From one of our greatest living writers comes a "powerful story" (New
York Post) about sin cloaked in sacrament, shame that enforces silence,
and the courage of one priest who dares to speak the truth.
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 now enjoys 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 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 and timely 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.
