It had been a lucky day for the Order of St. Clement the day Mr. Billy Cosgrove entered the sacristy of a suburban church after Mass and shook the hand of Father Urban.
...is the beginning of J. F. Powers' Morte D'Urban.
Powers' novel came out in 1962 and won the National Book Award. It's a comic novel about life in the priesthood and that first sentence definitely lets you know where you are. It's recently been reissued in the New York Review books series, but I decided to stick with my somewhat beat up old paperback.
I pulled it off my Classics Club list and the mighty power of the random number generator designated it my spin read.
The "Morte" in the title made me think it might be a mystery. Because humor doesn't often win awards, it must be quite a book. I hope you enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy this one. I've not heard of it before. This week I have a thriller - What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a fun-sounding book. I am a sucker for award books so I may have to look for this one. My Friday Quotes
ReplyDeleteA nice, happy BB. I'd love for you and your readers to check out THE UNINVITED CORPSE . . . https://www.facebook.com/elleryadamswritesmysteries/
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