This book by Karen Armstrong is a bit different from the general vein of books that I review.
While her most popular work is definitely A History of God. this book explores her personal journey. It is a first-person narrative biography, and it is an example of a growing genre: deconversion. Armstrong spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun, but this volume is not exactly a story of leaving her religious order.
The Spiral Staircase is Armstrong’s narrative of finding a place in the world after her world came crashing down around her. She artfully weaves a story around her troubled religious faith, battle with undiagnosed epilepsy, academic successes and failures, and eventual discovery of a type of faith that doesn’t follow the same flow as traditional forms.
This book is for anyone who has doubted…or has had her/his life turned upside down with no point of reference…no anchor. I would also recommend this book very strongly to anyone who has battled with depression…so he/she can know that one can emerge on the other side.