Passiontide:

A.J. Pell is rector of Christ Church in Hope, B.C., editor of the
Canadian Evangelical Review, and an instructor of Liturgy, Anglican
Studies Programme at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Passiontide is a very Anglican novel in which an uptight Anglo-Catholic
priest from Toronto runs away to find himself by doing a six-month
interim ministry in an Anglican-United pastoral charge in the towns at
each end of Pacific Rim National Park. The title comes from the
author’s use of the verses of Isaac Watt’s hymn, “When I survey
the wondrous cross,” which are interspersed throughout the novel as a
commentary and explication of Father David Corcoran’s journey from
personal and professional darkness to an epiphany of heart, mind, and
soul.

While the premise is promising, the reality is a novel in need of a
good editor. There is enough substance for a novella, not a novel. The
first two-thirds of the book are outrageously padded with unnecessary
geographic, political, and ecclesial descriptions and commentaries that
distract the reader from the developing story. Further, several key
turns in the plot are clumsily foreshadowed well before they occur,
especially David’s near-death on the ocean’s shore. Finally, the
characters are stiff and one-dimensional; even the protagonist lacks
death and complexity.

Before embarking on his next novel, Pearson should spend some time
reading works by good Canadian Christian writers, such as Hugh Hood’s
early novels or Morley Callaghan’s Such Is My Beloved.