Faith

Faith
by Jennifer Haigh
Harper, 2011. 318 pgs. Fiction

It is the spring of 2002 and priests across Boston are being accused of sexual abuse. Although she has tried to distance herself from her family and her religion, Sheila McGann has remained close to her older brother Art, the popular, dynamic pastor of a large suburban parish. When Art is implicated in the scandal, Sheila returns to Boston, ready to fight for him and his reputation. What she discovers is more complicated than she imagined.

I really liked this book, particularly because it so thoroughly described a place and culture that is completely foreign to me. There were some aspects of the way the book is narrated that bugged me, but in general I really liked the way the author managed to sympathetically portray all sides in this complicated family drama. Although this seems like a book about religion, it is more about family and our relationships with other people.

JC