Veiled Desires: Intimate Portrayals of Nuns in Postwar Anglo-American Film
"The 'nun film' has been a significant genre in Anglo-American cinema through most of the second half of the twentieth century.  Maureen Sabine's is the most impressive treatment to date of a genre that has sadly been neglected in the literature of film studies.  Ranging from serious art films such as Black Narcissus to the popular entertainment of The Sound of Music, Sabine combines Freudian psychology and Christian theology to offer a sensitive reading of films whose protagonists invariably struggle to fashion distinct personal identities while remaining faithful to received traditions."--Christopher S. Shannon, Christendom College"Veiled Desires is a provocative, fascinating, and occasionally lyrical study of the narratives and imagery of Catholic women religious on the big screen. The book is impressively ambitious in scope, bringing together social theory, psychoanalysis, Catholic history, and media studies to interpret 40 years of film."--Amy L. Koehlinger, Florida State University"Veiled Desires is a rich, compelling, and provocative appraisal of the cinematic nun. In her intricate analyses of both contemporary and historical films, Maureen Sabine masterfully recovers the Eros of a religious vocation. In so doing, she challenges the way that popular culture defines women's desire and erotic selfhood, and reveals the complex dynamic between our spiritual and sexual lives."-Rebecca Sullivan, The University of Calgary