3 Novel Recommendations for Catholics (No Spoilers)

Or Any Christian!

***Before I even begin this article, I’m excluding “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Divine Comedy”. These are the crown jewels of Catholic literature, but are too obvious to write on for this article, and they’re such a big subject matter. They deserve their own special treatment***

I’m coming to the end of my first time doing Exodus 90, and I have to say- it granted me a lot of time to do some extra reading. I’ve read some great spiritual books, but I also found myself wanting to read more fiction since I couldn’t watch any TV or movies. While these books aren’t necessarily what I read during my Exodus, I thought about them often when wondering what I should read next.

Whether or not someone is doing Exodus 90 or something similar, I figure that encouraging others to put down the technology and pick up a book is always worthwhile. It also helps to give those people something interesting to read. While this list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, here are 3 Catholic books that I would recommend!

***2 Quick Disclaimers: 1.) These aren’t in any particular order or ranking 2.) One of these books isn’t explicitly Catholic, but it has Catholic themes

Recommendation #1- “Father Elijah” by Michael D. O’Brien

This apocalyptic novel is pretty well-known in Catholic circles. Firstly, anything that depicts the end of the world naturally grabs the attention of any reader, but “Father Elijah” goes much deeper than a mere thriller. The story beautifully weaves together Catholic mysticism, teaching on discernment of private revelation, forgiveness, anger, and much more!

The titular character, Father Elijah, is wonderfully written. Not only does he have moments of being a spy, but he is also a deeply prayerful, loving spiritual father. He struggles with common temptations while also freeing others from their lives of sin. Perhaps my favorite moment of this novel is the interaction between Father Elijah and an unrepentant sinner on his deathbed. All of this centers around Father Elijah looking to identify and convert the Antichrist, whose path to world fame is strikingly similar to that of Father Elijah before his conversion to Catholicism.

There’s a reason that this book is still commonly recommended even 30 years after it’s initial release. “Father Elijah” can be found pretty much anywhere that books are sold. If you’re a fan of audiobooks, subscribers to the Catholic app Formed can find this, and the other 2 books in the series on the app.

Recommendation #2- “Perelandra” by C.S. Lewis

The second novel in C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy, “Perelandra” is the telling of Professor Ransom coming to a new planet- Perelandra. What’s unique about this planet is- there was never the Original Sin, so innocence has been preserved and embodied in the character of Tindril.

The novel is meant to be allegorical for the story of Genesis. Tindril is representative of Eve, Tor is representative of Adam, and the Unman is representative of the Serpent. The story follows the account of Genesis 2 and 3 with some interesting twists and turns along the way.

Obviously, C.S. Lewis wasn’t a Catholic, but there are many themes in the story that show why some people called Lewis “the most Catholic protestant to ever live”. Exorcism and possession are examined in this story. While those themes are not discussed exclusively in the Catholic Church, they are often synonymous with Catholicism. There’s also some events that evoke ideas from St. Ignatius’s Rules for Discernment. Ransom is often bouncing between consolation and desolation as he progresses through the novel, and this struggle ultimately makes him stronger.

The novel is absolutely beautiful and well-written. I often refer to this as my favorite novel when someone hears that I’m an English teacher, and I need to give a respectable answer (because saying my favorite novel since I was 12, Mike Lupica’s “Summer Ball”, isn’t very “academic” of me!)

Recommendation #3- “The Diary of a Country Priest” by George Bernanos

It would be a shame (and a waste of money) to not mention one of the novels that I read during my time as a Literature major at Ave Maria University. “The Diary of a Country Priest” is a novel that seems to have been strongly influenced by the life of St. John Vianney. Essentially, a priest who has been newly appointed to a small, rural parish catalogues his struggles- interior and exterior- as he navigates his vocation. Although it can seem a bit dry and slow, the story is meant to be one that leads the reader to stop and think about what it means to become a saint.

French Catholicism seems to have a “charism” (I’m not quite sure what word to use here, but I hope it gets the point across) of mercy, suffering, and littleness. The Priest, suffering, struggling, and wrestling with his own incapabilities, is constantly relying on the grace of God. The reader, if he is also familiar with the spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux, will find that the Priest and the Little Flower are kindred souls in allowing God to work through them because He is loving and merciful.

This novel is special to me because it really set my heart on fire for what I do. Throughout college, I always wanted to become an English teacher, but I would wrestle with the question, “What is the point of studying literature?” By the grace of God, this book was put into my hands with a writing assignment that would answer that question for me. Even better, it showed me what I was really passionate about and wanting to do for the rest of my life- show others that Literature can help us to pursue truth and holiness.

Let Me Know What You’re Reading!

As I mentioned earlier, this list isn’t meant to be exhaustive. There are plenty of wonderful novels out there that I haven’t read or heard of, so please share them in the comments! Also, this could be something a sort of “series” where I continue recommending further reading, so let me know if there are any novels that you want to see covered in the future. Let’s give great stories the spotlight!

If doing a book study is something that you would be interested in seeing on my Substack- let me know! I would be very interested in diving further into these and other wonderful stories.