Book Review: My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell

My Sisters the Saints

A friend of mine just read the recently released book My Sisters, The Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell. She emailed to say she was quite impressed with it and wrote, “I couldn't put it down.” It's on my reading list, but I haven't had time to get to it just yet. So I asked her to do a little write up for all you Catholic Moms out there in my stead. I'm convinced that if she enjoyed it so much, maybe you will too. If this review encourages you to read the book yourself or give it as a gift to your sisters and girlfriends, you can buy a copies here. Gretchen

Snap judgments sometimes come back to bite you. I made a snap judgment recently, when I received a new book, My Sisters, The Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell (host of ETWN’s “Faith & Culture, and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush). My initial reaction was, “Here we go… yet another book about the saints.” Haven’t we already seen everything there is to read and hear about the saints in all the hundreds of thousands of books written to- date? What more could possibly be said? But when a friend commented that she wanted to get this book as a Christmas gift for another friend, I decided to do a quick review of it to see if I thought that person would really like it. From the first paragraph of the first page, I was hooked. This book “bit” me.

My Sisters, The Saints is not so much about the women saints featured in Campbell’s new book, it’s about the author’s own life experiences – her party-girl days at college, her quest for a suitable husband amongst so many poor choices available, her dream-job conflicts between marriage and being a career woman, her sorrows in dealing with a father afflicted with Alzheimer’s – and how a handful of particular saints just happened to come along and help her during these times. Saints who figured out (through God’s grace) how to take their own situation and use it to become the women God wanted them to be. Saints who taught me a thing or two that I had not seen (or had missed) in other books I’ve read. So much for snap judgments.

My Sisters, The Saints is for every woman, of every age, in every state in life. It is a highly- relatable story of authentic feminism. It’s about the many ways a woman can make her mark on the world without being a powerful career woman. And most importantly, it’s about how “trust in the Lord” is not just a saying… it’s an action. This book is for your own sister(s), and your sisters in Christ. Do them the favor of sharing it with them.

If you've already read My Sisters, The Saints, what did you think of it? Did reading the book encourage you to have a closer devotion to your favorite female saint?