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Convent Wisdom
An infectiously edifying manual that mines the lives of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nuns, offering advice for our modern age and proving one thing: no matter the century, nuns know best.
When most of us think of nuns, we picture solemn shuffles down cloistered halls and hands clasped in prayer. But what about the nuns who erupted into jealous fights over makeup or crushed on their girlfriends? In reality, these women were no one-dimensional martyrs. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nuns were resourceful, rebellious and refreshingly relatable - and their lives hold surprising lessons for us today.
Convent Wisdom is your guide to navigating the chaos of the modern world with help from history's most fascinating nuns. Struggling with money? Saint Teresa and her fellow Carmelites have some divine budgeting hacks. Drowning in FOMO while scrolling through social media? Mary of Jesus of Ágreda's miraculous ability to be in two places at once might teach you how to finally keep up. Lost in the digital dating pool? Benedetta Carlini's treatise on the seven ways to spot a lesbian nun may offer unexpected insights.
Blending rigorous research with pop culture and personal anecdotes throughout, best friends Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita lift the veil on monastic life so you can better conquer today's anxiety-ridden, hyper-connected world. From procrastination to imposter syndrome, friendship drama to creativity slumps, the nuns of Convent Wisdom are here to guide you - with a wink and a prayer.
When most of us think of nuns, we picture solemn shuffles down cloistered halls and hands clasped in prayer. But what about the nuns who erupted into jealous fights over makeup or crushed on their girlfriends? In reality, these women were no one-dimensional martyrs. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nuns were resourceful, rebellious and refreshingly relatable - and their lives hold surprising lessons for us today.
Convent Wisdom is your guide to navigating the chaos of the modern world with help from history's most fascinating nuns. Struggling with money? Saint Teresa and her fellow Carmelites have some divine budgeting hacks. Drowning in FOMO while scrolling through social media? Mary of Jesus of Ágreda's miraculous ability to be in two places at once might teach you how to finally keep up. Lost in the digital dating pool? Benedetta Carlini's treatise on the seven ways to spot a lesbian nun may offer unexpected insights.
Blending rigorous research with pop culture and personal anecdotes throughout, best friends Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita lift the veil on monastic life so you can better conquer today's anxiety-ridden, hyper-connected world. From procrastination to imposter syndrome, friendship drama to creativity slumps, the nuns of Convent Wisdom are here to guide you - with a wink and a prayer.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2025
53 people are currently reading
6887 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 26, 2025
Convent Wisdom is a humorous book written by PhD graduates, Ana Garigga and Carmen Urbita, who specialize in the lives of Saint Theresa of Avila and her close friends for their graduate studies. They draw parallels between the glorification of nuns in the sixteenth century and modern-day celebrity culture and social media politics. It’s really fascinating to see how feminism, reputation, appearance, social status and “followers” all played a role in the lives of nuns and their convents in the 1500s in a similar manner that they do now for women both on and off social media today! This book is published on November 4th. Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for a #gifted advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions below are my own.
Garigga and Urbita draw parallels between the drama of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton and Saint Therese’s trio of friends. The authors comment on the current renewed interest in nuns through memes, the recent viral dancing nuns, and met gala / fashion trends. The way that followers of Theresa and other venerated nuns would be spied on through peep holes compares to how we gain glimpses into the lives of celebrities through their social media and paparazzi. Parts of a nun’s body and their possessions would even be taken upon their death, much like the possessions and products of celebrities are today.
The authors also reflect on their own seclusion and discipline during their graduate school days. Their graduate work placed them in a similar environment and scheduled system as the nuns they read about, which created an intimacy between them and a mutual understanding of how the nun’s philosophies are still applicable in today’s world.
It's such a fun concept to reflect on how celebrity culture isn’t just a phenomenon today, but it was very much active centuries ago in the way potential saints were followed and worshipped. The text dives into the personal writings of Saint Therese and her closest companions to illustrate the politics and strategies at work behind the scenes of a convent, such as how the nuns carefully craft how they present themselves to the public, the prayers and services they complete as a performance of their sainthood, their speeches and mannerisms being controlled in order to be the perfect demonstration of philanthropy.
This level of politics in how to dress and present oneself, how to speak, how to carry oneself, and how to act and perform charitable acts, are all performed by those we venerate today in the “cult of celebrity” through their charities, product placements and media training. Hence the subtitle of the book – how 16th-century nuns can save your 21st-century life.
