Father Frank Docherty has had his run-ins with the church authorities in the early 1970s he was expelled from the Sydney archdiocese for preaching against the Vietnam War & has lived in Canada as a monk ever since Twenty-five years later back in Australia to give a lecture about celibacy & paedophile priests he comes across an ex-nun who claims to have been abused by a now eminent cleric If Docherty is to help her he will be up against an institution bent on avoiding scandal What is more the accused man&s sister is the woman Docherty nearly broke his vows for long ago This searing impassioned novel captures the Catholic Church at a pivotal moment when it tried to silence its victims wreaking lasting damage not only on innocents but on itself