NCW Libraries

The Khmer temples pepper the Cambodian jungle, traces of a faded, powerful empire. Everywhere they go, they encounter them, pyramidal or circular, built on the ground or water, simple offering temples or large monasteries surrounded by banisters shaped like a serpent saddled by angels and demons. North of Siem Rep is the most interesting temples of the area, superbly decorated, or built-in riverbeds or lost in the jungle to the point that their exploration...

Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.

When Dylan Fielding, celebrated contemporary visual artist, becomes Br. Thomas Augustine, novice at Our Lady of the Pines monastery, he finds delight not only in the shock his choice causes everyone around him but—to his own surprise—in the rhythms of the life itself. Shortly before he solidifies a lifelong commitment to the community, a traumatic encounter with an abusive priest plunges Thomas Augustine into terror and doubt. Reeling...

Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.

"An unforgettable debut novel from an award-winning writer: a lively, daring ghost story about a dead teen girl who falls in love with a female writer who has no idea she exists. In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in childbirth in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she's...

'The genius of Japanese carpentry' tells the story of the 1200-year-old Yakushiji monastery in Nara and the dedicated modern-day craftsmen who are working to restore what has been lost to the depredations of time, fire, and warfare. Although the full restoration will not be completed until 2030, one of the main temples, the Picture Hall, has been completely reconstructed employing the same woodworking technology used to create the original building....

Nicholas Vreeland walked away from a worldly life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Grandson of legendary Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, and trained by Irving Penn to become a photographer, Nicholas' life changed drastically upon meeting a Tibetan master, one of the teachers of the Dalai Lama.

"14th century Yorkshire: the time of Chaucer. Has Peregrine been broken? Injured in an attack by old adversaries, Father Peregrine transforms from a steely, articulate, impressive leader into a humbled, crippled, wise mentor. Relying on the kindness of his fellow monks, the fiercely independent, hawkish abbot begins to regain his feet. But he faces a fresh challenge. The Augustinian Priory of St. Dunstan lies three days' ride to the southwest, the...

In the middle of her vibrant Mexican town, amid good friends, margaritas at sunset, salsa, yoga, mariachis, even before the rapist arrived, a midlife crisis had been brewing. Failed relationships, worn-out dreams, and wavering religous beliefs had tinged her life with despair, flat-lined it to gray. No longer sustained by the religious practices that had nourished her for years, she missed God and had been searching on the Internet for a monastery...

Marcelino is an orphan who grows up in a monastery. One day when he eats his small meal in a room full of old things he gives a piece of his bread to an old wooden Jesus figure - and indeed it takes the bread and eats it. Getting a wish granted for his donation, Marcelino wishes to see his mother.