A warm and candid memoir, River of Fire discusses the first half of Sr. Helen Prejean's life, before she began her work as an anti-death penalty advocate, the work for which she is now best known. It focuses on how Prejean's ideas about faith and vocation gradually shifted, from an insular piety as a young woman to ones which engaged more fully with the complexity of poverty, racism, and other forms of injustice. ( )

After seeing Dead Man Walking, it was a shock to hear Sr. Prejean speak at the Northwest Women’s Conference : she looks nothing like Susan Sarandon and she doesn’t sound like her either! But in this marvelous spiritual autobiography I could hear her voice clearly. It was a joy to read and more: I feel like a better person. Encounter with Christ does that. ( )

Sr. Helen Prejean writes her life story: how she grew up, etc., but mostly her faith journey. It brought back memories of the pre-Vatican Two church, some good and some not so good. She does not spare herself as she recounts her early days, her entry into the novitiate of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, and her constant hunger to learn. This is an inspiring account of one woman's life of faith and the forces and people that shaped her and her faith in action. ( )