Il Potere E La Gloria

How does good spoil, and how can bad be redeemed? In his penetrating novel The Power and the Glory , Graham Greene explores corruption and atonement through a priest and the people he encounters. In the 1930's, one Mexican state has outlawed the Church, naming it a source of greed and debauchery. The priests have been rounded up and forced to marry, abandoning their faith, or been put in front of a firing squad--save one, Padre José, the whisky priest. On the run, and in a blur of alcohol and fear, this fugitive meets a dentist, a banana farmer, and a village woman he knew six years earlier. For a while, he is accompanied by a toothless man--whom he refers to as his Judas and does his best to ditch. Always, a patriotic lieutenant is only a few hours behind, determined to liberate his country from the evils of the Church.

Greene has drawn Padre José--and all he encounters--vividly and viscerally. He may have said The Power and the Glory was "written to a thesis," but this brilliant theological thriller has far more mysteries--and troubling ideals--than certainties. --Joannie Kervran Stangeland