A Beckoning Silence

Following Brewster's earlier novel, The Vicar of Afton, this story picks up with the new curate, Rachel Mason's, determination to leave St. James and go to Nepal to seek peace and a new meaning in her life after the drug death of the man she had sought to help. While on her flight to a Tibetan rescue camp in central Nepal, the plane crashes and she is captured by Chinese Maoists. The acceptance of her captivity in the shadow of the mystical Himalayas and her own gradual healing in aiding the wounded "enemy" restores her faith and purpose. The attempts by the U.S. Government to obtain Rachel's release are frustrated by internal conflict and secrecy to the point, when leaked to the newspapers, they cause a national outcry. Rachel's story is played out against the restive activities of new voices at St. James and the complicated lives of its parishioners.