THERESE MARTIN

Theresa Martin wanted to be a Carmelite nun from the age of three, begged to enter the convent at fifteen, lived a life of unending small sacrifices, fought against the darkness of doubt, dedicated herself to God's love, died a long painful death from consumption at twenty-four. Her eternal worrying over scruples and her ceaseless deliberate sufferings make tedious reading, especially when laid out one by one with heavy sentimentality; her incident-by-incident growing up and rattle-by-rattle progress toward death are equally fatiguing. Pious biography at its Worst--a disappointment after the affecting restraint of The Carpenter's Son.