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The Nun's Story

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 360 ratings · 36 reviews

The lead character of the book, Sister Luke (pre-convent name Gabrielle Van Der Mal), finds her faith tested in Africa where she finds herself at odds with headstrong Dr. Fortunati, operator of a remote Congo hospital, with whom she gradually builds respect, and again during World War II, when she is ordered not to take sides. Ultimately, Sister Luke is forced to decide wh...more

Hardcover, 339 pages

Published June 1956 by Little, Brown and Company

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Catholic Fiction

113th out of 240 books — 150 voters

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Best of 1956

21st out of 49 books — 23 voters

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Oct 15, 2012 Amanda Mae rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

Oh. *hand to chest* What a bittersweet story. I've loved the Audrey Hepburn movie for years, and was so pleased to find this out-of-print title at my library. (The copy was acquired in the 1950s.) I was surprised that the movie stayed so close to the book.

Nuns have always fascinated me. I think that fascination may have stemmed from seeing this film when I was young, and seeing the struggles these women of God go through in their quest for Christ-like perfection. There's no doubt some Catholic...more Oh. *hand to chest* What a bittersweet story. I've loved the Audrey Hepburn movie for years, and was so pleased to find this out-of-print title at my library. (The copy was acquired in the 1950s.) I was surprised that the movie stayed so close to the book.

Nuns have always fascinated me. I think that fascination may have stemmed from seeing this film when I was young, and seeing the struggles these women of God go through in their quest for Christ-like perfection. There's no doubt some Catholic heritage in my family, but you'd have to go way way back to find it. Nevertheless, I hold deep respect for these women who give up the world, give up their families and opportunities to have their own families, and devote their lives to service in this way. We follow Gabrielle Van Der Mal as she enters a Belgian convent at a tender age, and progresses through the religious life, hoping to eventually be posted as a missionary in the Congo. A trained and talented nurse, she is professionally capable in all her posts, but the spiritual aspects of her life seem to hold her back. She struggles, and finds many wonderful spiritual leaders around her who admirably try to guide her. When she finally does make it to the Congo, you know she has found her Heaven on earth. And though the 1950s descriptions of colonial Congo are not PC, there is still a tenderness and great reverence for the area portrayed through Sister Luke. But of course, that would not be the end of this story. World wars have a way of messing up the storybook endings.

I admit, I cried at the end. I cry at the end of the film. But in the film you don't hear all of Sister Luke's internal dialogue, which is heartbreaking.

I found this book very contemplative, especially when holding up the nun's Rule standards against my own, and comparing how these Catholic sisters interpret scripture against what I think, and my thoughts. It may take a certain kind of person in a certain kind of mood to read The Nun's Story, but oh, I do recommend it. (less)

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Jun 06, 2012 Deyanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, memoir

After just finishing watching the movie with Audrey Hepburn, I remembered that I have this out-of-print book on my bookshelves. I was surprised at how closely the movie followed the book. There were lines directly from the text. Amazed and awed, I acknowledge women who choose a nun's life. It definitely is not an easy existence. Yes, the novel portrays the strict rules and the unflinching important of obedience, but I did not feel that is was a derogatory treatise on the Catholic Church.

This dec...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Vivian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Gabrielle Van der Mal, educated, refined, the daughter of a well-to-do doctor in Belgium determines to put her feet on the path of becoming a nun. With her we enter the Mother House. With her we experience the first day, week, month, year of the journey from novice to nun. She hopes to become a surgical nurse and serve in Africa along the Congo. Indeed, she is sent to school to be trained, but is encouraged by her superior to fail the examination so as not to attract untoward attention, acclaim,...more Gabrielle Van der Mal, educated, refined, the daughter of a well-to-do doctor in Belgium determines to put her feet on the path of becoming a nun. With her we enter the Mother House. With her we experience the first day, week, month, year of the journey from novice to nun. She hopes to become a surgical nurse and serve in Africa along the Congo. Indeed, she is sent to school to be trained, but is encouraged by her superior to fail the examination so as not to attract untoward attention, acclaim, and even jealousy from other student nuns. This is just one of the many struggles we experience with Gabrielle, who is now Sister Luke.

Thus follows the fascinating, sometimes gripping, journey of Sister Luke.

