Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di Storia di un’anima
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About 7 h 20 min to read.A chi è rivolto
Readers who love honest memoirs, warm family stories and spiritual writing will find a friend here. It suits anyone drawn to quiet courage and small daily kindnesses.
Che cos’è questo libro
Picture a girl of fourteen kneeling in front of the Pope. She rests her hands on his knee and begs to enter a convent a year early. The guards signal her to stand, and she does not move.
That scene sits at the heart of The Story of a Soul, the memoir of Thérèse of Lisieux, written in her Carmelite convent before her death in 1897. Her sister Pauline asked her to set down her memories. You get a life told in warm, plain words, and a little way of trust that anyone can walk.
In questo riassunto
- 1Her story begins in a garden of flowersFree
- 2Her mother's death changes the happy child
- 3Pauline leaves, and illness brings a smile
- 4First Communion, scruples and a heart kept free
- 5One Christmas night changes her heart
- 6A fifteen-year-old fights to enter Carmel
- 7Carmel brings peace, strictness and a father's decline
- 8The little way is a lift to heaven
- 9Darkness of faith and the work of charity
- 10Her vocation is love, and her message lasts
Punto chiave 1 di 10
Her story begins in a garden of flowers
The book opens with a flower garden. Thérèse says that God made great saints like the lily and the rose, and small ones like the daisy and the violet. A field of only roses would lose the beauty of spring. So she tells her story as that of a little flower loved by the sun.
She is born in Alençon into a devout and affectionate family. Her mother's letters show a lively, stubborn and honest little girl who runs to confess small crimes at once. Her father calls her his little Queen. When her sister Pauline speaks of becoming a nun, Thérèse decides at about two years old to be one too.
One scene sums up her life, she says. Léonie offers a basket of doll's things. Céline takes a ball of wool, but Thérèse takes everything. Years later she sees that this is her way with God, and she will not be a saint by halves. Holiness, for Thérèse, starts as an ordinary childhood, loved well and answered fully.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Storia di un’anima
About 7 h 20 min to read.Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Thérèse Martin
- Thérèse is the youngest Martin daughter, whose memories trace family life and her calling to become a Carmelite nun.
- Pauline
- Pauline is Thérèse's older sister and the Carmelite prioress Mother Agnes of Jesus, who requests her childhood memories.
- Marie
- Marie is Thérèse's eldest sister and the recipient of the manuscript explaining her spiritual calling.
- Louis Martin
- Louis is Thérèse's father, a watchmaker whose affection and religious devotion shape his daughters' family life.
- Zélie Guérin
- Zélie is Thérèse's mother, a lacemaker who raises her daughters with Louis in a devout household.
- Céline
- Céline is one of Thérèse's older sisters and a close companion in her childhood and religious life.
- Léonie
- Léonie is one of Thérèse's older sisters, belonging to the close family recalled throughout her childhood memories.
- Mother Marie de Gonzague
- Mother Marie de Gonzague is a Carmelite prioress for whom Thérèse writes the third manuscript of her memoir.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 108,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 10 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 6 other languages
Questions about Storia di un’anima
What is The Story of a Soul about?
It is the memoir of Thérèse of Lisieux, a young French Carmelite nun. She tells of her childhood, her illness, her entry into Carmel, her trials of faith and her little way of trust and love.
What is the little way of Thérèse?
It is her path of spiritual childhood. She stays small and trusts God like a child, offering ordinary acts of kindness and patience with great love, rather than looking for great deeds or heroic penances.
When was The Story of a Soul written, and is it a true story?
Yes, it is a true autobiography. Thérèse wrote its three manuscripts in the Lisieux convent in her last years and died in 1897. The nuns edited and published the pages as one book soon afterward.
Is The Story of a Soul easy to read?
Thérèse writes in a warm, simple voice, addressed to her sisters, and her chapters are filled with short scenes. Her childhood stories, images of flowers and plain words make the book welcoming to newcomers.
Why is Thérèse called the Little Flower?
She describes herself as a small wildflower in God's garden, loved as much as a rose or lily. Her sisters and readers took up the name, and the memoir keeps returning to flowers and petals.
Cite this edition
Thérèse of Lisieux. The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme). Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-a-soul-lhistoire-dune-ame.
Thérèse of Lisieux. (2026). The story of a soul (L'histoire d'une âme). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-a-soul-lhistoire-dune-ame (Original work published 1898)
Thérèse of Lisieux. The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme). Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-a-soul-lhistoire-dune-ame.
@book{thereseoflisieux2026story,
author = {Thérèse of Lisieux},
title = {The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme)},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-story-of-a-soul-lhistoire-dune-ame},
note = {First published 1898}
}
