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Crimes of the Father

By: Thomas Keneally
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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Summary

A courageous and powerful novel about faith, the church, conscience and celibacy.

Excommunicated to Canada due to his radical preaching on the Vietnam War and other human rights causes, Father Frank Docherty is now a psychologist and monk. He returns to Australia to speak on abuse in the church and unwittingly is soon listening to stories from two different people - a young man via his suicide note and an ex-nun - who both claim to have been sexually abused by an eminent Sydney cardinal. This senior churchman is himself currently empannelled in a commission investigating sex abuse within the church.

As a man of character and conscience, Father Docherty finds he must confront each party involved in the abuse and cover-up to try to bring the matter to the attention of the church itself, and to secular authorities.

This riveting, profoundly thoughtful novel is both an exploration of faith as well as an examination of marriage, of conscience and celibacy and of what has become one of the most controversial institutions, the Catholic Church. Tom Keneally, ex-seminarian, pulls no punches as he interrogates the terrible damage done to innocents as the Catholic Church has prevaricated around language and points of law, covering up for its own.

©2016 The Serpentine Publishing Company (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
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Critic reviews

" Crimes of the Father is the work of a richly experienced and compassionate writer. It has an honest understanding of a deeply wounded culture." ( The Sydney Morning Herald)
"Nuanced and relevant.... Crimes of the Father is an excellent example of fiction's capacity to pull apart and explore polarising contemporary problems." ( BMA Magazine)

What listeners say about Crimes of the Father

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A good and all to believable story

An all to real story.wonderfully well written and made more real for having been written by a Catholic who almost became a priest. It also made a great audio book beautifully read by Humphrey Bower a great favourite of mine.

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  • Overall
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Topical and well constructed

Would you listen to Crimes of the Father again? Why?

Probably not, too many other books to listen to

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

It was topical and set in my home country

Have you listened to any of Humphrey Bower’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes, he is my favourite narrator.OK though he had less to work with

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

More thought provoking than emotional

Any additional comments?

Worth reading and I bought it for family

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