Eminence

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd 5/6/1998. 0. Hardcover. 8vo. hardcover. 296pp. Another rich story from the Australian master of this Vatican game. . .West spins an intriguing tale. He likes big people and big questions, and Eminence has them.nnFrom Library JournalnA priest spirited to Rome after being tortured by the Argentine military in the '70s finds his faith tested again when the Pope dies and a woman he once loved reenters his life.nnFrom USA TodaynAnother rich story from the Australian master of this Vatican game. . .West spins an intriguing tale. He likes big people and big questions, and Eminence has them.nnFrom Publisher"s WeeklynWest succeeds in balancing contemporary Vatican intrigue and details....[in] this very intriguing novel of papal intrigue.nnFrom Kirkus ReviewsnThe latest ecclesial potboiler by West (Vanishing Point), this one centering on the troubles that await an Argentine cardinal who hopes not to be elected pope. Luca Rossini is a man between worlds. The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, he now lives in Rome, where his Italian surname can't really conceal the fact that he is on foreign ground in more ways than one. As a young priest, Rossini spoke out against the military junta and its "dirty war" of the 1970sand was nearly killed as a result. Rescued from a squad of assassins by the wife of a senior diplomat, he was smuggled out of the country to the Vatican and has never returned. Now he faces a different sort of trial: the pope he has served for the last 20 years has died, and Rossiniwho was one of the pontiff's closest advisorsis looked upon as a likely successor. Where's the problem, you ask? Well, for one thing, Rossini no longer believes in God. And for good measure, he is still in love with Isabel Ortega, his rescuer, with whom he had a brief affair before leaving Argentina. Now Isabel's husband has been appointed Argentina's ambassador to the Vatican, and he and Isabel are moving to Rome. How can Luca find peace? A rich panoply of colorful typesincluding a crafty servant, an Opus dei prelate, several journalists of middling scruples, and (naturally) the entire College of Cardinalscombines to prove to Luca what he had always feared might not be true: namely, that God writes straight with crooked lineseven if his eraser leaves a smudge or two. Brain candy, to be sure, but who's counting calories? Vaticanologists will be having too much fun figuring out who's who in this aptlytimed romanaclef. very good+. / very good+ d/w. .