Some discoloration in book jacket Light staining on book cloth cover at spine Viking, 1978 book of the month club, 376 pages Philippa Talbot is a successful London career woman turned forty when she feels the call of the religious life. "T thought I was very well as I was," she told the Brede Sacristan later, "a human, balanced person with a reasonable rec-ord; with the luck of having money, friends, love. Only suddenly it wasn't enough." She is one of the most attractive and sympathetic characters in Rumer Godden's long and well-loved fictional roster. This, then, is a story of the life in an enclosed house of nuns and of the relevance of this contemplative existence to our changing world—a challenging theme. The novel unfolds chiefly through Philippa, from the day of her entrance, through one crisis of mind and heart to another, until she faces an ultimate and almost unbearable sacrifice. Woven with her personal story is a much larger one-the story of the House, its history, and the present inmates who have vowed to live and die within its walls. The nuns are English Benedictines whose House is centuries old in tradi-tion, a stronghold of faith and prayer, yet they are up-to-date, alive, aware of the world-and matter of fact. In Rumer Godden's hands, they are fully realized individuals whom we come to know and care about, adding rich dimensions to the novel as they live out their vocations.