The Bishop's Man

Description

A tense, moving exploration of guilt, past lives and the dark side of the Catholic Church. Father Duncan MacAskill has spent most of his priesthood as the 'Exorcist' - an enforcer employed by his bishop to discipline wayward clergy and suppress potential scandal. Hidden in a small rural parish to avoid an impending public controversy, Duncan must now confront the consequences of his past. Pushed to the breaking point by loneliness, tragedy and sudden self-knowledge, Duncan discovers how hidden obsessions and guilty secrets either find their way to the light of understanding, or poison any chance we have for love and spiritual peace. Winner of the 2009 Giller Prize, Canada's Premier Literary Prize.

Linden MacIntyre is the co-host of the fifth estate and the winner of nine Gemini awards for broadcast journalism. He is the author of the bestselling novel, The Long Stretch, nominated for a Libris Award and the Books in Canada first novel award. His most recent book is a boyhood memoir, Causeway- A Passage from Innocence won both the Edna Staebler Award for Non-fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-fiction.

Extraordinary... Above all, it's a page-turner which renders existential questions about personal responsibility into fodder fit for a thriller * Observer * Impressive in the breadth of its concerns ... what is striking about The Bishop's Man is the way the author achieves a necessary balance, keeping a judicious distance between himself and his tale of institutional corruption and its dire effect. Both dispassion and compassion inform his narrative * Times Literary Supplement * The character of MacAskill, whose theological musings are worthy of Graham Greene, is rich and complex. The remote and decaying fishing village, with its cast of lost and lonely souls, also rings with conviction * Daily Mail * Powerful... An overwhelming sense of secrecy pervades every exchange, every turn and twist of the story * Belfast Telegraph * Very readable, with a hint of Graham Greene -- William Leith * Scotsman *