The only weakness I found with the book: the cover and topic of the book suggests an intended audience that is younger (millennial and under), but the style that the book is written in is quite academic and verbose, to the point I sometimes felt an interesting topic or point may be lost on a Gen Z or Gen Alpha reader. I think this book could go far if it was written in a more accessible way to capture attention from a wider audience.
Garigga and Urbita draw parallels between the drama of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton and Saint Therese’s trio of friends. The authors comment on the current renewed interest in nuns through memes, the recent viral dancing nuns, and met gala / fashion trends. The way that followers of Theresa and other venerated nuns would be spied on through peep holes compares to how we gain glimpses into the lives of celebrities through their social media and paparazzi. Parts of a nun’s body and their possessions would even be taken upon their death, much like the possessions and products of celebrities are today.
The authors also reflect on their own seclusion and discipline during their graduate school days. Their graduate work placed them in a similar environment and scheduled system as the nuns they read about, which created an intimacy between them and a mutual understanding of how the nun’s philosophies are still applicable in today’s world.
It's such a fun concept to reflect on how celebrity culture isn’t just a phenomenon today, but it was very much active centuries ago in the way potential saints were followed and worshipped. The text dives into the personal writings of Saint Therese and her closest companions to illustrate the politics and strategies at work behind the scenes of a convent, such as how the nuns carefully craft how they present themselves to the public, the prayers and services they complete as a performance of their sainthood, their speeches and mannerisms being controlled in order to be the perfect demonstration of philanthropy.
This level of politics in how to dress and present oneself, how to speak, how to carry oneself, and how to act and perform charitable acts, are all performed by those we venerate today in the “cult of celebrity” through their charities, product placements and media training. Hence the subtitle of the book – how 16th-century nuns can save your 21st-century life.
The only weakness I found with the book: the cover and topic of the book suggests an intended audience that is younger (millennial and under), but the style that the book is written in is quite academic and verbose, to the point I sometimes felt an interesting topic or point may be lost on a Gen Z or Gen Alpha reader. I think this book could go far if it was written in a more accessible way to capture attention from a wider audience.
August 24, 2025
It was fun to learn that 16th and 17th century nuns were one of the girls. They had FOMO, worried about their reputation, ate weird snacks, and developed all-consuming friend crushes. I found myself wishing that it was a straight up historical or autobiographical book because I personally did not connect with the self-help aspects of Convent Wisdom. I did fall in love with the authors and their academic struggles; I will definitely be checking out their podcast. It was a 3.5/5 for me, thank you Avid Reader Press for the ARC!! <3
June 21, 2025
This felt like half memoir half historical non-fiction. I didn't find any of the insights particularly wowing but it was fun to learn more about the nuns. I might have liked a more hard historical non-fiction but this should be fun for most readers.
July 22, 2025
Nuns! They’re just like us! This is a delightful read - witty and fresh - and while you’re enjoying the voices of Ana and Carmen, you’ll glean a thing or two about life as 16th c. religious. Their lives were way more diverse and interesting than I’d have imagined. What an accessible way to put all that scholarship on the page. I literally laughed out loud.
Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC. The opinions are my own.
Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC. The opinions are my own.
October 7, 2025
“Convent Wisdom” by Garriga and Urbita was a book I was excited to pick up because of my own upbringing and fascination with nuns. I learned a lot reading this book, especially fun and weird facts that not a lot of people may know about what nuns were doing back in the day with all of the time they had on their hands. This book covers the authors’ own experience obtaining their PhD’s and the advice they took from the women that they were studying and writing about. I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in the topic, as some of the jargon can be tough to get through. I found myself losing focus with the text as it went on because the differing storylines of the nuns were hard to distinguish as a lot of them had similar (and long) names. 3 stars ⭐️
November 16, 2025
Have you ever read about a historical figure and used what they went through to help you get through difficult times? It is as if you read about their life at the perfect time in your life to help you get through your own struggles. Growing up, for me, it was reading about young Elizabeth I. For Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita, it was reading about 16th and 17th-century nuns, the ones that they were researching for their PhDs. What lessons did Garriga and Urbita find when they were researching two centuries and the nuns who lived during this period? They share the lessons that they learned from the past in their book, “Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life.”
I would like to thank Avid Reader Press/ Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I am a novice when it comes to nun research, especially when it comes to those outside of England, so when I saw the title of this book, it was intriguing to me. I wanted to see how they could blend the past with the present day.
