"I had great difficulty writing this book," begins Brenda Meehan in her introduction. 'I am convinced now that it is because the women I am writing about [....] didn't like the way I was originally telling their story [....]. these women jumped up from the pages, refusing to be neatly contained within [....] a framework that stressed the socio-historical at the expense of the spiritual'. It is the reader's gain that she had the humility and sensitivity to heed what her subjects wanted to tell her. There is a distinct sense that, in writing this book, the author has been on a spiritual journey, on which we are invited to follow. She also sees this study as an offering to the new Russia, reminding it of an undeservedly neglected chapter in its history.

The women whose stories are told here all flourished in the nineteenth century. The link between them is that all founded or headed coenobitic 'women's communities' with a strong emphasis on charitable work, at a time when most of the established women's monasteries in Russia were idiorhythmic, and often inaccesssible to peasants and others of limited means. The social and cultural significance of these communites was to have been the subject of the sociological study that Ms Meehan originally intended to write.

None of these women is offically recognised as a saint, but all were highly revered and venerated in their lifetimes as women of prayer, spiritual mothers and examples of the apostolic life. 'The flesh and blood character of their holiness' comes across unmistakedly, through the description of the diverse and often tortuous routes that led all of them finally to monastic life, and the multifarious obstacles they had to surmount, whether in social and family circumstances, other people's attitudes or their own characters. Their ascetic labours range from enduring the most mundane trials of everyday life, like putting up with an annoying cell attendant or looking after aged parents, to feats recalling those of the ancient desert fathers. Some of this will strike a chord with our own experience; some of it will seem a world away. But, as Ms Meehan reminds us, 'none of it is easy'.

We meet Margarita Tuchkova, who endured grief to the point of delirium after losing her husband at the battle of Borodino, and determined to build a church in his memory on the battlefield. The peasant Anastasia Logacheva, blessed by St Seraphim to become a hermit, had to wait seventeen years looking after her parents before following her vocation; at length her fame as an ascetic and spiritual mother led to her appointment as Abbess of a monastery in the newly evangelised Altai region. Matrona Popova, orphaned at the age of seven, followed the guidance of the hermit Melania and set out in faith, though penniless, to found a shelter for pilgrims and orphans at Zadonsk. Mother Angelina, married in her teens to a Lutheran, chafed constantly against the inanity of worldly life. She considered leaving her husband to become a nun, but was advised against it. Only in widowhood and after many difficulties did she achieve her dream of founding a community and building a church. Abbess Taisia, endowed with a brilliant mind, blessed with many visions and zealous for the spiritual life from a young age, was given a predictably hard time at her smart boarding school. She fared little better in successive monasteries, until she was appointed superior of Leushino and managed to turn a troubled community into a haven of spiritual life, visited regularly by Fr John of Kronstadt.

In telling the stories of these women, Ms Meehan draws almost exclusively on existing Lives which, except in the case of Taisia and Anastasia, are not otherwise available in English. But this is not straitforward hagiography. It is an unusual blend of hagiography with sociology of a feminist slant. The mixture is sometimes thought-provoking, but sometimes appears distinctly forced to the reader who does not approach the stories with feminist presuppositions- even though the author recognises that some of the terms in which she describes their experiences would be totally alien to the people she is writing about, and makes a clear distinction between narrative and her own commentary. But one thing is certain, the stories as Brenda Meehan presents them will reach many people who would never look at a more conventional saint's life.

The kind of readership she hopes to address is indicated by statements such as 'today the term "holiness" seems old -fashioned; we are more comfortable speaking of spirituality'. Yet the subtitle sets the tone of the book, which is in fact a very articulate plea to people who think that way to look again at holiness. When she discusses the social background of the forms of holiness she describes, or compares them with other Christian or non-Christian traditions, it serves mainly to highlight the element that is timeless, that goes beyond any social conditioning. It is made very clear that these spiritual mothers represent a living tradition. Time and again, their own experiences and those of their disciples illustrate a saying that Ms Meehan quotes from Evelyn Underhill, that the life of the spirit is not taught but caught.

Ms Meehan makes some perceptive comments on the nature of asceticism, the significance of some of the different ascetic paths chosen and the dynamics of holiness within society. The sensitivity she shows is the more striking because some of her background notes suggest that, on the formal level, her knowledge of the Orthodox tradition is somewhat shaky. We are informed, for instance, that 'the lent of the holy Apostles' in 16-28 June (its beginning actually depends on the paschal cycle, and is therefore variable); while the statement that the communal aspect of monastic life was underdeveloped in Russia at the time because of the Orthodox reverence for the contemplative and solitary life' hardly does justice to the ancient and vital tradition of coenobitic monasticism.

The central message of the book is made explicit on the last page: It is difficult for many feminists to believe that patriarchal religious traditions can empower women. And it is difficult for modern readers, in general, to accept that tradition can be a path of creativity and a source of liberation. Yet the experience of the women of this book argues that the established discipline of monastic tradition.can be powerful tools for breaking through human mire and suffering to a transcendent freedom.

Through the prayers of our holy mothers whose lives are related here, may this book find its way into the hands of those who most need to hear this message.