Bless Me Father

by Christopher Clawson

Noah Matthews, husband, father of five, and art professor, has a cross to bear. Sexually abused as a child, he was led into a challenging life. After his first confession to Father Vincent Connetti, an equally cursed man, the two became friends. Both, in the end, help each other through their pasts. Vincent, who never allowed himself a life, changes his vocation and abandons his collar. Noah employs David, a young model driven by urges based around his sexual appetite for men, for his life drawing class. Showing his true colors, David proves himself and makes Noah and Vincent relive the nightmares of their youth in the most lamentable fashion possible. Colorful and endowed with realistic characters, Bless Me Father paints a paradigm of honesty, friendship and morals, with sex and violence aplenty.

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2007

Reviews

[Debra Clawson]

My initial thought in regard to Bless Me Father was that it would be based in some way around the confessional. Which couldn't have been further from the truth. Beyond the first chapter the books basic premise had nothing to do with religion. Instead it dealt with the deep and horrific demons of two men's pasts. It travels in great detail through the memories of the sexually abusive childhoods of these two characters yet offers them both solice and closure as well. I found that once I began the journy into these characters lives I wanted nothing more than to make them part of me. The book and it's characters are real and completly down to earth. And the writer offers so much detail that you're actually placed in the setting.

Bless Me Father is a great read and has opened my eyes to the abuse of children and the demons that they carry.