Search This Blog

2025 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


1 / 30 books. 3% done!

2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


4 / 50 books. 8% done!

2025 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:

My Progress:


3 / 51 states. 6% done!

2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


2 / 50 books. 4% done!

2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 50 books. 8% done!

Booklist Queen's 2025 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 52 books. 8% done!

2025 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 52 books. 8% done!

2025 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 40 books. 10% done!

2025 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


1 / 25 cozies. 4% done!

2025 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2025 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


3 / 26.2 miles. 11% done!

2025 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


2 / 100 books. 2% done!

2025 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 109 books. 4% done!

2025 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


4 / 52 books. 8% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


90 / 100 names. 90% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 80 skills. 63% done!
Saturday, June 04, 2011

Haigh's Newest Dissects Faith, Family

(Image from Indiebound)

Although the two have never been close, Sheila McGann has always felt great affection for her older half-brother, Arthur Breem. She admires his quiet kindness, his even temperament, and his steadfast devotion to the Catholic Church. As a brother, as a person, as a priest, he's always been above reproach. Which is why Sheila's so shocked when Art's accused of molesting the young grandson of a woman in his suburban Boston parish. Despite the constant headlines accusing other priests of similar acts, Sheila refuses to believe her brother's capable of such a thing.

The accusation causes a rift in the already turbulent McGann Family. Tim McGann's so ravaged by alcoholism he barely remembers he has a stepson, let alone that Art's been accused of such a heinous crime. But the news shatters Mary, who's so pious she arrives thirty minutes early to every Mass so she can "say a rosary and frown at the late-comers" (182). She's always been so proud of her oldest son, the priest. Now, she can hardly show her face in public. Mike McGann's never felt comfortable with his half-brother and Abby, his wife, has never taken to the Church or the McGanns. The scandal adds fuel to both arguments, causing so much tension that Mike can't stand to be at home, a fact that leads to even bigger problems. Sheila's caught somewhere in the middle. She doesn't want to believe her gentle brother would hurt a child. However dysfunctional her family is, Sheila's sure they're not that far gone.

In an effort to prove Art's innocence, Sheila starts digging into her brother's life, examining every minute detail - the thoughts he so often keeps to himself, the actions that look so pure on the surface, the every intention of a man who has pledged his life to the service of God. Mostly, she questions Art's interactions with Kath Conlon and her 8-year-old son, Aidan. Art claims he was counseling Kath, trying to help her beat a fierce drug addiction. He says he looked after the boy like a doting father would. But is it true? Or did Art have a more sinister purpose, as Kath claims? As Sheila combs through the evidence, desperate to exonerate her brother, she finds herself confronting the deep, dark secrets her family's been concealing for years.

Faith, Jennifer Haigh's newest, tells the compelling story of one family's refusal to see what's right in front of them. It's about the corrosive nature of secrets, of lies, and the healing, if painful, path to the truth. Haigh uses flawed characters, few of whom are even likable, to spin her tale. Despite their churlishness, they somehow make us care. Still, the story lacked a little something for me. I'm sure I missed some of the novel's subtle complexities because of my unfamiliarity with Catholicism, but it's more than that - I found the book so depressing, so sad really, that I can't say I enjoyed it. Faith held my attention, it just didn't do much more. In the end, it was just okay for me.

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little bit of Faithful Place by Tana French.)

Grade: C+

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language, sexual content and depictions of illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Faith from the generous folks at Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours, for whom this review was written.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Coram House by Bailey Seybolt

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Salty Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



Followin' with Bloglovin'


Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive



2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge

2025 Reading Challenge

2025 Reading Challenge
Susan has read 0 books toward her goal of 215 books.
hide

2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction