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.
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.
