The Communion of the Saint

By Alan David Justice

Clio Griffin, an out-of-work academic with an attitude and a tendency toward sarcasm, travels to England to interview for a last-chance job-as the pet historian for an antiquarian group who hope to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1430315040
• ISBN13: 9781430315049
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Tale of Time Travel, Mystery ... and Saints

Justice has given us an excellent novel that tells the story of historian, Clio Griffin, who begins to fear that she has inherited her mother's insanity when she arrives in England for a job interview and begins hearing voices and having visions. Clio is being spoken to by St. Alban who was martyred nearby. As the story unfolds, Clio begins to experience the past and present in dizzying succession. She experiences the past through the eyes of people who lived through history that is not as sanitized as one might think from the history books. In the present Clio comes across a wide variety of reactions from such diverse people as the local mystic who sees nothing out of the ordinary in hearing from a saint, the priest who is envious of her visions, the newspaperman who just wants a good story, and the sexton who has possibly made a literal deal with the devil. The sexton's seeming obsession with Clio provides the mystery and threat and is the one real thing about which we do not have to wonder. He is out to get her. Justice has an excellent grip on the portrayal of the modern mind when faith is brought up and he shows the gamut of reactions while also giving us a gripping story. We are pulled through the story by our own involvement and questions. Is Clio really time traveling or is she losing her reason? Where did the plague victim come from who appears suddenly in her home? Will the sexton take his revenge upon her or will he be thwarted? This is a fascinating story about a thoroughly modern person who must come to grips with an ancient saint who is telling her that faith is real and she has a role in both receiving that faith and passing it on to others.