Book Review: The Barn at the End of the World; the apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist shepherd, by Mary Rose O’Reilly

Her chapters alternate between often graphic descriptions of ram vasectomies and other highly earthy parts of the shepherd job that I’d never thought of before and reflections on her spiritual journey. The connections between these are surprisingly clear enough that she doesn’t have to draw the parallels for us.

Then she is off for six months at Thich N’hat Hanh’s Plum Village in the south of France. She is neither reverent nor a compliant pupil, and the part of this experience that I appreciated most was her honesty in documenting her struggles and the reward that she did ultimately receive from them. Then back to the sheepfold, briefly, where she put it all together in a way that made me keep running for my journal to write down another quote.

Ben, the very practical guy in charge of the sheep, asks O’Reilly what she really wants in the next phase of her life. It seems to be forty acres, sustainably farmed, with little hermitages for visitors. “I get it,” says Ben, “A religious petting zoo.”

— Karin McAdams