Garriga and Urbita met while working on their PhDs at Brown University, and this book follows their journeys as graduate students. They choose to pair their life experiences with those of nuns like Saint Teresa, Maria de San Jose, Catherine of Siena, Veronica Giuliani, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. We get to see these nuns deal with everything from extreme diets, feats of levitation, relationships with other nuns, and entrepreneurship to keep their convents and their own legacies going.
While I appreciate what they were attempting to do, I felt like the modern portions did take away from the stories of the nuns and were a tad distracting for me. I enjoyed learning about the different types of Catholic orders of nuns and fun facts about the nuns. I also enjoyed learning about the authors experiences as graduate students. When the separate elements were put together, it did not work as well as I had hoped in this book.
Overall, this was a decent book. A bit too modern for my taste when it comes to a historical nonfiction book, but that is just a personal preference. I do want to check out their podcast, Las hijas de Felipe, and I want to learn more about some of the nuns mentioned in this book. If you want a self-help book with advice from the past that has a modern twist, I recommend you read “Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life” by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita.
I would like to thank Avid Reader Press/ Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I am a novice when it comes to nun research, especially when it comes to those outside of England, so when I saw the title of this book, it was intriguing to me. I wanted to see how they could blend the past with the present day.
Garriga and Urbita met while working on their PhDs at Brown University, and this book follows their journeys as graduate students. They choose to pair their life experiences with those of nuns like Saint Teresa, Maria de San Jose, Catherine of Siena, Veronica Giuliani, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. We get to see these nuns deal with everything from extreme diets, feats of levitation, relationships with other nuns, and entrepreneurship to keep their convents and their own legacies going.
While I appreciate what they were attempting to do, I felt like the modern portions did take away from the stories of the nuns and were a tad distracting for me. I enjoyed learning about the different types of Catholic orders of nuns and fun facts about the nuns. I also enjoyed learning about the authors experiences as graduate students. When the separate elements were put together, it did not work as well as I had hoped in this book.
Overall, this was a decent book. A bit too modern for my taste when it comes to a historical nonfiction book, but that is just a personal preference. I do want to check out their podcast, Las hijas de Felipe, and I want to learn more about some of the nuns mentioned in this book. If you want a self-help book with advice from the past that has a modern twist, I recommend you read “Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life” by Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita.
August 18, 2025
Thank you to Avid Reader Press for the ARC.
Convent Wisdom is a cheeky, irreverent, and surprisingly insightful walk through the lives of 16th- and 17th-century nuns, reimagined as something of a spiritual self-help manual for the digital age. Equal parts cultural commentary, historical deep-dive, and personal reflection, it never takes itself too seriously, but still manages to give weight to its central premise: maybe the cloistered sisters of early modern Europe knew a thing or two about surviving in a chaotic world.
There’s something refreshing about the authors' willingness to treat these women as whole people—not pious caricatures, but human beings with pettiness, passion, ambition, and wit. That perspective breathes life into each chapter. Some anecdotes are downright bizarre (eating spiderwebs?) while others feel strikingly contemporary, especially when it comes to power dynamics, burnout, and messy relationships.
The tone can get a little breezy at times, edging close to pop-history territory, but the scholarship underneath is solid. And while not every takeaway feels earth-shattering, the book delivers plenty of memorable insights with just enough bite to stick with you. Think less “transformative philosophy,” more “intelligent friend giving you weird advice over drinks.”
• Accessible, humorous look at overlooked corners of religious history
• Thoughtful reframing of historical figures as complex, relatable people
• Blends memoir and scholarship in a way that mostly works
• At times, the voice veers a little too modern for its own good
• Might leave readers wanting a more robust academic grounding
• The format can occasionally feel repetitive
Overall, this is a book that’s as smart as it is fun. If you’ve ever wondered what Saint Teresa would say about hustle culture or how a cloistered mystic might handle your group chat, this one’s for you.
Convent Wisdom is a cheeky, irreverent, and surprisingly insightful walk through the lives of 16th- and 17th-century nuns, reimagined as something of a spiritual self-help manual for the digital age. Equal parts cultural commentary, historical deep-dive, and personal reflection, it never takes itself too seriously, but still manages to give weight to its central premise: maybe the cloistered sisters of early modern Europe knew a thing or two about surviving in a chaotic world.
