River of Fire

In this revelatory, intimate memoir from the author of Dead Man Walking, America’s foremost leader in efforts to abolish the death penalty shares the story of her growth as a spiritual leader, speaks out about the challenges of the Catholic Church and shows that joy and religion are not mutually exclusive.

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 grew up in a well-off Baton Rouge family that still employed black servants. She joined the Sisters of St Joseph at the age of eighteen and was in her forties when she had an awakening that her life’s work was to immerse herself in the struggle of poor people forced to live on the margins of society.

In this honest and fiercely open account, Sister Helen writes about the relationships with friends, fellow nuns and mentors who have shaped her over the years, as well as the close friendship with a priest that challenged her vocation in the ‘new territory of the heart’. The final page of River of Fire ends with the opening page of Dead Man Walking, when she was first invited to correspond with a man on Louisiana’s death row.

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. Written in accessible, luminous prose, it is a book about how to live a spiritual life that is wide awake to the sufferings and creative opportunities of our world.

About the Author

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, a member of the Congregation of St Joseph, is known worldwide for starting a dialogue on the death penalty. After witnessing the electrocution of a condemned man in a Louisiana prison in 1984, Prejean wrote the bestselling Dead Man Walking and set out, through storytelling, to bring citizens close to the hard realities of government killings. Her mission has taken her to every US state and to the Vatican, where her personal entreaties to two popes helped to shape Catholic opposition to the death penalty.

When not on the road, this lifelong Louisianan loves to share Cajun jokes, eat Southern cooking, play spirited card games and write, exploring her fascination with the Divine spark she believes is in everyone: to seek truth, love ardently, and meet, head on, the suffering world.