The Abbey
A Story of Discovery
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“With this beautiful, touching and utterly believable novel, seekers will be gently invited to encounter the divine and believers be encouraged to deepen their relationships with God. I loved this book and loved the characters!” -Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs
In the tradition of the spiritual classics The Shack and The Screwtape Letters comes The Abbey - a debut novel from New York Times bestselling author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, James Martin, SJ, who provides a window into the spiritual journeys of three people seeking direction, showing us firsthand how God uses our worries, questions, and even anger to help us become whole.
As he did in his previous bestsellers, Martin once again crafts a book that incarnates deep spiritual wisdom while being accessible and full of humor and grace, with characters such as:
· A divorced single mom, Anne can sometimes barely cope with life and struggles to make sense of the death of her young son.
· A former architect who had a promising career, Mark works as a handyman and wonders how his life got off track.
· The abbot of the Abbey of Saints Philip and James, Father Paul sometimes questions how to best live a life that secludes him so thoroughly from the world.
· At a Pennsylvania abbey, this unlikely trio will discover the answers they seek—a miracle of hope and understanding that bears witness to the surprising power of God to bring healing and wholeness to our lives.
This heartfelt novel explores the quiet moments where grace finds a way in, reminding us that no one is ever truly lost.
Grief and Healing: Walk with Anne, a mother grappling with the unimaginable loss of her son, as she stumbles upon a path toward hope in the most unexpected of places.Finding Purpose: Discover why Mark, a talented architect whose life went off track, finds more meaning as a handyman at the abbey than he ever did designing buildings.Faith and Doubt: Join Father Paul, the community’s gentle abbot, as he navigates his own questions and finds God not in solitude, but in the messy lives of his visitors.A Story of Second Chances: A deeply moving and accessible spiritual novel for anyone who has ever felt lost, questioned their faith, or wondered if it’s possible to start again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Popular Jesuit author (Jesus: A Pilgrimage) and media commentator Martin turns to fiction in this warmly comforting tale of a grieving mother who owns a building but has no day-to-day job, a dissatisfied handyman, and an abbot, whose lives come to intersect and are gently changed. Three years after the death of her teenage son in an accident, Anne is stuck in grief. Her tenant Mark works as handyman at an abbey, feeling underemployed and lonely. Father Paul heads the abbey and wonders if he should be an abbot. Anne, whose father once worked for the abbey, is drawn to it after a car breakdown brings her back to the place she visited when a child. Martin offers a simple story about complicated people whose lives need God for direction and healing. His skill as a novelist is fair; the plot is thin but the characters are well drawn. His real strength is his pastoral sensibility his compassion shines through the character of Father Paul. Like his fellow Jesuit Pope Francis, Martin is a persuasive evangelizer for a God, and church, of mercy.
