La Madre, an appreciation of the perennially attractive Teresa of Avila, is written, as it were 'from the inside', by someone who actually lives the kind of religious life Teresa established. It is a way of life that has persisted down to the present time, and which grew out of Teresa's own experience of God and human relationships. This book is designed to introduce the reader to Teresa's life and teaching, setting her within the multifaceted historical and religious perspectives of sixteenth century Spain.
Of Jewish ancestry, Teresa was a woman of unsurpassed courage and insight, a pioneer in championing a woman's right to choose and organise a communal way of life in accord with her own specifically feminine psychology and spiritual capabilities.