Lying Awake

Mark Salzman's Lying Awake is a finely wrought gem that plumbs the depths of one woman's soul, and in so doing raises salient questions about the power-and price-of faith.

Sister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 10/09/2001
ISBN: 9780375706066
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.15h x 5.16w x 0.52d

Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 09/21/2001 pg. 76
BookPage 10/01/2001 pg. 24
New York Times 10/14/2001 pg. 32
New York Times 12/02/2001 pg. 89