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Anne Rice's intimate memoir of her Catholic girlhood, her unmaking as a devout believer and the path back to her faith.

About the Author

Anne Rice was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, which provided the backdrop for many of her famous novels. She was the author of more than 30 books, including her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, which was published in 1976. It has since gone on to become one of the best-selling novels of all time, and was adapted into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas. In addition to The Vampire Chronicles, Anne was the author of several other best-selling supernatural series including Mayfair Witches, Queen of the Damned, the Wolf Gift, and Ramses the Damned. She passed away in 2021.

Reviews

Rice's long-awaited spiritual memoir details growing up Catholic in New Orleans in the 1940s and '50s, her 38-year absence from the Church as an adult and her slow but steady return to faith in the late 1990s. Kirsten Potter has a beautifully modulated voice, but seems too young for the autobiographical musings of Rice, who was born more than a generation earlier. It would also have been lovely if the audio version offered musical chanting and singing of the Latin cadences Rice discusses in the memoir as being so instrumental in forming her faith, instead of just spoken recitations of them. However, the audio does offer a welcome bonus: more than 20 minutes of an intimate interview with Rice, conducted by a friend who is a Catholic priest. She discusses her childhood faith, love of Saint Francis and new desire to write a Christian fantasy series. A Knopf hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 15). (Oct.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Verdict: Rice's private relationships remain under wraps in this poignantly wrought memoir of her return to Catholicism; she allows only very tiny glimpses into her personal tragedies. Essential for any library that holds Rice's other works. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/08]. Background Louis, Lestat, Claudia...and Christ the Lord? The author of Interview with a Vampire and Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt offers her spiritual autobiography, explaining the provenance of her writing with heartbreaking honesty and beauty. Rice traces her journey from a devoutly Catholic upbringing in New Orleans--where art, architecture, and gardens intimately intertwine the physical and spiritual--to 38 years of atheism, and then her return to the fold. We see portrayed a woman of fierce intellect and mystical faith whose seemingly secular works actually were literary explorations of her spiritual homelessness. The book ends with a short foray into theology and the internal issues facing the Catholic Church today.--Nancy E. Adams, Harrisburg Univ. of Science & Technology, PA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.