This book represents a towering achievement of modern scholarship, fusing gender, cultural, social and religious history in a beautifully written book on the Catholic religious orders in Victorian England and Wales. Undoubtedly it will render obsolete much of the work that preceded it, while building an intelligent and nuanced argument on a comprehensive reading of the available evidence. It breaks new ground in our understanding of women religious in ways too varied to enumerate. Mangion marshalls evidence that Victorian Catholicism allowed women to transcend the ordinary limits of femininity but does so in a way that respects the lived experience of these historical actors, instead of forcing them into conformity with modern political or social themes. Even more welcome, she brings a lost world of female comradeship and devotion back to life with understanding, balance and a demanding critical focus on the meaning of the words and deeds of these women. This is a book that will enthrall those with an interest in religious history and one which deserves to introduce this subject to an academic audience far beyond that. It is modern religious history at its finest.