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Fresh Air Weekend: A former nun's 'Cloistered' life; A foster parent's heartache

Catherine Coldstream spent 12 years in a Carmelite monastery. Her new memoir is <em>Cloistered</em>.
Keiko Ikeuchi
/
MacMillan
Catherine Coldstream spent 12 years in a Carmelite monastery. Her new memoir is Cloistered.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

A former nun explains why she ran away from her 'Cloistered' life: After her father died when she was 24, Catherine Coldstream entered a Carmelite monastery where she lived a life of prayer and obedience for 12 years. Her new memoir is Cloistered: My Years as a Nun.

'James' reimagines Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' with mordant humor, and horror: Percival Everett's retelling of Mark Twain's 1885 classic focuses on Huck's enslaved companion. James is a tale so inspired, you won't be able to imagine reading the original without it.

A foster parent reflects on loving — and letting go of — the children in his care: Mark Daley always knew the goal was reunification — but he was still devastated when the young boys in his care returned to their birth family. He writes about the experience in his new memoir, Safe.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

A former nun explains why she ran away from her 'Cloistered' life

'James' reimagines Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' with mordant humor, and horror

A foster parent reflects on loving — and letting go of — the children in his care

Copyright 2024 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.