In 1959 this story was brought to the screen starring Audrey Hepburn, which I now want to watch, having enjoyed the book.

Just a few vocabulary notes for me:
p.229 Atavisms (wikipedia def... is the tendency to revert to ancestral type. In biology, an atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations before.[2] Atavisms can occur in several ways. One way is when genes for previously existing phenotypical features are preserved in DNA, and these become expressed through a mutation that either knock out the overriding genes for the new traits or make the old traits override the new one. A number of traits can vary as a result of shortening of the fetal development of a trait (neoteny) or by prolongation of the same. In such a case, a shift in the time a trait is allowed to develop before it is fixed can bring forth an ancestral phenotype.[3])

in context of book..."The drama of the expanding Congo touched off a patriotic pride she never knew she had, but accepted tranquilly now as one of those atavisms which every nun brought to the convent from her former life and never quite outgrew."

p.236 somnambulists (wikipedia def... is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family.[2] Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness. )

in context of book..."There was a stupefaction in all their voices as they made the responses and their gestures seemed dreamy and thoughtless, like those of somnambulists hesitating on the edge of an abyss."

p.288 Quisling (wikipedia def...(Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈkʋɪsˈlɪŋ]; English: /ˈkwɪzlɪŋ/) is a term used in reference to fascist and collaborationist political parties and military and paramilitary forces in occupied Allied countries which collaborated with Axis occupiers in World War II, as well as for their members and other collaborators.)

in context of book..."The Belgian collaborators were called Quislings, a word Sister Luke pondered and could not solve because she had never heard that just before the blitz which captured her own country in eighteen days there had been a preparatory blitz that had subdued Norway. One of her students told her who Quisling of Norway was and how the hated name had come into their own language as a proper noun everybody understood."

(less)

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Sep 26, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childhoodfavorites, literaryfiction

I was totally obsessed with this book in junior high! Never have I seen such a complete and detailed look into the life of a nun! This book discusses everything in detail, from the daily schedule right down to their underwear. As you follow Sister Luke from her last night outside the convent through her novitiate and into her medical training and then her life of service, you are absolutely gripped by her story. The dedication that she had to serving her fellow man, even when she disagreed with...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Kerry Letheby rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Nun’s Story by Kathryn Hulme is an absorbing tale of one woman’s inner struggle with pride as she battles to live out her deep-seated beliefs and convictions in her life as a nun. The path to God is not an easy one, living twenty-four hours a day in a religious community demanding strict, constant and honest monitoring of one’s inner life and thoughts. Gabrielle’s personal honesty and recognition of her shortcomings combine to make her personal pilgrimage toward humility seem as an unassaila...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Susan Sink rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I loved this book. For anyone who is interested in why someone would choose to be a nun and what can be gained by being formed in such a discipline, this book is a serious consideration. It takes the community's faith seriously and also takes seriously the difficulties of living that faith as a nun, a nurse, a woman, in the "real world." The early part of the book is somewhat slow and internal, reflective of the life of discipline found during the first years of formation in the convent. This is...more

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Jun 09, 2008 Natalie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book after seeing the movie (with Audrey Hepburn) one random afternoon. I don't know why it appeals to me so much, but I've reread it at least four times. I love the level of detail about the life of a nun-in-training, and the struggles of faith and character Sister Luke undergoes.

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Feb 08, 2013 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Nun's Story is a delight to read and is constantly on my mind even when it isn't in my hand. The plot has a fresh idea of a nun's perspective. The author achieves an excellent point of how different the world looks from a nun's window. That made me reflect how if different for a nun, why not consider how it is different for each individual. I was drawn completely into the story, feeling like I was walking along side the nun, my own feelings hurt when a passer by would callously yell out "The...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Charlotte Hilsdon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ok so overall I enjoyed this book. I found it in a very old book store and the lady suggested it to me as a 'sad but wonderful' read.
The fact The Nun's Story is based on Kathryn Hulme's own experience with a nun and inspired by her story gives it a lot more weight. You can get even more emotionally attached and sympathise with her struggles than you would have done anyway.
The only thing with this is that I felt it took a long time to get going. It wasn't until maybe midway I was really into it...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Katie Eckerson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This has been my favorite book for years! I wish there was a sequel. I identify with Sister Luke in so many ways, though I have never attempted to be a nun. Her strength and self-examination are tremendous.

