When reporter Cheryl Reed set out to examine the lives of nuns, she was determined to find out what was behind the enigmatic image reinforced by Hollywood clichés, misguided speculation, and her Catholic friends' childhood stories of unyielding figures in black. For this book, she interviewed more than 300 nuns of diverse beliefs, lifestyles, and orders. She lived and prayed with them, witnessed their vows, mourned and celebrated with them, and asked questions no one ever dared before: about love and sex, life and death, faith and joy, and loss and regret. Reed learned more about motherhood, relationships, faith, and feminism than she ever gleaned from the outside world.--From publisher description.