Light of the Night: The Last Eighteen Months in the Life of Therese of Lisieux

Th r se of Lisieux died on 30 September 1897. Nine months later, the now classic Story of a Soul appeared and proved an immediate success. However, when historians had access fifty years later to manuscripts written by Th r se they were surprised to discover enormous differences between these texts and the published version of Story of a Soul. Jean-Fran ois Six has written this new book with two purposes. First, he recalls the history of how Mother Agn s, Prioress of the Carmelite convent and sister of Th r se altered and completed Th r se's text so that it became a travesty of the original. Secondly he re-establishes the truth of the last months of Th r se's life, her authentic spiritual message, and her contribution to the history of mysticism. In working on his book, Jean-Fran ois Six has relied on texts which can definitively be said to come from the hand of Thr r se. In contrast to the sentimentality which is so often associated with her, he has found a powerful, lively figure, full of humor even in the depths of the spiritual night she experienced during her last months-the spiritual night which others have tried to deny or minimize.