Eminence
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
As a young and outspoken priest, Luca Rossini was brutally tortured in an Argentine military prison, and then nursed back to health by the beautiful Isabel. Exiled to Rome to avoid scandal, Rossini becomes a cardinal and the pope's confidante. He is admired and feared by his colleagues, for he understands the Church, speaks frankly and knows how to present his ancient faith to the media. When the pope becomes gravely ill and a successor must be chosen, Rossini takes a central role. In the midst of the political intrigue that surrounds the selection of a new pope, Isabel arrives in Rome-along with Rossini's daughter. Suddenly, Rossini must confront painful memories of Argentina and the scandalous passion of his long-suspended love affair.Eminence is Morris West at the peak of his powers as a novelist, offering profound insights into the workings of the Catholic Church in a gripping personal story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cardinal Luca Rossini, hero of this intriguing novel of papal succession, is a Vatican gadfly who approaches his duties with the cool efficiency of a corporate executive. Rossini lost his faith during the 1970s when, as a young priest in Argentina, he was tortured by the military. After a brief affair with his rescuer and nurse, brave Isabel Ortega, Rossini was recalled to Rome, where he came under the patronage of the pope, despite his opposition to the pontiff's conservative policies. Now the pope has died and his secret diaries, which betray doubts about his stringent tenets, are being leaked to the media. Rossini is suddenly thrust into the eye of the doctrinal hurricane as an influential conclave voter, a proponent of liberalization and a surprisingly strong papal candidate. Meanwhile Rossini has come to doubt not only his faith but also his vocation. To complicate matters further, Isabel arrives in Rome with shocking revelations of her own. With half a century's writing experience under his belt, West (The Shoes of the Fisherman; The Lovers; etc.) wrestles courageously with a bloated plot, though he occasionally lapses into sentimentality during scenes between the former lovers. Overall, he succeeds in balancing contemporary Vatican intrigue and details (cellular phones ring within the folds of medieval vestments) with Rossini's myriad political, spiritual and personal crises. It is the Cardinal who holds the story together, emerging as a passionate, insightful and strong-willed character in this very temporal exploration of the church today. Literary Guild selection.
