Monday at the Colfax Tattered Cover (2526 E. Jennifer Haigh will discuss “Faith” at 7:30 p.m. Robin Vidimos is a freelance writer living in Centennial.

“Faith” is painted with a palette of many tones, its outlines of its character sharp and sharply human. The art lies in writing nuanced shades of gray. It is relatively easy to tell a story in black and white. Haigh’s smooth prose belies its hard truths. She arrives in Boston convinced of his innocence. In telling this ranging story, Sheila is plumbing many truths. Aidan touches a special chord in Art.Īrt is blindsided by the accusation. The mother and her 7-year-old son arrive from California.

The allegation arises from a relationship that Art established with Aidan Conlon, the child of his housekeeper’s daughter. Art’s mother is staunchly in his corner, but the Archdiocese seems more interested in settling. The news in Boston is as horrible, one priest after another shuttled from parish to parish, their victims legion. Her brother Mike, the father of young boys, is less certain. In 2002, when the news hits that Art has been removed from his position due to an allegation of sexual abuse, Sheila flies to Boston post haste, unable to believe that Art has been accused. We were two distinct families, unblended, the one simply grafted on to the other. Sheila, the novel’s narrator, said the family never blended: “Maybe such households exist, but in our case, the label did not apply. Mary had two children with Ted: Sheila and Mike.

It must have seemed like a prayer answered when she met Ted McGann, a man with a rough temper but a good job. She became one more single mother with a son to raise. In the end, it didn’t matter why he was gone. She never knew how or why he disappeared years later, a rumor floated that he might have gotten crosswise with the wise guys who predated payday lenders. Mary Breen was 18 and had an infant son, Art,on the June night her husband didn’t come home. The opposite of faith is doubt, the prime mover behind Jennifer Haigh’s “Faith.”Īn Irish Catholic family, a priest and the church’s pedophile scandals in Boston are central to a novel that is riveting and goes in unexpected directions.

Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu

Faith by jennifer haigh