The Saint of Kathmandu and Other Tales of the Sacred in Distant Lands

With the deft evocations of a master storyteller and the exhaustive knowledge of a scholar, LeVine writes of the uneasy relations between Islam and spirit possession in a Nigerian town and between Christianity and witchcraft in a Kenyan village; of Mexican women taking the Virgin Mary as their role model; of a Nepalese teenager's flight from an arranged marriage to ordination as a Buddhist nun and a feminist career; of a Filipina maid in affluent Hong Kong turning to a charismatic Catholic church for support during long separations from her family; and of American Zen Buddhists trying to maintain their community despite a deeply flawed teacher.

Sarah LeVine grew up in England. She was educated at Oxford, the University of Chicago, and Harvard, where she received her Ph.D. and is now an associate in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies. Her most recent book, with David Gellner, is Rebuilding Buddhism. She lives in the Boston area.