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The war in Europe is over, and Rome is under the jurisdiction of the Allied Control Commission. Brendan Doherty, an American Vatican prelate and lawyer, is involved in two crusades. Although he feels guilty for having done too little to save the city's Jews from Auschwitz, he means to avert the execution of a Nazi collaborator. He also intends to prove the hypocrisy of Alessandro Serenelli, a man who has spent his life, in prison and out, promoting the beatification of a child martyr. Doherty—memory tormented, hard drinking, a moral street fighter for what he is sure is right—must come to a reckoning with himself and with the unshakable saint-maker Serenelli.
Verdict Though the title and main character suggest a heavily religious story, it will be readers of historical fiction, particularly those interested in World War II, who will find much here to enjoy.—Shannon Marie Robinson, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH
(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Redemption is hard to achieve and sometimes even harder to understand, as Christopher Davis makes clear in this novel of post-world-war-II Italy and Vatican promise. Can a murderer be redeemed by seeing a vision of his victim forgiving him? Is there hope for a man who’s caused the deaths of too many to remember their faces? Can faith redeem, and can it be rushed into existence before a court condemns? And finally, will a drunken priest redeem himself by saving a prisoner’s life, or by condemning another man’s soul—do lives or souls weight heavier on the scales of salvation?
Italy struggles under Allied occupation at the end of World War II. At least a few of those who collaborated with Hitler now face justice, while others struggle to force their own will through the labyrinth of political, religious and sexual corruption left behind. The Catholic church needs a new saint for a new age, and perhaps an old sinner will be the one to conduct her on her way.
Each in his own different prison, each challenged to find escape, and each lavish in invention, the characters of this novel conduct their own strange dance around each other’s sins. Sexual, political, military and personal corruption vie for control. Those who seek redemption in redeeming others might find themselves doubly betrayed. The sad American priest, the scheming Italian, conniving lovers and wives, betrayed Jewish survivors and naïve supplicants, all prove to be pawns, all are lost, and none are as gently found as the forgiven murderer of one. But in the end, only one is being conducted to sainthood. And if saints can save us, they’ll do so one at a time.
Wonderfully evocative, thought-provoking, oddly redemptive despite its corruption and depression, the Conduct of Saints is a truly intriguing drama with a pleasing mix of real-life and imagined characters on the stage of history.
Disclosure: I received a free bound galley of this novel from the publisher with a request for my honest review.
Overview
The war in Europe is over, and Rome is under the jurisdiction of the Allied Control Commission. Brendan Doherty, an American Vatican prelate and lawyer, is involved in two crusades. Although he feels guilty for having done too little to save the city's Jews from Auschwitz, he means to avert the execution of a Nazi collaborator. He also intends to prove the hypocrisy of Alessandro Serenelli, a man who has spent his life, in prison and out, promoting the beatification of a child martyr. Doherty—memory tormented, ...