Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis

Description

Inspired by the great frescoes of St Francis of Assisi, the highly-praised author of PROPERTY has written a new and wholly original biography. Composed in a series of vividly realised 'panels', SALVATION begins with the dying Francesco - and the rivalry for his body among the towns of medieval Italy - and moves back in time toward his mystical conversion. The old friar, exhausted by illness and division among his brotherhood, gives way to the zealous missionary who joins the Fifth Crusade, confident that he can convert Sultan al-Kamil in Egypt. Later, we see the unwashed and innocent revolutionary, unafraid to lecture a pope on Christ's message, and finally the frivolous young Francesco on the deserted road where his encounter with a leper leads him to an ecstatic embrace of God. SALVATION is a window into a medieval world whose physicality and purity have rarely been rendered with such visceral power. Most important, it is a unique, immediate portrait of the great mystic, whose legend has resonated through the centuries in both religious and secular realms.

Valerie Martin is the author of six novels and two collections of short fiction. She lived in Italy for three years before moving to America. Her novel PROPERTY won the Orange Prize in 2003 and MARY REILLY was made into a film starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich.

SALVATION: 'Be careful - This is one of those rare books with the grace and power to change your life' Paul Mariani - LIBRARY JOURNAL.