The hero of J.F. Powerss comic masterpiece is Father Urban a man of the clothwho is also a man of the world. Banished by the envious provincial head of hisdowdy... » 

The hero of J.F. Powerss comic masterpiece is Father Urban a man of the clothwho is also a man of the world. Banished by the envious provincial head of hisdowdy religious order to a decrepit retreat house in the Minnesota hinterlandsUrban soon bounces back carrying Gods word with undaunted enthusiasm throughthe golf courses fishing lodges and backyard barbecues of his new turf. Andyet even as he triumphs his tribulations mount and in the end Urbans greatestsuccess proves a setback from which he cannot recover.Admired by writers as various as Gore Vidal William Gass Mary Gordon andPhilip Roth this beautifully observed often hilarious tale of a most unlikelyknight of faith is among the finest works of an author whose singular visionassures him a permanent place in American literature. «