The Madonna List

Steven Greenhalgh is the research librarian in the Department of Public
Health Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Set predominantly in the 19th century, this novel brings together the
lives of two seemingly unconnected men in an odd and sometimes alarming
series of events.

Bernard Birous is the arrogant and self-serving son of a Genoese
merchant. When embarrassed by a lowly servant in his father’s
household, he enters the Dominican Order intending to use the Catholic
Church for his own selfish ends. Martin Goyette is an artist residing in
rural Quebec whose desire for justice and revenge leads him to become
involved in the failed 1838 rebellion against the British. Both men fall
in love with women who claim to have witnessed the Virgin Mary, and both
men are ultimately brought together at a penal colony in New South
Wales, Australia. It is here that Martin seeks the counsel and guidance
of Father Birous, little knowing the treachery that lies within the
heart of the Dominican priest.

Many of the characters in this novel are based on historical figures
from either Quebec or Europe. Equally authentic are the various locales
in Australia, such as the Bath Arms Hotel and the Parramatta Female
Factory. Bernard and Martin, while both fictitious, are richly detailed
and garner the reader’s sympathies, rage, or even secret liking.

One critique of novel, however, is that characters are sometimes placed
in attention-grabbing situations that are subsequently dropped or remain
undeveloped. An example is Bernard’s shady dealings at the beginning
of the novel, which end abruptly when he decides to devote his life to
the church. But this fault is minor in a work that skilfully combines a
sense of realism and historical fact with all the elements of religious
devotion, intrigue, and murder.

The Madonna List is a suspenseful, well-paced thriller on a footing
with the famed Da Vinci Code.