New Habits : From Sisterhood to Motherhood

Love, life, and motherhood—beyond the convent gates. After a tough childhood growing up in England, at the age of 18, Eleanor Stewart said goodbye to the everyday life and entered a French Convent, convinced she was being called to a life of Holy Orders. Eight years later, she left the Order and found herself in Liverpool, thrown into the world of the late 1960s, with its free and easy attitude to relationships. Liberated from a life of duty and obedience, Eleanor lives life to the full—her job as a midwife, friendships, and love affairs. She works hard and plays harder—while also coping with her mother's mental illness. After some foolish mistakes, she settles down and marries—but it isn’t an instant happy ending. As a midwife, delivering babies every day, Eleanor knew that she was destined to become a mother, yet she was devastated to discover that she was unable to have children. She and her husband then embarked on the path to adoption, eventually becoming parents to two lovely children, and now grandchildren. Amid the chaos of life with two young children, Eleanor occasionally thought back to the tranquility of the convent, and through the sometimes tough teenage years, she says “I always felt I had the prayers and support of the sisters I’d left, because they really did always keep me and my family in their hearts, and I was grateful for their letters and their guidance and for them just listening to what was going on in my life. I've never regretted the choice I made—but I've never forgotten those extraordinary years when I was Sister Eleanor, either." If you liked Call the Midwife, you will love Kicking the Habit! What makes a fun-loving teenager turn her back on a life of parties, boys and fun, to become a nun in a French convent? And what later leads her to abandon the religious life, to return to the big wide world and later marry? At the age of 18, Eleanor Stewart goes to France to enter a convent. After four years of struggling with the religious life, she becomes a nun, and then trains as a midwife in a large inner-city hospital in Liverpool. While Beatlemania grips the nation, she attempts to coordinate the reclusive demands of the religious life with the drama, excitement and occasional tragedy of the hospital world. Written with honesty and affection, this is a wonderful and intimate portrait of convent and hospital life. The sequel to the popular Kicking the Habit! When Eleanor Stewart abandoned her vows and her life as a nun, she found herself in the middle of the swinging Sixties - and soon joined in. Boyfriends, parties, and mini-skirts took the place of silence and restraint, as she pursued her career as a midwife and the men she met with equal commitment. Troubled by her relationship with her mother, and what she saw as a growing estrangement from her faith, she finally falls in love and settles down - only to discover her past catching up with her, as she faces infertility. But with her husband at her side, they battle to adopt two children. Will the dream of a happy family, that drove her out of the convent, finally come true? At the age of eighteen, Eleanor Stewart said goodbye to the world and entered a French Convent, convinced she was being called to the life of a religious. Eight years later, she left the Order and found herself thrown into the world of the late Sixties, with its free and easy attitude to relationships. Liberated from a life of order, duty and obedience, Eleanor throws herself into whatever is on offer - her job, her friendships and her love affairs. A trained nurse and midwife, she works hard and plays harder - while also coping with her mother's mental illness. After some foolish mistakes, she settles down - but will her story have a happy ending? "At the age of eighteen, Eleanor Stewart goes to France to enter a convent. What makes a fun-loving teenager turn her back on a life of parties, boys, and the fun of the 1960s, to become a nun and then later serve as a midwife in an inner-city Liverpool hospital? While Beatlemania grips the nation, Eleanor struggles to reconcile the reclusive demands of religious life with the drama, excitement, and occasional tragedy of the hospital world. Can she live with the tensions she experiences? Written with honesty and affection, this is a wonderful and intimate portrait of convent and hospital life in 60s Britain"--Cover