In an impoverished village in southern Italy, the enigmatic life and mysterious death of Giacomo Nerone has inspired talk of sainthood. Father Blaise Meredith, a dying English priest, is sent by the Vatican to investigate. As he tries to untangle the web of facts, rumours and outright lies that surround Nerone, The Devil's Advocate reminds us how the power of goodness ultimately prevails over despair. The Devil's Advocate was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of ...
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In an impoverished village in southern Italy, the enigmatic life and mysterious death of Giacomo Nerone has inspired talk of sainthood. Father Blaise Meredith, a dying English priest, is sent by the Vatican to investigate. As he tries to untangle the web of facts, rumours and outright lies that surround Nerone, The Devil's Advocate reminds us how the power of goodness ultimately prevails over despair. The Devil's Advocate was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature, and was made into a film. It sold three million copies in its first two years and remains one of Morris West's most popular novels. A reading experience of real emotional intensity.' The New York Times Book Review An engrossing story, expertly told, about a set of fascinating people.' Chicago Sunday Tribune Brilliant and deeply disturbing. The Daily Telegraph
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The story revolves around Father Blaise Meredith, who has just discovered just how short life can be, as he struggles to determine if Giacomo Nerone was indeed a saint in the tiny poor town on the mountains of Italy as some of the locals believe.
Indeed that very question is placed in the readers hands as the good priest struggles with the small town politics in his last days.
I greatly enjoyed the authors ability to show the humanity of Blaise's faith through this tale. While he is to play the "Devil's Advocate" about this potential "saint" we see how human his faith can be, and how he handles the challenge of those who lead lives that might not seem so devout that he must work with on his mission.