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Product Description
Quill & Quire
Father Duncan MacAskill is called The Exorcist. Not in the traditional sense, however: at his bishop’s bidding, he drives out devils of a different sort – priests who molest children. He does not banish the devils to hell, nor to the police, but to discreet clinics or simply to far-off parishes to commence their sins anew. MacAskill’s loathsome bishop has a heart of ice. He refuses to see abused children as victims. They are merely troublesome complainers who need to be silenced. The Exorcist is more sympathetic, but still he obeys the bishop. Despite his own celibacy and sobriety issues, MacAskill is the closest thing to a hero in Linden MacIntyre’s riveting new novel, The Bishop’s Man, a searing indictment of the Catholic church. MacAskill is sent to a rural parish in his native Cape Breton, which is also the author’s native land. There, while wrestling with his own demons, MacAskill encounters a troubled young man who appears to be the victim of a notorious priest. MacAskill is determined to help this man, regardless of the consequences for the church. His subsequent investigation takes him on a sordid and surprising path. Despite being a work of fiction, The Bishop’s Man has the ring of truth. Indeed, MacIntyre writes with great authority. The past few decades have seen a stream of stories about church sex abuse scandals in Canada, the U.S., and Ireland. We feel we know this issue, yet we learn so much more from MacIntyre’s very credible, complex characters. This novel is not perfect. At times, the plot is convoluted and the back-and-forth chronology gets rather tiresome. Generally, however, it is a well-crafted, brave, and painful examination of one of the most monstrous issues of our time.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
“The Bishop’s Man centres on a sensitive topic — the sexual abuses perpetrated by Catholic priests on the innocent children in their care. Father Duncan, the first person narrator, has been his bishop's dutiful enforcer, employed to check the excesses of priests and, crucially, to suppress the evidence. But as events veer out of control, he is forced into painful self-knowledge as family, community and friendship are torn apart under the strain of suspicion, obsession and guilt. A brave novel, conceived and written with impressive delicacy and understanding.”
— Statement by Jury, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2009
"A novel with the ring of truth.... The Bishop's Man is perhaps as close as we will get to eavesdropping on the private conversations we were never meant to hear among clergy or between clergy and 'complainers.'"
— The Gazette
"Engrossing...a serious examination of the theme [the sexual abuse of children] with the page-turning energy of a thriller."
— The Globe and Mail
Praise for Linden MacIntyre:
“MacIntyre isn’t just another face and larynx from television [but] an honest-to-God writer…”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“MacIntyre is a fine writer.”
— Alistair MacLeod
From the Hardcover edition.
— Statement by Jury, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2009
"A novel with the ring of truth.... The Bishop's Man is perhaps as close as we will get to eavesdropping on the private conversations we were never meant to hear among clergy or between clergy and 'complainers.'"
— The Gazette
"Engrossing...a serious examination of the theme [the sexual abuse of children] with the page-turning energy of a thriller."
— The Globe and Mail
Praise for Linden MacIntyre:
“MacIntyre isn’t just another face and larynx from television [but] an honest-to-God writer…”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“MacIntyre is a fine writer.”
— Alistair MacLeod
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
71 of 71 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reality viewed through fiction--The Bishop's Man,
By
This review is from: The Bishop's Man (Hardcover)
The Bishop's Man is a wonderful book. It explores the many facets which contributed to and resulted from the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, through the story of a priest in Cape Breton.The book follows Father Duncan McAskill on his journey from a difficult childhood through a career as a priest. He has been used by his bishop to help in supppressing scandals by being the messenger who has notified priests that they are to be moved. As he struggles with the realities of a Church hierarchy in denial, the loneliness and isolation of priests in small communities and the heartbreaking sense of betrayal and confusion in the faithful laity, he comes to a personal crisis in his own vocation. The characters are wonderfully drawn,and realistic. The book reads like a thriller and once I started it, I did not want to put it down.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you're going to write about abuse, this is the way to do it,
By
This review is from: The Bishop's Man (Hardcover)
As soon as you read the sypnosis, you might groan in anticipation of some sordid journey into the loathsome depths of some scumbag religion's dark and dirty cellar. But you would be wrong. This is a book that tries, at least, to be fair about the Catholic church's overall legacy and function, realistically portraying the challenges that come up.The protagonist is a clean-up man, designated by his bishop to sweep scandal under the rug. MacIntyre does a superb job of taking us inside the mind of this man, showing how his life of suppressing the human dignity of his victim in order to preserve the aura of institutional integrity has slowly drained him. At the same, as an intelligent, emotional being, he realizes this and is beginning to comprehend just how much of an impact his role in life is having. The book is about him slowly groping towards redemption. The Globe and Mail reviewer put it well I think, when he/she said this book ultimately contains more contrition than redemption. Also, in spite of the dark subject matter, this book uses suspense ably to compel the reader to turn the pages. So this is a literary book that actually has the potential to appeal to a fairly wide audience. About time, I'd say.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
One Man's Journey,
By
This review is from: The Bishop's Man (Hardcover)
Linden MacIntyre, an award winning author and journalist, has written a novel about a Cape Breton priest, Father Duncan MacAskill, and his life and work in a rural parish on the blessed island. The underlying tension comes from his reputation as the "Bishop's Man" who helps the church avoid scandal by moving troublesome clerics around, away, for treatment etc. But there is much more to this novel which is about a man struggling with himself, his calling, his hopes, memories and dreams. Clergy will recognize many of their own strains and stresses in this story. Lay people will find their own ministries challenged and confirmed. There are wonderful descriptions of the Cape Breton landscape and moods especially for those who live near the ocean. In spite of its dark themes, I ended reading this with a sense of hope and faith in the possibilities of redemption.
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