Liam Callanan, All Saints

All Saints

Liam Callanan

Delacorte, Mar 2007, $23.00

ISBN: 0385336969

Now fifty years old, Emily Hamilton reflects back on her life, especially since she left home thirty-four years ago. Named for three saints and a should-have been saint, Emily has been married three times and divorced three times. Thus her marital record makes her r sum to teach church history at a California Catholic high school seem off-kilter and her irreverence towards the "Saints and Sinners" of the past makes her popular amongst the present students.

However, in her tenth year at the school, Emily feels lonely and guilty when she kisses handsome student Edgar Mandeville as she desires much more but knows that a teacher-student relationship is rightfully taboo. She wants to help a confused Paul, but is not sure how to reach him as his issues involve sexual preference. Finally, she fears that reticent Cecily has made her a role model, which means she adulates a failure whose life is filled with hurt and loneliness. Finally, there is her department chairman Father Martin Dimanche whose intellectual debates keep her alive and though she wants more, he is a priest even as both are realistic about sinning and godly forgiveness.

ALL SAINTS is an interesting character study that stars an intelligent woman reflecting back on what she deems the failure of her life. Her personal emotional crisis is caused by the convergence of three students raising different emotional needs inside her. Though there is little action and perhaps too many sidebars sob subplots, Emily is a realist, especially about herself, her school, her church, and her God so that readers obtain a deep look at a unique perspective of not achieving one's life goals.

Harriet Klausner