Sister Helen Prejean’s work as an activist nun, campaigning to educate Americans about the inhumanity of the death penalty, is known to millions worldwide. Less widely known is the evolution of her spiritual journey from praying for God to solve the world’s problems to engaging full-tilt in working to transform societal injustices. Sister Helen writes about the relationships with friends, fellow nuns, and mentors who have shaped her over the years. In this honest and fiercely open account, she writes about her close friendship with a priest, intent on marrying her, that challenged her vocation in the “new territory of the heart.” River of Fire is a book for anyone interested in journeys of faith and spirituality, doubt and belief, and “catching on fire” to purpose and passion. It is a book, written in accessible, luminous prose, about how to live a spiritual life that is wide awake to the sufferings and creative opportunities of our world.

Published by Penguin Random House

Purchase at Ben McNally Books
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Toronto, ON
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416-361-0032

Helen Prejean is a Sister of the Congregation of St. Joseph from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An educator by training, she began corresponding with death row inmates in the 1980s, that led her to write the best-selling book, “Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty that Sparked a National Debate.” It has since become an Academy Award winning movie, a play and an opera. Helen continues campaigning against the death penalty, and counselling individual death row inmates. She also ministers to murder victims’ family members.