual journeys of Julian of Norwich, St. Clare of Assisi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Teresa of Avila, and others. As Flinders brings these women to life, we feel their strength and wisdom flowing toward us across the ages – and we welcome Enduring Grace into our own lives.

Amazon.com Review
It's deeply and beautifully appropriate that this book by the author of the classic cookbook Laurel's Kitchen should begin with a quote from one of our greatest writers on food, M.F.K. Fisher. "It seems to me," Fisher writes, "that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it...." So too with Carol Flinders. Her preface describes her own journey from the kitchen to this very personal series of reflections on these seven women mystics (Saint Clare of Assisi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Catherine of Genoa, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint Therese of Lisieux), in each case giving us both an intimate and yet objective sense of the person and of her spirituality. Writing with grace, in a style that is both personal and informed (Flinders has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Berkeley), Flinders brings to this project a scholar's authority along with a very large heart. The result is a real gift: a delightful introduction to these extraordinary women. --Doug Thorpe