There’s something refreshing about the authors' willingness to treat these women as whole people—not pious caricatures, but human beings with pettiness, passion, ambition, and wit. That perspective breathes life into each chapter. Some anecdotes are downright bizarre (eating spiderwebs?) while others feel strikingly contemporary, especially when it comes to power dynamics, burnout, and messy relationships.
The tone can get a little breezy at times, edging close to pop-history territory, but the scholarship underneath is solid. And while not every takeaway feels earth-shattering, the book delivers plenty of memorable insights with just enough bite to stick with you. Think less “transformative philosophy,” more “intelligent friend giving you weird advice over drinks.”
• Accessible, humorous look at overlooked corners of religious history
• Thoughtful reframing of historical figures as complex, relatable people
• Blends memoir and scholarship in a way that mostly works
• At times, the voice veers a little too modern for its own good
• Might leave readers wanting a more robust academic grounding
• The format can occasionally feel repetitive
Overall, this is a book that’s as smart as it is fun. If you’ve ever wondered what Saint Teresa would say about hustle culture or how a cloistered mystic might handle your group chat, this one’s for you.
November 4, 2025
Convent Wisdom is a highly amusing secular take on the lives of sixteenth & seventeenth-century nuns and the lessons they offer us in our twenty-first century life. It was a high brow stirring read, tea spitting, and quite the scandal.
My sentiments on cloistered nuns are quite rosy and romantic. I envisioned a fragrant blend of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux mixed with 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤.
Well it’s not that book. Nor is it a rendition of 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 suited for catechesis.
But as Christ’s bride, why settle for anything less than a life-long dedication to penance and prayer? Certainly, these pious women have much to offer in terms of sainthood. It’s nice to know what I am going through now likely happened to a nun living several hundred years ago.
Inside this book expect be thrown into ecstasy: a miraculous world of aerial acrobatics performed by levitating nuns and incorruptible bodies that even long after death is nothing short of glamorous. Because who needs Botox when you can have sainthood? I’ve learned about their mean girl squabbles, financial troubles, “peculiar friendships” and so much more. And yes there were some in disgrace, particularly the “fake it to make it” ones.
This book was written in a way that made the nuns relevant, relatable, and tangible rather than forgotten ancient history found on holy cards. As fascinating as these Sisters were, they also happened to be nonfiction. I enjoyed the pop culture references, cheeky humor, and personal anecdotes throughout. It was an entertaining spin on some of my favorite nuns and reignited my interest in them.
Thank you Avid Reader press and Netgalley for the DRC.
My sentiments on cloistered nuns are quite rosy and romantic. I envisioned a fragrant blend of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux mixed with 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤.
Well it’s not that book. Nor is it a rendition of 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 suited for catechesis.
But as Christ’s bride, why settle for anything less than a life-long dedication to penance and prayer? Certainly, these pious women have much to offer in terms of sainthood. It’s nice to know what I am going through now likely happened to a nun living several hundred years ago.
Inside this book expect be thrown into ecstasy: a miraculous world of aerial acrobatics performed by levitating nuns and incorruptible bodies that even long after death is nothing short of glamorous. Because who needs Botox when you can have sainthood? I’ve learned about their mean girl squabbles, financial troubles, “peculiar friendships” and so much more. And yes there were some in disgrace, particularly the “fake it to make it” ones.
This book was written in a way that made the nuns relevant, relatable, and tangible rather than forgotten ancient history found on holy cards. As fascinating as these Sisters were, they also happened to be nonfiction. I enjoyed the pop culture references, cheeky humor, and personal anecdotes throughout. It was an entertaining spin on some of my favorite nuns and reignited my interest in them.
Thank you Avid Reader press and Netgalley for the DRC.
October 7, 2025
I received Convent Wisdom as a Goodreads' giveaway. The book is a well-researched account of the lives of various nuns throughout the centuries. I am not Catholic, so the information about each nun was completely new to me. I found myself feeling sorry for many of the nuns. For women who did not want to get married and have a large family, one option was to become a nun. The book cited a story of a nun who was born illegitimate. Another nun was anorexic. All of these tales covered in the book were quite interesting.
I believe the authors could easily build a successful business by organizing Catholic-themed travel tours to the convents mentioned in their book. Their deep knowledge of the subject would make them outstanding tour guides!
