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by: Jon Hassler  List Price: $13.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780829423570 ISBN: 0829423575 Label: Loyola Press Manufacturer: Loyola Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 670 Publication Date: 2006-03 Publisher: Loyola Press Studio: Loyola Press Related Items: Alternate Versions: Click to Display Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Father Frank Healy unexpectedly encounters his former high school girlfriend, Libby, at a time of crisis in his vocation. He is drawn into the lives of Libby, her criminal husband, her troubled daughter, and other characters living in and around an Ojibway reservation in northern Minnesota where Frank pastors a mission. This absorbing, realistic and faith-filled novel explores the territory all of us find ourselves in when we believe ourselves to be "north of hope." Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Great character novelIf you enjoy books with strongly-developed characters, then "North of Hope" is for you. It begins with Frank Healy, a young man with an aspiration to the priesthood and living in Minnesota. He falls in love with Libby Girard, a beautiful local girl. Unfortunately, Libby marries a local bully, Vernon, the guy who got her pregnant. Frank, upon learning that his mother's dying words were "I want Frank to be a priest," decides to enter the seminary. A couple of years into his formation, Libby visits ... Read More Rating:  - Potboiler PlusMr. Hassler's thick novel has conventional characters populating predictable predicaments (middle aged priest doubting his vocation, drinking too much, meets his childhood sweetheart once again...will he, won't he succumb etc). Still...there is a "life as it is" quality that kept me going to the end despite my better judgment. Hassler is skilled at capturing the sort of good, sort of rotten qualities that most of us exhibit stumbling our way through. It's impossible to really hate any of his characters...but ... Read More Rating: - should be a household name in the world of book lovers.jon hassler writes great old-fashioned novels, as if the form of the novel itself is still a thing to cherish instead of something to bend out of shape. he creates complex characters with depth and a skilled artist's insight, and he makes it all look so easy. great storytelling in the great tradition of the novel. a sort of balzac of minnesota. i highly recommend this fantastic book. Rating: - You'll feel WAY "south of hope" reading depressing novelJon Hassler is a highly talented, deeply engrossing novelist, sensitive and understanding. But to say this book is a downer is putting it mildly. Hassler's "Simon's Night" and "A Green Journey" tie for my favorite Hassler novels, with his first novel, "Staggerford," coming in at a close second. I just wish he'd lighten up a bit, and give a little more warmth and coziness -- in the hands of a skilled writer such as Hassler, those qualities don't always mean "saccharine" and "lightweight." But I can't ... Read More Rating: - outstanding!This is a wonderful book. The writing is beautiful, the characters are memorable, the themes are universal. I discovered Hassler while browsing ... about a year ago, and I'm glad I did! I loved his recent novels set in academia ("Rookery Blues" and "The Dean's List"). His earlier "North of Hope" is more serious and melancholy than those, but in many ways better. As one of the reviewers quoted on the cover says, his writing appears effortless. I will never tire of reading this author's work. 
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