I agree, Andi. So many more topics to hit on! I'm fascinated by all of them, especially Drew & Lizzie's relationship. I feel like they've come through this stronger, and are going to be in a good place. (I didn't think that for most of the book.)

And we haven't even talked about Harry Griggs, either. And yes, so much more to be said about Vivienne and Father Mike.

I really loved this book, and I think the second reading made me love it even more.

I found the relationship between Vivienne and Father Mike to be the most interesting. There are many layers to it. Did she really love Mike; what drove Father Mike to chose her over Lizzy; was there really love on either part....

Lizzy annoyed me to no end. Her total passivity was too much to believe.

The thing I loved about this book is that it was full of moral questions, but none that could be answered definitively.

I think not only Fr. Mike and Lizzy were hungry, but Vivienne and Drew were too.

There is no doubt in my mind that Fr. Mike loved being a priest, but there is also no doubt in my mind that he loved Lizzy and being a father to her, and he loved Vivienne too. I don’t think Vivienne loved Fr. Mike with the same passions with which he loved her, but I don’t think she used him either, except when it came to the burial of the body.

Some of the moral questions the book raised for me are:

Should priests be allowed to marry?
Should priests be allowed to have children, biological or adopted?
Should a sin of murder, like Vivienne’s, told in confession, be allowed to be told in case of a horrific crime?
Should Harry be forgiven for leaving Lizzy by the side of the road?

I can’t wait to talk with the author!

The complexity of characters and the issues they faced is one of the great things about this novel. For some reason, I didn't focus too much on Lizzie and Drew's marriage, maybe because it wasn't functioning so it just kept getting in the way. I was much more interested in finding out what really happened, although ostensibly we had been told what happened. It just felt like something else was going on that we weren't quite privy to. I remember thinking that maybe Fr. Mike had done something to Lizzie that she refused to remember, or maybe he was afraid he was going to do something either to her or get involved with Vivienne, so he took the opportunity when it presented itself to remove himself. And like many of the other readers, I assumed that Ray was either dead or living far away with another family, but definitely out of the picture. I NEVER thought for a minute about Ray coming back, getting murdered and Fr. Mike and V being in it up to their proverbial armpits. What a surprise at the end.

To sum up here's the end of my review I wrote on my blog and posted on LibraryThing.com:

"..it could so easily have become a daytime soap, but isn't. Rather it is a quiet, believable, compelling story of friendship, betrayal, and atonement that really spoke to me, perhaps because I was raised in a Catholic environment that forms the basis for the story, but I don't think you have to be Catholic to read it, soak it in, and love it. The themes of friendship, relationship, failure, and redemption are not depressing, but validating of the human condition. The ending...is perfect---surprising, gut-wrenching, sad but believable, better than happily ever after. You can walk away feeling that everything fits into place.

Thanks so much to our moderators for hosting this online discussion. I look forward to the next one.

here I go again...forgot to sign my name. Those boxes are too small for old ladies. ;-)

Beautiful review, Tina.