Story of a Soul by Thérèse of Lisieux (1898) — The autobiography that Thérèse wrote during the last two years of her life at the Carmel, dictated in three separate manuscripts to her sister. It is at once a spiritual document, a record of childhood in a devout bourgeois Norman family of the 1880s, and an unusually direct account of religious doubt alongside faith. Whatever your view of the theology, it is a striking piece of first-person writing by a 24-year-old dying of tuberculosis who knew she was being watched and had decided to be completely honest.
Thérèse by Noel O'Donoghue (1983) — A short, careful study of Thérèse and her thought that avoids both hagiography and the fashionable deconstruction of her cult. Useful for visitors who want to understand why this particular saint attracted the devotion she did, and what her "little way" of spirituality actually means.