Faith, by Jennifer Haigh

Jennifer Haigh. Faith. New York: Harper Perennial, 2011. 318 pages. ISBN 9780060755812.

After reading and completely enjoying Jennifer Haigh's The Condition a few years ago, I was excited that my book club selected Faith for our October read. Set during the aftermath of the child abuse scandals in the Boston Catholic Church, Faith focuses on the effects of an accusation of a priest who may, in fact, be innocent.

The book is narrated by Sheila years after her brother's death. Art was a priest who had a long and relatively happy, although perhaps lonely, career in the Boston Catholic Church. Art is Sheila's half-brother; his own father disappeared when he was young, and Art and Sheila's mother remarried when Art was a preteen. Sheila's younger brother Mike is a former police officer with a wife and two children. When Art is accused, Sheila wants to believe in his innocence, but Mike and his wife automatically believe the accusation.

Art's loneliness has led him to befriend the young daughter (Kath) of the parish housekeeper and Kath's son Aidan. He allows Aidan to spend time in his office until Kath can pick him up when she gets out of work. He also takes them on short day trips, including one trip to the beach after which Kath accuses him of inappropriately touching Aidan. Abandoned by the Church hierarchy which would prefer to settle out of court than defend him against the accusation, Art never has a chance to prove his innocence.

Faith is a wonderfully written depiction of the distances between family members and the complexities of the characters' lives. The personal dynamics are all too real and believable. It makes one wonder what would happen if someone were falsely accused. Would anyone be able to ever overcome such a disaster? In spite of the serious matter and the sad characters (no one comes off looking very good in this book), I really enjoyed reading it and found it impossible to put down.

In other news:

I had a lot of desk work to do at home today: processing junk mail, paying bills, filing stuff, and more. This is the music that I listened to while I worked:

1. NeatNeatNeat. This is a compilation CD distributed by Uncut magazine in 2002 (it's numbered 2002 07). My brother David used to buy lots of music magazines, and when they came with CDs he often gave them to me. I enjoy them since they include music and bands I would never have heard of otherwise.
2. The Best of the Moody Blues: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection.
3. Soundgarden. Badmotorfinger. This includes some great songs, such as Rusty Cage, Outshined, Jesus Christ Pose, Mind Riot, and Holy Water.
4. Stone Temple Pilots. Shangri-La Dee Da.