The Office of Innocence - Softcover

Keneally, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340624760 ISBN 13: 9780340624760

Publisher: Sceptre, 2003

Synopsis

Sydney, 1942, and in a nation threatened by a Japanese invasion, with husbands absent and sleek GIs present, a spirit of recklessness takes hold. Frank Darragh, an impressionable young priest, finds the line between saving others' souls and losing his own begins to blur as he becomes entangled with an attractive married woman, a menage a trois, and a charismatic American sergeant.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

lly is a writer of extraordinary range: from Schindler’s List to The Great Shame his storytelling has engaged millions of readers. Now, after a brief departure into non-fiction, he is back with a novel as timely as it is enduring.

On the outskirts of Sydney, Father Frank Darragh is embarking on his new life of priesthood just as war erupts in the Pacific theater. American GIs pour into Father Darragh’s neighborhood, and with them comes a reminder of the atrocities abounding nearby. Determined to shun hypocrisy, the earnest priest finds himself constantly at odds with his superiors, who frown on his efforts to rescue an errant black soldier and pay deathbed visits to the wayward. But Frank Darragh persists, becoming his parish’s most popular confessor, particularly among wives of Australian servicemen who confront an array of temptations while their husbands are away.

One such parishioner, Kate Heggarty, turns the tables of temptat

From the Back Cover:

“The Office of Innocence is poignant and quietly aspirational, thronged by Keneally’s typically vivid or sympathetic characters.” – Independent

“What is remarkable about Office of Innocence is how finely balanced it is morally. Keneally’s twenty-fifth work of fiction proves his sustained energy and the sustained gracefulness of his intelligence.” - London Sunday Times

“The true excellence of Office of Innocence lies in the author’s ability to blend his depiction of a seaside village in crisis as the Japanese threaten to invade with the nuances of morality and faith that constantly keep Darragh at odds with himself.” – Publishers Weekly

“A good book, a serious book and, because it is both, a stirring book.” – The Sunday Telegraph

“A tight, supremely clear-sighted narrative” – Time Out London

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0340624760
• ISBN 13: 9780340624760
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336