When teenaged Michael O'Brien's parents divorced in the early 1970s, he and his mother and siblings moved to rural Utah. Missing his father, Michael found guidance and community at a local monastery, where a group of Trappists ran their own farm. The amiable monks were always on hand to offer sage advice or enlist him in wrangling recalcitrant livestock—and to shepherd him through even the most harrowing life experiences. Warmly nostalgic and suffused with faith in humanity, Monastery Mornings radiates affection for the stability and spiritual counsel that religious communities can offer. (BH)