Women of the Catholic Imagination

My new book is now available!

Hi, I’m Haley! Book midwife (editor) and author. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support this work and gain access to exclusive content:

Friends, my 2024 is something else. I’ll be sharing more at some point but the past two weeks have been the most difficult of my whole life. I have a lot of people praying for me and supporting me right now, but I will accept any and all prayers, please.

In the meantime, the brand new collection of essays about Catholic women novelists that I edited is now available (print and Kindle).

Women of the Catholic Imagination: Twelve Inspired Novelists You Should Know

A couple of years ago, I was thinking about the “Catholic canon” of fiction: Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, J.R.R. Tolkien, Walker Percy, G.K. Chesterton, and Flannery O’Connor. The names we hear often. And for good reason! They’re all great! But having fallen in love with many other Catholic novelists who get less of the spotlight, I was itching to bring these other figures into the conversation. And I was also surprised to discover that some of the most famous American novelists were Catholic, but their faith was rarely highlighted by scholars. And the thing these writers all had in common was that they were women. I looked around for a book that focused solely on these Catholic women writers and couldn’t find one. An idea was born.

I reached out to a dream team of twelve scholars and writers who study and are inspired by Catholic women novelists, asking each to write one chapter on a particular writer. The result is a collection I edited titled Women of the Catholic Imagination: Twelve Inspired Novelists You Should Know. It covers novelists like Josephine Ward from the 19th century to Alice McDermott in the 21st, some well-known writers like O’Connor and some almost forgotten like Caroline Gordon. And in addition to bringing lesser-known Catholic women into the spotlight, it also considers the Catholic faith of celebrated authors like Toni Morrison and Donna Tartt.

And just check out the contributors! Some of my favorite scholars and writers agreed to be part of this project and I’m still pinching myself:

• Eleanor Bourg Nicholson on Josephine Ward

• Amy Fahey on Sigrid Undset

• Julia Meszaros on Caryll Houselander

• Helena M. Tomko on Gertrud von le Fort

• Angela Alaimo O’Donnell on Flannery O’Connor

• Joshua Hren on Caroline Gordon

• Katy Carl on Rumer Godden

• Bonnie Lander Johnson on Alice Thomas Ellis

• Dorian Speed on Muriel Spark

• Nick Ripatrazone on Toni Morrison

• Paul J. Contino on Alice McDermott

• Jennifer Frey on Donna Tartt

And then to top it all off, a conclusion by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera, bestselling Catholic novelist known for The Awakening of Miss Prim. I had the privilege of writing the introduction and editing the collection and I’m so proud of the final product. My prayer is that it will inspire many people to dive in to the writing of these incredible novelists and bring their vibrant Catholic imagination into the conversation.

Grab your copy from Word on Fire or Amazon (print or Kindle)!

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Thanks for reading!

Haley

(Editor of Word on Fire Votive, Author, Podcaster)

Haley’s books

Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns

Haley’s Book on Jane Austen’s Novels

Haley’s Book about Radical Simplicity