Faith (Haigh)

Faith
Jennifer Haigh, 2011
HarperCollins
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780060755805

Summary
In the spring of 2002, a perfect storm hits Boston: Trusted priests are accused of the worst possible betrayal. Faith explores the fallout for one devout family.

Estranged from her family, Sheila McGann returns home when her older brother, Art—a popular pastor—finds himself at the center of the maelstrom. Her strict mother is in a state of angry denial. Sheila’s younger brother, Mike, has convicted his brother in his heart. But most disturbing of all is Art himself, who dodges Sheila’s questions and refuses to defend himself.

As secrets begin to surface, Faith explores the corrosive consequences of one family’s history of silence—and the resilience it finds through forgiveness. A suspenseful tale of one woman’s quest for the truth, Faith is a haunting meditation on loyalty and family, doubt and belief. Elegantly crafted, sharply observed, this is Jennifer Haigh’s most ambitious novel to date. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio• Birth—October 16, 1968
• Where—Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.A., Dickenson College; M.F.A., Iowa Writers'
   Workshop
• Awards—2002 James A. Michener Fellowship; 2003;
   PEN/Hemingway Award for Outstanding First Fiction, Mrs.
   Kimble; 2006 PEN/L.L. Winship Award for outstanding book
   by a New England author, Baker Towers
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts


The daughter of a librarian and a high school English teacher, Jennifer Haigh was raised with her older brother in the coal-mining town of Barnesboro, Pennsylvania. Although she began writing as a student at Dickinson College, her undergraduate degree was in French. After college, she moved to France on a Fulbright Scholarship, returning to the U.S. in 1991.

Haigh spent most of the decade working in publishing, first for Rodale Press in Pennsylvania, then for Self magazine in New York City. It was not until her 30th birthday that she was bitten by the writing bug. She moved to Baltimore (where it was cheaper to live), supported herself as a yoga instructor, and began to publish short stories in various literary magazines. She was accepted into the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop and enrolled in their two-year M.F.A. program. While she was at Iowa, she completed the manuscript for her first novel, Mrs. Kimble. She also caught the attention of a literary agent scouting the grad school for new talent and was signed to a two-book contract. Haigh was astonished at how quickly everything came together.

Mrs. Kimble became a surprise bestseller when it was published in 2003. Readers and critics alike were bowled over by this accomplished portrait of a "serial marrier" and the three wives whose lives he ruins. The Washington Post raved, "It's a clever premise, backed up by three remarkably well-limned Mrs. Kimbles, each of whom comes tantalizingly alive thanks to the author's considerable gift for conjuring up a character with the tiniest of details." The novel went on to win the PEN/Hemingway Award for Outstanding First Fiction.

Skeptics who wondered if Haigh's success had been mere beginner's luck were set straight when Baker Towers appeared in 2005. A multigenerational saga set in a Pennsylvania coal-mining community in the years following WWII, the novel netted Haigh the PEN/L.L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author. (Haigh lives in Massachusetts.) The New York Times called it "captivating," and Kirkus Reviews described it as "[a]lmost mythic in its ambition, somewhere between Oates and Updike country, and thoroughly satisfying." High praise indeed for a sophomore effort.

In fact, Haigh continues to produce dazzling literary fiction in both its short and long forms, much of it centered on the interwoven lives of families. When asked why she returns so often to this theme, she answers, " In fact, every story is a family story: we all come from somewhere, and it's impossible to write well-developed characters without giving a great deal of thought to their childhood environments, their early experiences, and whose genetic material they're carrying around."

Extras
From a 2003 Barnes & Noble interview:

• All my life I've fantasized about being invisible. I love the idea of watching people when they don't know they're being observed. Novelists get to do that all the time!

• When I was a child, I told my mother I wanted to grow up to be a genie, a gas station attendant, or a writer. I hope I made the right choice.