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Feb 24, 2011 Noel Thingvall rated it 4 of 5 stars

PROS: The main character is deep, strong, and believably conflicted. I'm fascinated by how the central conflict of the story isn't one of faith, but rather the restricting institutionalization of faith. Some of the supporting characters are thinly drawn, but in a way that feels real in a life where events and faces blur together, and the ones that stand out are memorable. It's an honest, captivating, meticulous character study.

CONS: Can be a little dry and caught up in the details at times. The...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

This follows a nun from the moment she leaves her family in the parlor of the convent through 17 years of personal and spiritual struggles to lead a life in the Holy Order according to her vows. We follow her life through her novitiate, to the Congo and struggling to forgive her enemy during WWII. After reading this excellent book, I believe it was made into a movie years back with Audrey Hepburn, I think. It is an interesting examination of spiritual issues and the constant inner struggle to li...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Kyrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian, religion

I first read the story of Sister Luke in a Reader's Digest Condensed book. I liked it so much I had to find the full length version. Something about her kicking against the restraints of the religious life that gave her so much just echoed in me. Might have had something to do with my desire to become a nun in my teen years, too.
Her story of trying to conform to the convent, of the freedom of working on mission in Africa, and then the war years and dealing with the Germans, was fascinating to m...more

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Jul 01, 2009 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Anna by: Alisse

P.S. I just learned that Audrey Hepburn starred in the 1959 movie version of this book. Warning, the movie trailer spoils the ending... I've got to check it out!

One of the best friends I met on my mission was a Spanish nun/nurse, Sister Maria, who worked in a southern Madagascar leper colony for 20 years and, when I met her, was working at a hospital in Antananarivo. After my mission, Matt and I visited her in Majorca, where she was staying with her family for a short vacation. A couple of years...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Wayne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who idealises monastic life.

Recommended to Wayne by: the wonderful Audrey Hepburn movie.

Shelves: re-reads, memoirs-biography, religion, movie-seen-as-well

I saw this as a film, a wonderful rendition, in 1959 when it was first released.

The next time I saw it almost ten years later, I too was in a monastery, as a monk or priest-to-be. I was struggling with my belief and finally left, a reluctant atheist.I can clearly remember after the film, asking my companion monk why he thought Sister Luke had left her religious order.His reply was that she had lost her vocation.I was startled.
Still am!!

To me, Sister Luke's religious order could no longer conta...more I saw this as a film, a wonderful rendition, in 1959 when it was first released.

The next time I saw it almost ten years later, I too was in a monastery, as a monk or priest-to-be. I was struggling with my belief and finally left, a reluctant atheist.I can clearly remember after the film, asking my companion monk why he thought Sister Luke had left her religious order.His reply was that she had lost her vocation.I was startled.
Still am!!

To me, Sister Luke's religious order could no longer contain her. She was too much of a realist. She had neither lost her faith or her vocation.She had just kept growing and refused to stop.I, myself, felt that I was growing and regardless of the then bitter pill of atheism, with no Dawkins or Hitchens to support me - there were no popular atheists writing in those days - I followed my reasoned and reasonable doubts right out the Catholic Church's Front Door. I had sought help- to be told by one priest that my atheism was a big problem to me, but NOT a big problem. Another told me to separate my philosophical and theological worlds, as if two contradictory truths could co-exist in one mind.

I hope Sister Luke never regretted her chosen path. Me, I have no regrets about entering the monastery and absolutely none about leaving.
And none about my atheism which I now wear comfortably. Today I still can say with a sense of relief:"Thank God I left and Thank God I'm an atheist."(And She says:"That's OK ,mate.")

Sister Luke is a novel based on fact. Kathryn Hulme took her story from a real Belgian nun who in fact felt a deep nostalgia for her convent days. So like me she was reluctant but determined to follow her heart or instinct and has to some extent remained so.
I recall that she and Kathryn Hulme lived together and having just done my research Find that she and the woman portrayed in the Nun's Story were lifelong partners. Many gay people entered religious orders to give their lives a sense of purpose, some even becoming popes!!Two I know of in my lifetime.

I have reread "The Nun's Story" and seen the film too several times.
It gives the best depiction of a monastic life I have yet encountered and shows how a fictional/storytelling genre can have a distinct advantage over a documentary/factual rendition.
It is a read I'm sure you won't regret.

