Books | Raven's Bread Ministries

Where God is Ever Found: From Cloister to Couple, A Woman’s Autumn Journey.
by Karen Karper Fredette Hermits are a rare breed. Married hermits are about as common as spotted owls. Marry a Roman Catholic priest to a former nun, nest them in a mountainside hermitage named Still Wood, and you may have a brand new species. This memoir is a three-way love saga—God, a priest and a nun joined to minister to hermits world-wide from the isolated mountain county of “Bloody Madison”, North Carolina.
Through unforeseen circumstances, my autumn years have been colored by meeting the challenges of a shared life journey. My husband and I now minister as a couple outside any formal institution, serving together in ways we could never do separately.
My earlier writings have generated a crowd of curious readers asking “Why would you?” and “How could you?” marry a priest and continue your commitment to eremitical life? This book is my answer. Each chapter weaves together “God-rich” incidents from four periods of my life: seventeen years in a middle-class Catholic home; thirty spiritually challenging years as a cloistered nun; six transformative years as a hermit, and sixteen surprising years as a wife. They all confirm that “where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found.”

ISBN 1300306289 (ebk.) $7.99 (Available through Amazon.com)

Where God Begins to Be, A
Woman’s Journey in Solitude
by Karen Karper Fredette Back in print by popular demand, this absorbing
account of Karen’s
six years as a hermit in a West Virginia
holler is “told with simplicity and gentle honesty, a story
of faith deepening, beauty awakening, and love discovered.” (Gerald
May) As one reader observed, we are given “the details –
the nitty-gritty, muddy details
– of a hermit’s daily living.” (Murray Bodo) Through
vivid vignettes, readers experience contemporary hermit
life lived amid poverty and privation, prayer and simple joy. (First
published 1994; republished 2004)

ISBN 0-595-33321-4 Softcover 120pp.
$12.95 iUniverse Inc

Consider the Ravens, On Contemporary
Hermit Life (Paperback)
by Paul A. and Karen Karper Fredette
Forward by Richard Rohr, ofm This distinctive book emerged from years of ongoing dialogue among committed hermits through Raven’s Bread, am eremitic newsletter with 1100 readers around the world. It is a one-of-a-kind volume on a rare but fascinating topic which intrigues the curious, provides a handbook and guide for aspiring hermits, and reveals the surprising diversity of this hidden movement. Awarded a bronze medal in the Religion Category for the 2012 Independently Published Book Awards (IPPY), this book distills the essence of the wisdom and experience found in the lives of those who embrace solitude, silence and simplicity.

ISBN 978-1-936236-63-3 (pbk); 255pp. $17.95;

ISBN 978-1-936236-64-0 (ebk.) $9.99 (Available through iUniverse.com)

Clare: Her Light and Her Song (soft cover)
by Karen Karper Fredette This book presents a vivid portrait of a strong woman who scandalizes family and friends to follow her beloved mentor, Francis of Assisi, in a life of joyous poverty. Thoroughly researched and footnoted, this biography faithfully depicts Clare as seen by her contemporaries, including cardinals and popes. Her story is enriched by accounts of the wars, political intrigues and towering figures of the tumultuous thirteenth century in which she played a significant role as one of the main leaders of the Franciscan movement. The first woman to receive Papal approval for her own Rule of Life, Clare continues as a model for women of the twenty-first century.
Copyright 1984, 1990, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4759-302104 softcover 416pp. $25.95.

ISBN 978-1-4759-4068-8 (ebk.) $3.99 (Available through iUniverse.com)

Food for those in Solitude