• When asked what book most influenced her life as a writer, here is her response:

Light Years by James Salter. Probably the most honest book ever written about men and women—sad, gorgeous, unflinching. (Author bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
Haigh brings a refreshing degree of humanity to a story you think you know well, and in chapters both riveting and profound, she catches the avalanche of guilt this tragedy unleashes in one devout family…As a narrator, [Sheila's] fantastic: compassionate, psychologically astute and candid about her own biases and blind spots…Faith certainly isn't a thriller in any conventional sense, but it's an incredibly suspenseful novel.
Ron Charles - Washington Post


Faith is so emotionally rich, and its story so deftly delivered, that we’re absorbed.
Wall Street Journal


Luminous.... The novel has the magnetic, page-turning quality of a detective thriller, but the clues here lead not to objective proof but to insight into a family both vividly specific and astonishingly universal.... Wise.
O Magazine


With an exquisite sense of drama and mystery, Haigh delivers a taut, well-crafted tale.... Indelibly rendered characters, suspenseful pacing, and fearless but sensitive handling of a controversial subject will make this a must-read for book discussion groups.
Booklist


Haigh's The Condition was an especially clear-eyed and sensitive portrait of the alienation wrought by a serious medical issue. So I have high hopes for her handling of the controversy surrounding child abuse by Catholic priests. Estranged from her Irish American family, Sheila McGann nevertheless returns home to Boston when her brother Art, a popular priest, is caught up in the scandal. She wants to defend him, but her oblivious mother, accusatory brother, and Art himself, who remains silent, all conspire against her. A real thought-provoker for book clubs.
Library Journal


A non-sensationalized novel about an inherently sensational event—the abuse of an 8-year-old boy by a priest.... Haigh deals with complex moral issues in subtle ways, and her narrative is beautifully, sometimes achingly poignant.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. For the epigraph, Jennifer Haigh uses two quotes, one involving sin, the other about living by the Rule. Explain what each quote refers to. How do these quotes reflect the novel's themes?

2. What role does religion play in each of the family members' lives? How do their religious beliefs—or lack of them—define who they are? Is religion a solace for the family or a burden? Are there sins or transgressions that are unforgivable?

3. How do you define faith? What does faith mean to each of the characters, especially the siblings, Art, Sheila, and Mike ? Is this a good title for the novel?

4. Describe the relationships between Sheila and her brothers. How do these siblings compare to each other? What defines their reaction to the scandal and to Art? What were their roles in Art's story, and how did each of their outlooks and actions affect the other? How are each of the family members ultimately transformed by events?

5. Shelia remembers that as a child she saw her priest as "other than human, made of different stuff than the rest of us." Explain what she means. Do you think that view still holds? How have societal views of priests—and other religious leaders—been affected by the abuse scandals? What role does the media play in shaping our views? What do the news stories leave out?

6. Many see doubt in negative terms. But can doubt strengthen our beliefs, our "faith"?

7. How would you describe Art? What did you think of him? Why did he become a priest? 8. Was he a good shepherd? Was he a good man? Did Art fail his faith or did faith fail him?

9. "Love to marriage to home and family: connect those dots, and you get the approximate shape of most people's lives. Take them away, and you lose any hope for connection. You give up your place in the world." Explain the meaning of Art's words to Sheila. How does this reflect his own life? How does it reflect hers?

10. In sharing her brother's past, Sheila reflects, "Art's story is, to me, the story of my family, with all its darts and dodges and mysterious omissions." What do the events of Art's life reveal about the McGanns? What do they reveal about our own lives and modern society? What about the Catholic Church?

11. Shelia recalls that at the entrance of each building at the seminary where Art studied for the priesthood was carved the motto: Vigor in Arduis. "Strength Amid Difficulties." Does this describe Art? What about Sheila and Mike? Would you consider those three words to be a good definition of faith?

12. Talk about Art's relationship with Aidan Conlon and his mother, Kath. Why did Aidan affect Art so deeply? What about Kath? What were her feelings toward Art?

13. Talk about Mike's relationship with Kath. How does it affect his impression of his brother? What is your opinion of Mike's wife, Abby? As a non-Catholic what does she think of the McGanns, of their religious faith, and of Art?

14. Faith explores the dark and light of human nature: deception, belief, doubt, love, loyalty, compassion, anger, forgiveness., loneliness, the need for community, the desire for goodness. Choose one theme and trace it through the experiences of a character or two.

15. Do you think that faith—the adherence to conviction—is misunderstood in modern society? If the Church is a community of faith, what happens to the other when one begins to break down?

16. What did you take away from reading Faith?

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