Faith

Jennifer Haigh's newest work, Faith, reminds me of the intriguing Oscar-Award Nominated film, Doubt (2008, starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman).  Like Doubt, Faith is the story of a seemingly righteous Priest who's been accused of molesting a child in his care, and the resulting impact of that accusation on the characters and community involved.  Similarly, ambivalence threads through both stories, so we are sometimes uncertain (that is to say, we have doubts) about each Priests' innocence, while we are also sometimes convinced (or, have faith in) his innocence.  

This, to my memory, is where the similarities end. In Faith, Haigh develops a complex narrative of love, family and faith that is both beautifully written and hard to put down.  Unlike the film Doubt, which ends in more ambivalence, readers of Haigh's novel are awarded with an unexpected and captivating truth that leaves much to talk about.  This one's so good, it was an obvious pick for our December Adult Book Club.