The Bishop's Man

I read The Bishop's Man just after Pope Francis's visit to the USA. The author writes about a priest, who's known as the enforcer within the church, as he deals with those priests who've been caught in a sexual scandal or in some other illicit activity. He is often called by the bishop, who counsels him to look the other way from time to time. The fact that he's asked to participate in cover-ups and attempted cover-ups plays heavily on his mind. He has his own secrets that are hard to bear and the environment he's asked to work in, a small fishing settlement near his childhood home in Nova Scotia, adds to his turmoil

This novel won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2009. I was further intrigued by the structure of the book. Told largely in dialogue, the author succeeds in showing the internal struggles of a man who tries to do the right thing, despite the pull of his superiors.