Hail Mary Corner

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

The subtext of this first novel by Vancouver/Victoria writer Brian
Payton is the struggle between the hormones, friendships, and
uncertainties of adolescence on the one hand, and religious dogma and
education on the other. The battle plays itself out in the
Benedictine-run Seminary of St. John the Divine, perched high on a hill
overlooking the fictional Ennis Valley on Vancouver Island.
Sixteen-year-old Bill MacAvoy leads a group of other junior-class
students in attempting to accommodate a system of beliefs and
certainties with which he and the others are frequently at odds.

The novel begins with the dedication of the seminary’s new abbey
church, which, from the outside, “appeared as if a giant spaceship had
landed from some postmodern Catholic galaxy.” At the beginning of each
term, young MacAvoy narrates, everyone has to give a rating of his
potential religious vocation on a scale of one to ten. “One” means
you are probably an atheist, while “ten” points toward canonization.
Bill and his friends illustrate the fallacy of such early pigeonholing,
especially as it relates to a divine calling.

At the heart of the story are the secrets Bill uncovers in the
seminary—secrets that involve his best friend and one of the priests,
and that, when divulged, lead to tragic consequences. On a parallel,
ecclesiastical level, Bill wrestles with the secrets of a faith-based
Church.

Payton, the author of two books of nonfiction, happily avoids
stereotyping either the seminarians or the priests and monks who are
their teachers. He also shows a mature command of dialogue and settings
in this fine debut novel, which is recommended for public libraries.