"Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza was a Spanish noblewoman born in 1566 to wealth and privilege. After a remarkable childhood and youth marred by numerous family deaths and abuse, she rejected her exalted social status to embrace the life of a poor holy woman in the urban centers of Madrid and Valladolid.". "This Tight Embrace includes a complete biographical study of Carvajal, followed by selections from each of the genres of writing she practiced: her spiritual life story, her religious vows, her poetry, the Rule she wrote for her Society of the Sovereign Virgin Mary, and her letters."--BOOK JACKET.