In 2005, Anne Rice startled her readers with her novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and by revealing that, after years as an atheist, she had returned to her Catholic faith.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana followed.

And now, in her powerful and haunting memoir, Rice tells the story of the spiritual transformation that produced a complete change in her literary goals.

She begins with her girlhood in New Orleans as the devout child in a deeply religious Irish Catholic family. She describes how, as she grew up, she lost her belief in God, but not her desire for a meaningful life.

She writes about her years in radical Berkeley, where her career as a novelist began with the publication of Interview with the Vampire, soon to be followed by more novels about otherworldly beings, about the realms of good and evil, love and alienation, pageantry and ritual, each reflecting aspects of her often agonizing moral quest.

She writes about loss and tragedy (her mother’s drinking; the death of her daughter and, later, her beloved husband, Stan Rice); about new joys; about the birth of her son, Christopher; about the family’s return in 1988 to the city of New Orleans, the city that inspired so much of her work. She tells how after an adult lifetime of questioning, she experienced the intense conversion and consecration to Christ that lie behind her most recent novels.

For her readers old and new, this book explores her continuing interior pilgrimage.

"When Anne Rice stopped crafting stories about vampires and began writing about Jesus, many of her fans were shocked. This autobiographical spiritual memoir provides an account of how the author rediscovered and fully embraced her Catholic faith after decades as a self-proclaimed atheist. Rice begins with her childhood in New Orleans, when she seriously considered entering a convent. As she grows into a young adult she delves into concerns about faith, God and the Catholic Church that lead her away from religion. The author finally reclaims her Catholic faith in the late 1990s, describing it as a movement toward total surrender to God. She writes beautifully about how through clouds of doubt and pain she finds clarity, realizing how much she loved God and desired to surrender her being, including her writing talent, to God. Covering such a large sequence of time and life events is not easy, and some of the author's transitions are a bit jarring. Fans of Rice's earlier works will enjoy discovering more about her life and fascinating journey of faith. (Oct. 7) " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Rice delivers her first work of nonfiction, a powerful and haunting memoir of her journey through life, from writing "Interview with the Vampire" and her 38 years as an atheist to her return to the Catholic Church.

Anne Rice has written magnificent tales of otherworldly beings: novels that explore the realms of good and evil, love and alienation, pageantry and ritual, each a reflection of her own moral journey. Now, in a powerful and haunting memoir—her first work of nonfiction—she writes about her own life as a Catholic.

She begins with her New Orleans childhood in the 1940s and 1950s, with all the devotions of her religious milieu. She describes how, as she grew up, she slowly lost her belief in God, and how, despite that, she was still compelled to live in a conscientious and meaningful way. She recounts her years in radical Berkeley, where she wrote Interview with the Vampire (a lament for her lost faith) and where she came to admire the secular humanist tenet of working to make life better for others.

She writes about loss and alienation (her mother’s drinking; the deaths of her young daughter, and later her husband, from cancer) . . . about the birth of her son, Christopher . . . and about how, after thirty-eight years as an atheist, she returned to New Orleans and—under the roof of her childhood church—once again came to believe in Christ.

A spiritual confession that is, as well, a celebration: a book that brilliantly, subtly explores the journey through life that allows one to answer the call out of darkness.

Anne Rice is the author of twenty-eight books. She lives in Rancho Mirage, California.