Changing Habits (Hardcover)

by Debbie Macomber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Macomber (Between Friends; Navy Wife) covers familiar emotional ground in an unusual setting, giving readers a glimpse of life in a Minneapolis convent. In the early 1960s, three young women find themselves taking vows: Angelina Marcello, answering what she believes to be God's call; Kathleen O'Shaughnessy, who is following the urging of her devout parents; and Joanna Baird, who is fleeing heartbreak (her fiance arrived home from a tour in Vietnam with a pregnant Vietnamese bride a month before their planned wedding). They initially find fulfillment in service-Joanna as a nurse, Angelina as a home economics teacher, Kathleen as an elementary school teacher-but as the years pass, each confronts a crisis of faith that she cannot resolve within the convent walls. In the early 1970s, they return to secular life to face a society that has changed dramatically in the previous decade, particularly in relations between men and women. The premise is inventive, but the challenges the sisters face-a young student's back-alley abortion, an alcoholic priest, encounters with violent and lascivious men-are predictable, and Macomber gives them stock treatment. The development of the women's friendship occurs off the page, so that it seems jarring when they reminisce like soul mates at a reunion years later, with families in tow. Macomber's historical research about the Second Vatican Council and church politics is seamlessly woven into the story and adds badly needed depth to the novel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In prolific and diverse writer Macomber's latest contribution to the women's fiction genre, three young women decide to enter a convent in Minneapolis during the 1950s and 1960s. Angelina Marcello, the oldest, becomes a nun against the protest of her beloved father. Joanna Baird enters the convent after her boyfriend marries someone else, and Kathleen O'Shaughnessy's family has always believed she would become a nun. The women weather turbulent times within the relative isolation of the convent, but the outside world does eventually intrude via their respective jobs. Kathleen and Angelina both teach in a parish high school, and Angelina develops a strong bond with one of her outspoken students that induces her to question her faith. The other two sisters also have crises of faith that lead them out to the greater world. When the convent is slated for demolition in 2002, the former sisters reunite and share their stories. Macomber offers a very human look at three women who uproot their lives to follow their true destiny. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Other Printing edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551666901
• ISBN-13: 978-1551666907
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,157,373 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changing lifestyles, changing times makes for a great book, May 6, 2003

By	Sharon Galligar Chance (Wichita Falls, Texas) - See all my reviews

In the early sixties, three young girls make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. For one girl, it would divide her family; for another, it would devastate her father; for the other, it would be the family's shining moment. Each girl has her own reasons for making the life-changing decision. One seeks to heal a broken heart, one feels a calling from God, and one just did what she knows her family wants her to do. The girls leave behind their families and all their worldly possession, and join into a new family and a new way of life when they enter a convent to become nuns.
In her new book, "Changing Habits," best-selling author Debbie Macomber explores a world that fascinates many but has remained a mystery for ages; the world of the sisterhood of nuns.
Three young women join the sisterhood of St. Bridget's Sisters of the Assumption. Angelina had gone to Catholic schools all her life and had a special affinity for the nuns who taught her. She felt she had a calling from God, and despite her father's objections, entered the convent determined to return the gift of learning by becoming a parochial teacher. Kathleen had known she would become a nun since she was six years old because it was what her family expected of her. Joanne entered the convent broken-hearted and searching for peace after her fiancé returned from Vietnam married to another woman.
Each woman goes through the process from postulate to novice to sister, and each finds her vocation within the sisterhood. Angelina and Kathleen become teachers, and Joanne becomes a nurse. Although secluded from most of the "real" world in their early years, as they mature and become more involved in their community each sister finds that events of the world soon affect their own lives, and eventually causes each to reconsider their place among the religious order.
Angelina loves her position as a teacher, but when she feels that she has failed a young pregnant teenager she finds herself longing to return home to help her father in the family restaurant. Kathleen helps out the young and handsome parish priest with problems with an older priest, but when evidence turns up that she helped the priest cover up money problems she is forced to leave the sisterhood amidst betrayal and shame. Joanne finds that she is drawn to the Vietnam Veteran doctor she assists at the hospital, and leaves to become a devoted wife and helpmate to the man she loves.
The stories of their individual journeys back to the world are complex and enriching. Although they are no longer called "Sister," Angelina, Joanne, and Kathleen find that they are influenced throughout their lives by their time spent as nuns.
Normally considered a romance writer, author Debbie Macomber has entered the world of mainstream women's fiction with great success. In this novel, Macomber was inspired to write this intriguing story by a cousin who had been a nun, and had also left her order to pursue life in the "real" world. Her depictions of women who lived the cloistered life and who returned to live full and satisfying lives as wives, mothers, and successful business women is realistic, warm and enlightening.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Surprise, April 27, 2005

By	bhr "birdwoman" (Bryn Mawr, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changing Habits (Mass Market Paperback)

After working in a bookstore for a few years, I am ashamed to admit that I sometimes still judge a book by its cover and, more often, by where it is shelved.

Changing habits is written by Debbie Macomber, who is shelved in romance. Yet, somehow, she just doesn't fit there. This book more than any of her others shows that.

Changing habits is a group of very well told tales that are also very well blended - a challenge for any author. The stories span time and yet somehow are all contemporary. There is romance, but not in the bodice-ripping or even sassy-female kind of way one comes to expect these days.

The stories are about faith and the loss of it, religion and the turning from it, the struggles within the Catholic church, and, at its best, life, and how some very different women live it.

I enjoyed this book. More, I'm happy to recommend it as a light but deep read for women of many ages.

(*)>

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to touch your heart and soul..., July 4, 2003

By	Holly Fuhrmann (PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A story of sisters...not just sisters of the heart, but Sisters of the Church. Three women enter religious life. Watching their journey, both in spirit and in life, makes for a tender story of faith, life...and love.

Debbie Macomber is a talented author whose stories always touch me...this one even more than most.