Eager to win the hearts, and souls, of his parishoners, Naughton, Virginia's new reverand, Tom Buckford, discovers that the hard-living, over-sexed members of the town do not care for his unorthodox methods.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Having explored heavenly visitations in her nonfiction bestsellers A Book of Angels and Angel Letters , Burnham again turns to religious themes in this well-crafted, highly absorbing novel. As the 1950s draw to a close, Episcopal minister Tom Buckford arrives in Naughton, Va., emotionally and spiritually exhausted by a failing marriage and a personal crisis of faith. Accustomed to ministering to the poor, he now leads a flock of rich, insular WASPs who are horrified by his progressive theological and racial views. A love affair with a member of his congregation restores his joy in living and leads to a direct revelation from God, but a charge of heresy soon forces him to resign from the church. He becomes a missionary, working with Indians in South and Central America until he is murdered by a Guatemalan death squad. Despite its readability, this intriguing study of spiritual bankruptcy--not Buckford's, but that of his congregation and his cynical bishop--seems at times overly reminiscent of A. J. Cronin's Keys of the Kingdom ; Buckford's interview with his bishop, with similar self-consciousness, evokes the Grand Inquisitor scene in The Brothers Karamazov . Yet Burnham's dramatic narrative invests her material with drama, irony and pathos, and provides an inspiring spiritual dimension as well.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Bestselling Burnham--author of the nonfiction A Book of Angels and Angel Letters and more--continues to explore the power of spiritual inspiration in this compelling 50's-era tragedy-- featuring a Virginia pastor who falls in love with a married woman and, partly through her, experiences God's presence. From the first day, it was clear that young Thomas Buckford was the wrong man to take over as pastor of the Naughton, Virginia, Episcopal church. Idealistic, intense, disconcertingly handsome, and a veteran of a poverty-stricken parish up north, Buckford shares little with the cocktail-slugging, old-monied congregation that has brought him here. Though most of the Naughton parishioners gamely try to accommodate a priest who arrives late at parties, performs house repairs while shirtless, and wanders the neighboring hills pondering the Bhagavad-Gita, neither side is prepared when Buckford falls in love with a young, married, well-born member of the congregation. The couple's ensuing romance leads to spiritual, then carnal ecstasy, moves on to overwhelming guilt, and ends finally in what the despairing Buckford has been seeking all along- -a sign of God's presence in the form of an ecstatic vision. Buckford's spiritual reawakening inspires him to shed Church protocol and instead speak directly to his congregation of love, faith, and the terrible beauty of every moment of their lives. Inevitably, his Christ-like fervor causes the community's already smoldering resentment, envy, and fear to explode. Buckford is doomed--but the Episcopalians of Naughton will never be the same. Spiritual transcendence, sexual passion, and tragic betrayal make for a powerful brew--in a New Testament-inspired melodrama that's sure to gain the author an even greater following. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Elk Creek, Emily Carter, Billy Tyler, General Shriver, George Tooey, John Woods, Tom Buckford, Good God, Carolyn Page, Storey Lunt, Walnut Grove, Bishop Crowley, Trinity Church, Dick Crowley, Rye Shits, Jesus Christ, New York, Miss Eugenia, Graham Eric, Butch Shriver, Saint Francis, Saint Theresa, Dutton Page, Cousin Alice, Free Will Browse Sample Pages:
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Elk Creek, Emily Carter, Billy Tyler, General Shriver, George Tooey, John Woods, Tom Buckford, Good God, Carolyn Page, Storey Lunt, Walnut Grove, Bishop Crowley, Trinity Church, Dick Crowley, Rye Shits, Jesus Christ, New York, Miss Eugenia, Graham Eric, Butch Shriver, Saint Francis, Saint Theresa, Dutton Page, Cousin Alice, Free Will Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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