The Sabbatical by Michael D. O’Brien - Hardcover

Dr. Owen Whitfield is the elderly Oxford University professor of history who first appeared in Michael O’Brien’s novel, The Father’s Tale. In the events of The Sabbatical, which occur some time later, Dr. Whitfield is looking forward to a sabbatical year of peace and quiet, gardening in his back yard, and tinkering on what he calls his latest “unpublishable book.”

 As the year begins, he is drawn by a series of seeming coincidences into involvement with a group of characters from across Europe, including a family that has been the target of assassination attempts by unknown powers. During his journey to Romania, the situation in which he finds himself becomes more sinister than it first seemed.

The story is ultimately about the tension between fatalism and the providential understanding of history, about the courage and love that are necessary for navigating through a confusion of signs, and about the triumph of faith and reason over the forces of destruction.

"Michael O'Brien is a superior spiritual story teller worthy to join the ranks of Flannery O'Connor, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and C. S. Lewis.” -Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Best-selling Author; Professor of Philosophy, Boston College

“It is difficult to know where to turn for noble enough analogies in speaking of O’Brien’s writings. I wonder whether we are going to find Mr. O'Brien's name taking its place along with those of Mauriac and Bernanos before too long?” -Thomas Howard, Author, Dove Descending: A Journey into T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets