Sister Catherine, prioress at the underground No Name Convent, has a secret. She might waft through the halls in the same aubergine robe as the other self-styled “nuns”—a mélange of quirky contemplative women seeking to pursue God away from the world—but it’s all a fake. She has lost her connection with the Divine. As Catherine tries to regain her spiritual footing, she clandestinely churns out bodice-ripper novels under the name of Lacy Dominion to keep the “convent” afloat financially.
Sister Mary Margaret, 90 and formerly a real nun, is fast becoming a media darling with her beatific Facebook selfies and posts about wild, enigmatic “visions” that sound a lot like the Second Coming, starring herself. Catherine leaps to defend the convent’s peace and privacy, but Silicon Valley refugee Sister Teresa sees her chance to wrest control of the convent from Catherine, make them a popular stop on the California Consciousness Circuit, and become a minor guru. Also in the mix are pickleball-addicted Sister Julian; Sister Heather, the former head witch at Moonpath Wymen’s Retreat; and Hindu Sister Gemma, who replicates a Himalayan cave in her cell.
Can Catherine keep control of the convent? Should she? Amid the chaos, she finds what is really important in life.
Praise for Chaos At The No Name Convent
A fast, fun, uplifting read.
—Adair Lara, author of Naked, Drunk, and Writing
These oddball “nuns” draw us into the conflicts, chaos, and comedy of their lives. A “prioress” who has lost her God, a newly-clean refugee from Silicon Valley trying to seize power, a pickleball addict, a former coven CEO, and a 90-year-old with visions of the Second Coming swirl around one another until everybody finds her best place in this entertaining and intriguing collage. A dive into the chaos when everybody’s holy mask cracks at the same time; a sly look at the cacophony of “consciousness” organizations; and a fast-paced tour of where and how one woman finds her God. Set in San Francisco and Sonoma, this book captivated me and made me think.
—Marsh Rose, author of Escape Routes and Lies and Love in Alaska
This is a great read with an inspiring message just beneath the surface. Catherine travels a tough spiritual passage, but in the spirit of Rosalind Russell. Mary Margaret may be 90 and intermittently off the rails, but we live inside her zeal as she draws media attention for her Facebook posts about her visions. We share Teresa’s excitement as she latches onto Mary Margaret’s PR star and plots to shatter the “convent’s” peace and serenity by hawking it as a Consciousness Circuit stopover. It seems impossible that everyone will get what she wants, but somehow they do. And we do, too. Some fun, some reflection, and a new look at personal freedom.
—Ruth C. Chambers, author of The Receding Tide
WRITING CHAOS AT THE NO NAME CONVENT
I began Chaos one morning during Covid when I had nothing to send to my writing partner, and it just kept popping onto the page. I’d wake up in the mornings thinking of things that must have happened at the No Name Convent and how the various “nuns” would have reacted, and find myself snickering as I threw on a robe and stumbled toward the coffee maker, then the computer. It was delightful to be writing something that was fun but that also explored, if not a Dark Night, at least a Dim Night of the Soul. I took courage from how Catherine handled her dilemma, and came to think of these quirky convent-dwellers as my friends.
Only after the book was up on Amazon did I realize that the Chasing Grace protagonist is Cathy, the Change or Die protagonist is Cat, and the Chaos at the No Name Convent protagonist is Catherine. I have no idea what this means.