The first half of this spiritual memoir covers the author’s Catholic childhood. Above all, she remembers the aesthetic experiences: beautiful churches, evocative incense, eucharistic adoration, and the exotic words of litanies (“Mystical Rose ... Tower of Ivory ... House of Gold”).

Rice had at this time a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus. But when she went to college, she discovered a whole world outside the Catholic mindset in which she had been raised. She read Camus and Sartre, and watched films by European intellectuals. Her stomping ground became the secular humanist wastelands of San Francisco and Berkeley. After graduate school she wrote novels in which — and she only realized this in retrospect — her characters are exiles, living in a Godless world where anything can happen.

Her return to the Church was a long and gradual process. She would visit churches on tourist trips and discover that Mass was about to begin. She would turn on the TV and find the moment of consecration was being televised on EWTN. Rice felt as though God was calling her. Finally, in December 1998, she let go of her objections and surrendered in spite of herself to God’s love, though it would be another four years before she fully committed herself to Christ.

Anne Rice’s book reads like a long letter, if not from a friend then at least from an internet acquaintance. She occasionally mentions her writing, and fans of her novels will enjoy these glimpses of the author’s life and thinking.

Anne Rice. Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession. New York: Random House, 2010. Paperback. 256 pages. ISBN 9780307388483. $15.95.

Thanks for the review, Derek.

I just got through reading this book and enjoyed it. Rice is a good writer, and it's rare to find such a "spiritual autobiography" from such an accomplished author as she is. I was somewhat concerned that where she'd wind up is in a place like Mel Gibson, longing for the days of the pre-Vatican II church, but she's definitely moved on and seems to be a woman of deep faith who is also genuinely open to exploring the issues and questions of this day and age. Good book!