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Book Summary and Reviews of An Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson

An Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson

An Unquenchable Thirst

Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life

by Mary Johnson

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  • Aug 2011, 544 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

At seventeen, Mary Johnson saw Mother Teresa's face on the cover of Time and experienced her calling. Eighteen months later, she entered a convent in the South Bronx to begin her religious training. Not without difficulty, this bright, independent-minded Texas teenager eventually adapted to the sisters' austere life of poverty and devotion, and in time became close to Mother Teresa herself. Still, beneath the white and blue sari beat the heart of an ordinary young woman facing the struggles we all share - the desire for love and connection, meaning and identity. During her twenty years with the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Donata, as she was known, grappled with her faith, her sexuality, the politics of the order, and her complicated relationship with Mother Teresa. Eventually, she left the church to find her own path - one that led to love and herself.

Provocative, profound, emotionally charged, and sure to be controversial, An Unquenchable Thirst presents a rare, privileged view of  Mother Teresa. At the same time, it is a unique and magnificent memoir of self-discovery, destined to be a classic.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. [Readers] will find themselves transported into another world by this powerful, revealing memoir.... exceptional." - Kirkus Reviews

"Johnson presents a remarkable, elegant spiritual memoir showcasing her journey, a fascinating view inside the world of Mother Teresa's organization, and Johnson's own 'dark night of the soul.'" - Library Journal

"Johnson 'recreated' the first half of her story, going back to her adolescence and her initial decade as a nun, from her memories; it's tedious compared to the intense, believable second half that includes her last years of working with Mother Theresa." - Publishers Weekly

This information about An Unquenchable Thirst was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Mary G

The way I spent 2 days of my life
Couldn't put it down. At more than 500 pages, Johnson's "...Thirst" first struck me as one I'd taste here and there and toss aside; I read every word. While it is a memoir of a young girl's 20 years in religious life, it is more importantly a book about the essence of humanity and the power - perhaps the egos - of those who strive to control, even suppress it. Though, of course, the reader is dependent on the author's own impressions and interpretations, it is somehow refreshing to meet a Mother Teresa and suspect that she, too, is human. It is the "dark night of the soul", so prevalent in the lives of the beatified, but told here as it battered a modern young girl struggling to find her God in an obedience which demanded repression of her emotions, her honest expectations, her god-given gifts. As I read of her deprivation of conscience, of judgement, of human love, I wondered if the real question is why it took her 20 years to reclaim her humanity. While we won't all be happy with the path she finally took, I, for one, wish her well on her search.

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Author Information

Mary Johnson

Mary Johnson joined the Missionaries of Charity, the group commonly known as the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, at age 19. Mother Teresa sent Mary to study theology at Regina Mundi, a pontifical institute aggregated to the Gregorian University in Rome, where she received a diploma in religious studies, summa cum laude. After leaving the sisters in 1997, Johnson completed a BA in English and subsequently received an MFA in creative writing. She currently teaches creative writing and Italian to adults and is Creative Director of A Room of Her Own Foundation's retreats for women writers. Visit her online at www.maryjohnson.com.

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