New Habits was my first book - but I only wrote the introduction. It's a series of interviews. When a friend decided to leave teaching and go and 'become a nun' I noticed that all my friends were, at the same moment fascinated and horrified. They thought she had gone completely crazy.

So I decided that I'd go and speak to ten other women who were becoming nuns and ask them why they were making this radical choice. How they felt about poverty, celibacy and obedience. How could they be so sure of the reality of God that they could commit their lives to their spiritual search in this way? I had a wonderful couple of months sitting in convent gardens with a really inspiring group of women asking them all the questions that you'd probably ask a young nun if you found yourself stuck in a lift for a couple of hours.

I chose nuns from the Church of England because everyone thinks all nuns are Roman Catholic.

Five years on from this book - This is where all the sisters are now...

"My friends all thought it was perfectly natural that I should become a nun. There was only one group of people who seemed totally amazed and that was those who went to my church. You would have thought that they would be happy to hear that I was going to dedicate my life to the God that they worship every Sunday, but they were all shocked and I remember one woman saying, 'What do you want to do that for?'
Sister Teresa in New Habits.

Sister Teresa is no longer a member of the Community of the Sisters of Bethany in Hampshire. She has moved from that Community to the Community of the Sisters of the Church at Ham Common in Richmond. She is currently their 'Guest sister' looking after the guests who visit the convent for retreat, meditation workshops or just to escape to silence for a couple of days.

"One of my friend's said, 'You can still be married and have kids and serve God you know. You don't have to become a nun for goodness sake!" Sister Rachel in New Habits.

Sister Rachael has left the community and is no longer living the religious life.

"One chap at work said to me: 'What? You mean they don't pay you and you can't have sex?' and I said, 'Well, basically yes.' He was utterly horror struck." Sister Helen in 'New Habits.'

Sister Helen is still happily a member of the Order or the Holy Paraclete, in Yorkshire, England. She took life vows in 2001. Her work she considers to be prayer. She also works as a hospital chaplain and, partly as a result of her interview in New Habits, is frequently asked to do media interviews. She was most recently asked to speak on the subject of 'sacrifice' for Songs of Praise. She says that she finds the idea of trying to be a good nun exhausting as it is more than she can manage to be a good human being.

"One day my family were all sitting discussing what we had wanted to do when we grew up and someone said 'When Judy was four she wanted to be a nun!' and everyone roared with laughter, thinking this hysterically funny. I thought 'Oh help, what am I going to do?' I was twenty and I still wanted to be a nun."
Sister Judith in 'New Habits.'

Sister Judith remains at the strict enclosed community of the Sisters of the Love of God in Oxford. They rise in the middle of the night each night to say prayers between 2am and 3am as well as the other prayers that make up part of the day. Sister Judith will leave the community only for medical reasons or to attend religious conferences.

"One of my friends at work said, 'She's just running away from the world,' and another really laid into him and said, 'Listen, this isn't running away! It's the hardest thing that she's ever done.' And it's interesting because second friend isn't religious in any way but she knew that this isn't an option that counts as 'running away.'
Sister Lynn in 'New Habits.'

Sister Lynn has left the Community of the Sisters of the Church at Ham common in Richmond and is now working in the library service.

" I met this bloke on the train yesterday and he said, 'Are you Roman Catholic?' and I said, 'No, I'm Anglican' and he said maybe he could tell me his joke anyway. He'd tried it on two bishops and a Catholic sister. So I waited. He asked, 'What do you call a Sister who goes to be a hermit in a washing machine?' And the answer is 'Sistematic, er, Sister-matic. Terrible isn't it?' These are the dubious advantages of taking public transport in a habit." Sister Julie in New Habits.

Sister Julie remains at the Community of the Holy Name in Derby.

"I remember just after I was clothed as a novice I was proudly wearing my new habit and veil. The first time, quite literally, that I went out of the gate a child came along and shouted to his friend, 'Eeergh look, she's got a funny thing on her head. What is it?' I could hardly stop and explain, 'Well, you see, it all started with St Paul..."
Sister Margaret in New Habits.

Sister Margaret-Anne remains at All Saints Sisters of the Poor. She has also been ordained and works as a curate in the local church.

"I had never been to church in my life and when I did go, I was astounded to find that people discussed the social events and the local news. I wanted to talk about the reality of God in our lives at a deep level. It never crossed my mind to approach the vicar." Sister Joan in New Habits.

Sister Joan is no longer at the community of the Sacred Cross in Wales. I'm trying to find out where she is now!

"I went to church for the first time in my life and there was all this fussing around going on up at the front and I said, 'What's all this?' And the priest said that it was the last supper and where to find it in the Bible and stuff and I read it. 'Do this in remembrance of me.' Jesus was sitting at a meal table, and there they are swinging incense over a holy book and all. And I thought, and I still think it now, 'How did they get from that to this performance?" Sister Rose in New Habits.

Sister Rose is still living in Brixton - with the Community of St Francis.

"As my dear niece said 'Wasn't it enough when you were in the ecumenical community in Germany and wearing that dowdy old pinafore dress? Now you are getting up at four-thirty in the morning and living in an English community with a load of monks!"

Sister Esther has left the community in Hove, Sussex, returned to Germany and is now married.