A lost gospel, a contentious relic, and a dying pope's final wish converge to send two brothers--both Vatican priests--on an intellectual quest to untangle Christianity's greatest historical mystery.

"Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into Venice for a much needed holiday with his wife and two young children. But when Pope Paul VII dies suddenly, Gabriel is summoned to Rome by the Holy Father's loyal private secretary, Archbishop Luigi Donati. A billion Catholic faithful have been told that the pope died of a heart attack. Donati, however, has two good reasons to suspect his master was murdered. The Swiss Guard who was standing watch outside the...

At the height of World War II, Father Frank Darragh, a young priest embarking on his new career in the church, struggles with temptation in the person of seductive parishioner Kate Heggarty.

"The Ghent Altarpiece is the most violated work of art in the world. Thirteen times it has been vandalized, dismantled, or stolen. Why? What secrets does it hold? Enter UNESCO investigator, Nicholas Lee, who works for the United Nations' Cultural Liaison and Investigative Office (CLIO). Nick's job is to protect the world's cultural artifacts-including countless lesser-known objects and national treasures. When Nick travels to Belgium for a visit with...

"Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic new teacher and longs to be her pet. However, when a thief begins to target the school, Justine's sense that something isn't quite right grows ever stronger. With each twist of the plot, this gripping story of deception and the corrosive power of guilt takes a yet darker turn. Justine must decide where her loyalties lie. Set in New Zealand in the 1980s...

I have read the book twice in my life and find it a fascinating character study of the fallible priest who still feels called to minister the Eucharist to the poor who need him. The setting in Mexico is powerful as the priest ministers illegally in the season of Mexico's history where he could be arrested and killed at any time. Greene's character study is methodical and intense, not a light read. Still the "power and the glory" of the book is obvious...

Character study of Francis Chisholm, a lovable Scottish priest who spends thirty-six years in a remote Chinese village.

While browsing the Vatican libraries, Harvard professor Cal Donovan uncovers a secret that could bankrupt the Catholic church. Unearthing evidence of a 200-year-old loan which the Vatican owes to a Jewish bank, Cal deduces that, with centuries of interest behind it, the sum now amounts to a crippling 25 billion Euros. With the future of the Vatican at stake, Pope Celestine asks Cal to intercede with the Sassoon family to whom the sum is owed. Thus...

"In northeast Manila's Quezon City is a district called Payatas--a 50-acre dump that is home to thousands of people who live off of what they can scavenge there. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in a city whose law enforcement is already stretched thin, devoid of forensic resources and rife with corruption. So when the eviscerated bodies of teenage boys begin to appear in the dump heaps, there is no one to seek justice on their behalf. In the...

"Born in Sweetwater, West Virginia, with a mop of flaming red hair and a map of the world rendered in port-wine stains on every surface of her body, Garnet Ferrari is used to being an outcast. With her sharp tongue, she has always known how to defend herself against bullies and aggressors, but she finds she is less adept at fending off the pilgrims who have set up a veritable tent city outside her hilltop home, convinced that she is Saint Garnet,...