Necessary Sins

In antebellum Charleston, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his family's secret African ancestry, and his love for a slaveholder's wife.

Joseph Lazare and his two sisters grow up believing their black hair and olive skin come from a Spanish grandmother-until the summer they learn she was an enslaved African. While his sisters make very different choices, Joseph struggles to transcend the flesh by becoming a celibate priest.

Then young Father Joseph meets Tessa Conley, a devout Irish im...