In London, Ted, a lapsed American Catholic married to a British woman encounters a friend’s child who is studying for his first communion. The boy, Jonathan, is terminally ill and believes the ritual of his first communion might miraculously heal him. Ted sees himself in the boy, and vividly recalls his childhood self. The idea of an eternal afterlife comforts Jonathan, but for Ted the idea represents a kind of dislocation: Is life merely something to be endured in preparation for eternity? Ted believed that as a child and now, in Jonathan, he finds the same beliefs taking hold. He must find a way back to his life and rediscover the profound joy that anchors him in this life, rather than in eternity.
About the author
David Plante’s 1978 novel
The Family was nominated for a National Book Award.
The Family is the beginning of an acclaimed trilogy known as the Francoeur trilogy and includes the books
The Woods and
The Country.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
758,714 Ebooks in this category