I believe the authors could easily build a successful business by organizing Catholic-themed travel tours to the convents mentioned in their book. Their deep knowledge of the subject would make them outstanding tour guides!
October 28, 2025
This book was fun and so unique! It was funny and the parallels that the authors (PhD graduates) drew between the nuns from the way way past to current times. I loved how the authors went through and thoroughly explained the ties and why they felt that it was relevant. It was very obvious that the authors knew what they were talking about. I do think that there was a bit of a disconnect between the target audience which seemed to be on the young side (like young millennials and below) and the tone and language used in the book. At times it felt more like I was listening to a college textbook which was not exactly what I needed in that moment.
Thank you to @avidreaderpress and @simon.audio for copies of this book! All thoughts are my own.
Thank you to @avidreaderpress and @simon.audio for copies of this book! All thoughts are my own.
October 16, 2025
Obligatory thanks to Avid Reader Press for the ARC
This book was not really my thing. I prefer coming away from finishing a book and feeling like I learned something, but with this, despite the historical subject matter, there wasn't much actual history, and what was there felt embroidered or dramatized to maximize reader interest. And while I concede that a book solely about the history of specific nuns from the 16th and 17th centuries would probably have been pretty dry and boring, I still, personally, would have preferred something more like that.
There are a few chapters which I felt needed more work, mainly the first and third. The combination of memoir, self help book, and historical analysis at times seemed only tenuously held together by the thinnest of threads, chapter 3 being the foremost example in my mind.
Also the frequent use of internet slang really dated the text and combined with the references to pop culture phenomena it alienated me as a reader.
However the authors do a good job of holding the reader's interest with drama, and it is anything but dry. Overall, I'd say its a decent book that I think many will enjoy, it just wasn't for me. It very much seems like it was written "for the girlies" and I think most women active on TikTok would enjoy it.
This book was not really my thing. I prefer coming away from finishing a book and feeling like I learned something, but with this, despite the historical subject matter, there wasn't much actual history, and what was there felt embroidered or dramatized to maximize reader interest. And while I concede that a book solely about the history of specific nuns from the 16th and 17th centuries would probably have been pretty dry and boring, I still, personally, would have preferred something more like that.
There are a few chapters which I felt needed more work, mainly the first and third. The combination of memoir, self help book, and historical analysis at times seemed only tenuously held together by the thinnest of threads, chapter 3 being the foremost example in my mind.
Also the frequent use of internet slang really dated the text and combined with the references to pop culture phenomena it alienated me as a reader.
However the authors do a good job of holding the reader's interest with drama, and it is anything but dry. Overall, I'd say its a decent book that I think many will enjoy, it just wasn't for me. It very much seems like it was written "for the girlies" and I think most women active on TikTok would enjoy it.
November 16, 2025
Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita have a podcast blending their Brown University PhD studies about sixteenth century nuns and how that relates to modern pop culture and their persona anecdotes. A reassuring nod, to the idea that the world has seen this all before.
Why I started this book: Clever title and great cover, I was intrigued and requested an ARC.
Why I finished it: I wanted to like this book much more than I did... the tone shifts between scholarly research, dishy gossip and personal experiences was a little rough for me. I'm sure that this works much better in a podcast setting. But unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, so I can't tell you that with certainty.
Why I started this book: Clever title and great cover, I was intrigued and requested an ARC.
Why I finished it: I wanted to like this book much more than I did... the tone shifts between scholarly research, dishy gossip and personal experiences was a little rough for me. I'm sure that this works much better in a podcast setting. But unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, so I can't tell you that with certainty.
September 11, 2025
I really enjoyed this braided history/self-help book/memoir of the authors' time in graduate school. I wrote a longer review here, but I wanted to share here that this was a delightfully unconventional read. The way Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita braided the stories of the nuns they studied with their own academic woes was really well done.
Thanks to Avid Reader Press for the ARC!
Thanks to Avid Reader Press for the ARC!
August 25, 2025
A cheeky and informative pop-history of nuns! I love how Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita make their PhD studies accessible and entertaining. As they say, "Anything you may be going through right now already happened to a nun living in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." I learned something, and I laughed while I did it. What more could you ask for?
July 6, 2025
It was not what I expected but still a good read.
November 10, 2025
I think I had wished this was more of a series of bios of these women, but I did really like this regardless!
November 14, 2025
Very entertaining stories of anciebt convents & nunx. Told by Spanish Lesbian scnolars
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews