Discovering Michael O'Brien

I am not sure it was wise of me to read Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah. An apocalypse (Ignatius Press) just after reading "The Cube and the Cathedral". O'Brien paints out in fiction what Weigel describes in principle. In the opening chapters of the book, when Fr Elijah is summoned to Rome, I found the description of his harrassment by officialdom and the impact of notched-up secularism disturbing. The novel describes the rise of the Antichrist in a way that is at times like an update of Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World.

A priest friend recommended O'Brien to me, expressing surprise that I had not come across him. I am grateful for the pointer and will be reading my way through his books on train journeys and waiting rooms during the coming months.

On his own website studiObrien, the author states that in all his work (painting, novels and essays), he seeks to contribute to the restoration of Christian culture. As well as links to information about his work, the homepage of the site has a number of essays addressing, for example Philip Pullman, Harry Potter and Pope Benedict's Regensburg address.

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