From one of our greatest living writers, a bold and timely novel about
sin cloaked in sacrament, shame that enforces silence, and the courage
of one priest who dares to speak truth to power.
Sent away from his native Australia to Canada due to his radical
preaching against the Vietnam War, apartheid, and other hot button
issues, Father Frank Docherty made for himself a satisfying career as a
psychologist and monk. When he returns to Australia to lecture on the
future of celibacy and the Catholic Church, he is unwittingly pulled
into the lives of two people--a young man, via his suicide note, and an
ex-nun--both of whom claim to have been sexually abused by a prominent
monsignor.
As a member of the commission investigating sex abuse within the Church,
and as a man of character and conscience, Docherty decides he must
confront each party involved and try to bring the matter to the
attention of both the Church and the secular authorities. What follows
will shake him to the core and call into question many of his own
choices.
This riveting, profoundly thoughtful novel is "the work of a richly
experienced and compassionate writer [with] an understanding of a
deeply wounded culture" (Sydney Morning Herald). It is an exploration
of what it is to be a person of faith in the modern world, and of the
courage it takes to face the truth about an institution you love.
