This image is the cover for the book Vestments

Vestments

A priest struggling with temptation moves back into his working-class childhood home in this “suspenseful, illuminating, and highly readable saga” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Let me begin today, illumined by Thy light, to destroy this part of the natural man which lives in me in its entirety, the obstacle that constantly keeps me from Thy Love . . .

Taught this prayer as a boy by his grandfather, James Dressler recites it each time he’s tempted by earthly desires. Originally drawn to the priesthood by the mystery, purity, and sensual fabric of the Church, as well as by its promise of a safe harbor from his tempestuous home, James nevertheless finds himself—just a few years after his ordination—living at home: saying Mass for his mother at the dining room table; avoiding his pugilistic father; playing basketball; preparing to officiate at his brother’s wedding, and becoming attracted again to his first love, Betty García.

Torn between these opposing desires, and haunted by his familial heritage, James finds himself at a crossroads. Exploring age-old yet urgently contemporary issues in the Catholic Church, and infused throughout with a rich sense of the history and vibrant texture of St. Paul, Minnesota, this is an utterly honest novel filled with “thoughtful themes and lyrical prose” (Booklist).

“Deeply rooted in history, burning with family furies, and told by a narrator-priest you find yourself rooting for (and wondering about), this is a captivating novel, scene by scene.” —Patricia Hampl, author of The Florist’s Daughter

John Reimringer

A graduate of the University of Arkansas MFA program, John Reimringer has published short fiction in Carolina Quarterly, Colorado Review, Louisiana Literature, and Gulf Stream. Vestments is his first novel, and it was written with the support of a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant. A former journalist and newspaper editor, he teaches at Augsburg College, and lives with his wife, the poet Katrina Vandenberg, in Saint Paul.

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