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Audiobook edition · 11 h 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a life of small duties holds more meaning than great deeds?
In The Story of a Soul, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux traces her path from a devout family home to a strict Carmelite convent. Her clear, often funny voice brings parents, sisters, childhood loss and a determined calling close. She wants to enter Carmel while still a teenager, but the authorities consider her too young.
Thérèse shares childhood memories, reflects on her calling, and describes the demands of convent life. Her sisters Pauline and Marie belong to this intimate world of family and faith. Through family sorrow, convent duties and illness, Thérèse explores what she calls her little way: the belief that trust and small acts of love can bring her close to God.
What you’ll discover
- A family in focus Meet Louis the watchmaker and Zélie the lace maker through their daughter's childhood memories.
- A determined young woman Follow Thérèse's wish to enter Carmel despite objections to her age.
- Life behind convent walls Enter a world of early rising, long silences, shared prayer and winters without heating.
- The little way Explore her conviction that ordinary acts of love matter more than extraordinary achievements.
- Faith under strain Read her account of family suffering and illness alongside her search for childlike trust.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young girl asks for Carmel
- Loss changes her happy childhood
- Joy and fear shape her prayers
- Christmas frees her to love others
- Her wish meets closed doors
- Convent life teaches hidden love
- Smallness becomes a path to holiness
- Love continues when comfort disappears
- Daily kindness carries her little way
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The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme)
by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux · 1898
At fourteen, Thérèse asks the Pope himself to let her enter a convent, and finds a small way to love.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
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 Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme) at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 5 min5 h 40 min fast, 8 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 101,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1898by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1898
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
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}
}
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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.
The author
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
1873–1897 · French Carmelite nun and memoirist
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was a French Discalced Carmelite nun. She was born in Alençon in 1873 and moved to Lisieux in 1877. She entered the Carmelite convent there in 1888 and died in 1897. Her autobiographical writings, composed between 1895 and 1897, were published as The Story of a Soul in 1898.
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