Office of Innocence — Thomas Keneally

Marshalling the vast powers of narrative and historical re-creation that he brought to his international bestseller Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally has created a moving and provocative novel about a headstrong young Catholic priest in World War II Australia. As Sydney braces itself for a Japanese invasion, Father Frank Darragh finds his pastoral duties becoming increasingly challenging. How should he counsel an AWOL black American soldier who may face death for his involvement with a white woman? And what should he say to another woman -- the distressingly beguiling Kate Heggarty -- who impresses him with her virtue even as she edges toward sin?

When Kate is found murdered, Darragh falls under suspicion. And even if the police clear him, his superiors -- and his own conscience -- may not. Office of Innocence is a book that's impossible to put down, dense with moral complexity and alive with period detail.