PS In conjunction with this book, the first person account of Monica Baldwin in her "I Leap Over The Wall" also about her convent life and her leaving of it would be worth a look.
This is a real Rip Van Winkle Story ,since she entered the convent in 1914 and left about 28 years later during the Second World War when society had made remarkable changes in every area -fashion, media,communications, transport,vocabulary etc etc!!!She does finally reveal why she left and I have not mentioned it here. (less)

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Jan 16, 2009 Allie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A favourite book since I was a teenager, The Nun's Story tells of Sister Luke, her training to become a nun in Belgium, and her life in the order. Serving as a hospital nurse in the Belgian Congo, living through years of hardship in Nazi Germany, Sister Luke is ever tempted by the life of the non-cloistered but married to her faith. It's a really lovely tale.

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Nov 03, 2012 Cyndi rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book fascinated me when I read it as a young person. Raised Protestant, I knew very little about the Catholic Church and even less about the nuns or priests. The story would be somewhat dated now but it is very well written and is an interesting snapshot of a particular time in history, the Church and Western culture.

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May 01, 2012 Niki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Niki by: My mom

My mom has been asking me for awhile if I had read this because it is her all time favorite book. I now understand why. Both of us being raised Catholic and having contact with nuns, it was amazing to find out what it was like to be inside their secret world. This story goes so deep into the daily routine of the nun from the day they enter the convent all the way through their final vows. As you follow the constant struggle Sister Luke faces between trying to be a wonderful servant of God as bot...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a re-read of one I read as a teenager (and who doesn't love the movie with the classic beauty Audrey Hepburn?). Still a good book. Really dated (pre-Vatican II, racist/colonial writing, etc etc) but a great time capsule of religious/missionary thought at the time. Especially worth a read for those obsessed with detail of Dominance and submission as played out in ordered religious life, as I am.

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Jun 30, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I finished it and was amazed. I give it a 4, not because it was a life altering read but because it opened up a new world to me. I don't love the ending; I wish it would have wrapped up things a little better. I didn't completely understand "Sister Luke's" feelings or situation. But I really enjoyed learning about the process of becoming and being a nun (their focuses) and especially Sister Luke's experiences in the Congo. That was really cool, but then again, I'm biased toward Africa. :) I like...more

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Dec 23, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took a while to get into, but once she left the convent it went too fast.
It made me dislike the Catholic Church and I realized how I could never be a nun.
I would like to watch the movie staring Audrey Hepburn.

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Mar 08, 2011 Lois rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not even catholic, or particularly religious, but something about this story really grabbed me. Also loved the movie with Audrey Hepburn as "Mama Luke".

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Apr 15, 2013 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book though it was a little slow at first. It gives a fascinating glimpse into the life of a nun in all her glories, failures, tragedies and triumphs. Though she wrestles with her faith and it changes as she gets older, it remains... Which is my hope as well.

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Nov 04, 2012 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great story of selflessness and the intimate difficulties one person had in giving her life to God.

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Aug 02, 2011 Kayleen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the movie, 'The Nun's Story' with Audrey Hepburn. So when I found a copy of the book at the local library I added it to my reading list. Wow. I will have to watch the movie again sometime.

Most of the book is about the interior life and struggle of a young woman who becomes a nun. Of course it's difficult to properly portray that in the movie. I found the end of the movie left me with too many questions. The book did not tie it up neatly, but it was a much more satisfying end. I can see w...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Janis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really liked the movie so I read the book. Very interesting.

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Dec 09, 2009 Ruth added it

Read way too long ago for me to come up with a star rating.

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Dec 09, 2012 Carrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. I haves loved the movie for years and was lucky to find a used copy of the book, it's been out of print for a long time. I like sister Luke's struggle explained so openly and that when she makes her final decision it isn't a rejection of God, but an evolution of herself

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Oct 25, 2011 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my top favourites!

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Apr 18, 2010 Kena rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took a lot of searching, pondering and prayer to lay hands on this book, but I finally interlibrary loaned it clear from California.
I really struggled with the first 60-70ish pages, but then I just couldn't stop. It was filled with really great foreshadowing and contained subject matter I had never thought about before. Those nuns! They are wild and crazy girls...or maybe just super disciplined and fun to learn about.

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