'In this rich, thoughtful, and very interesting study Nicole R. Rice has sketched out what almost amounts to a short history of lay spirituality in late medieval England … One of the real strengths of this book is its willingness to engage religious attitudes and to consider how far these attitudes respond to late medieval devout practices.' John C. Hirsh, Medium Aevum

• Introduction; 1. Translations of the cloister: regulating spiritual aspiration; 2. Dialogic form and clerical understanding; 3. Lordship, pastoral care, and the Order of Charity; 4. Clerical widows and the reform of preaching; Conclusion: spiritual guides in fifteenth-century books: cultural change and continuity; Bibliography.

'In this rich, thoughtful, and very interesting study Nicole R. Rice has sketched out what almost amounts to a short history of lay spirituality in late medieval England … One of the real strengths of this book is its willingness to engage religious attitudes and to consider how far these attitudes respond to late medieval devout practices.' John C. Hirsh, Medium Aevum

• Introduction; 1. Translations of the cloister: regulating spiritual aspiration; 2. Dialogic form and clerical understanding; 3. Lordship, pastoral care, and the Order of Charity; 4. Clerical widows and the reform of preaching; Conclusion: spiritual guides in fifteenth-century books: cultural change and continuity; Bibliography.

'In this rich, thoughtful, and very interesting study Nicole R. Rice has sketched out what almost amounts to a short history of lay spirituality in late medieval England … One of the real strengths of this book is its willingness to engage religious attitudes and to consider how far these attitudes respond to late medieval devout practices.' John C. Hirsh, Medium Aevum

• Introduction; 1. Translations of the cloister: regulating spiritual aspiration; 2. Dialogic form and clerical understanding; 3. Lordship, pastoral care, and the Order of Charity; 4. Clerical widows and the reform of preaching; Conclusion: spiritual guides in fifteenth-century books: cultural change and continuity; Bibliography.