“Flannery” is an apologia for O’Connor but, like any good defense, it takes the position that she doesn’t need one.

they last seconds then dissipate like apologies

Mantel’s portrait of More is of a self-serving whiner with a death wish. But what must always be remembered is that she is creating fiction.

I worried his soul had been out for too long.

Annalena Tonelli moved to Kenya in her 20s to work as a teacher. Her desire was to live among the poor as one of the poor.

Cairns is a rare figure in American letters: a religious poet free of mawkish piety.