A quietly haunting novel of faith, power, and moral reckoning.
In Collis’s compelling novel, a young priest confronts the limits of faith in the harsh heart of Australia. 1960, Australia. Simon Bradbury’s childhood unfolds between the cold discipline of his Catholic education and the dry, desperate rhythms of his family’s farm. Sandwiched between the two, Simon seeks salvation in the Church. Decades later, sent to an Aboriginal mission in the desert, he discovers faith’s darker side: where obedience masks cruelty and silence becomes sin. Beneath the relentless sun, Simon must face the truth about his Church, and the man he has become.
Collis renders Simon’s early world of incense, hymns, and fear with unsentimental clarity. Brother Wheatley’s strap and Father MacNamara’s charisma define two faces of the Church’s authority: cruelty and charm. Beyond those walls lies a failing farm, a father worn down by the land, and a mother bound by endurance. Simon’s turn to the priesthood carries less the echo of faith than the hush of despair. At Gunwinddu, Collis delves into how faith, bent by colonial power, becomes corruption. Through Simon’s gradual disillusionment, Collis captures the erosion of certainty with the precision of lived experience. His prose is taut and lyrical and the pacing leisurely. By the novel’s end, Simon’s struggle is no longer with belief but with conscience itself. Collis resists redemption. Instead, he offers a hard-won clarity. Readers looking for a literary, character-driven story that explores faith, conscience, and the moral cost of obedience will want to take a look.
Poignant, searching, and humane; a novel that confronts what remains when faith reaches its breaking point.
Pub date May 17, 2024
ISBN 979-8324779078
Price $20.00 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
