Redemption

Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row

By: Lawrence Wright

A powerful and startling account of the unlikely connection between a convent of cloistered nuns and the condemned women on Texas’s death row, exploring questions around crime and punishment, faith, and retribution in America as only Lawrence Wright can

In the fall of 2014, Deacon Ronnie Lastovica visited a women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas and gave communion to the women on death row. Moved by the meeting, the Deacon vowed to return weekly, but he knew he couldn’t help these women alone. He called upon the Sisters of Mary Morning Star, a group of contemplative nuns in Waco, Texas, to visit the seven condemned women with him. What followed is an incredible story of a spiritual alliance between two groups of women living uniquely similar lives. In these pages, Lawrence Wright takes us into the death row unit, laying bare these women’s daily lives, histories, and their horrific crimes. Some of the women wrestle with the guilt of the suffering they caused, others fiercely maintain their innocence. As Wright learns more about their cases, unethical police practices and improper forensic methodologies pose disturbing questions of whether some of the condemned women actually committed the crimes for which they’re paying the ultimate price.

Clear-eyed and rousing, layered and morally complex, Wright explores ideas of retribution, spirituality, and the ultimate question of absolution.

Critic reviews

"This unlikely story of a group of nuns in rural Texas ministering to seven women on death row is both captivating and inspiring. Two disparate groups—contemplative nuns and condemned inmates—set aside their pasts, slowly learn to trust one another, and ultimately bond as friends." —John Grisham