Brother Sebastian's Little Holiday or How a Pious Monk Becomes a Not-so-pious Civil Servant

Hugh Oliver is editor-in-chief at the OISE Press.

Brother Sebastian’s Little Holiday touches upon the traditions of the 18th-century novel in so far as it is to do with a picaresque series of adventures stemming from a case of mistaken identity. Furthermore, each chapter begins with a brief summary of what “our hero” will experience in the ensuing pages. Nevertheless, these antique connections are fairly superficial — the conceits, perhaps, of an author with a Ph.D. in English Literature — and the setting and style of the novel are strictly twentieth-century.

The hero, Brother Sebastian, is a naive and impetuous young monk who is thrust from the seclusion of his abbey (Northanger no less) into Ottawa’s political maelstrom, temporarily switching roles with his look-alike, the deputy minister of the Department of Western and Regulatory Affairs. As well as the machinations of the federal civil service (by whom, en passant, the author is employed), Brother Sebastian has to contend with fast cars, exotic meals, and a high-heeled and sexy executive assistant.

The potential for comedy is obvious enough; but although there are several hilarious moments, the book doesn’t quite make it. It doesn’t quite make it because the hero is not quite believable: at times, he is the naive and innocent monk; at other times, he displays a worldly wisdom that contradicts his character. And in so far as everything hinges on his character, the book is less engaging than it might have been — indeed, ought to have been.