Preface by Didier Decoin of the Goncourt Academy.
Summary
Bâta, a 14 year old teenager, finds himself day-in and day-out in the streets of this large city, without parents, haunted by the memory of his disappeared family happiness. He has only one obligation for himself: to keep alive and protect Pia, his small sister, she too, a survivor. For her, the teenager does not shy away from anything: begging, stealing, prostitution.
Father Salvador is deeply stuck in a dark night of the soul, corroded by the misery of the children of the streets whom he is trying to help. But like a rustle of wings, the discrete presence of a very close God at the same moment when one believes to be so far from Him, the love of God appears and emerges from the meeting of these two miseries, that of the abandoned priest abandoned by his peers and approaching despair, and that of the boy, a revolt in a big heart which is touched by the innocent smile of his small sister.
(continuation of “Like a rustling of wings”)
A novel of plentiful situations, characters and places! - A corrupted cardinal and a young prostitute, an abbot and a violin virtuoso, volunteer women and street children. From the Philippines to Provence, from mountains of trash to luxury hotels, humanity tries to survive, like sheep without a shepherd, bees thrown into a panic by a window pane… some bees, like these, happy and free, those which gather nectar, around the tomb of Father Salvador, the heart of this story.
The readers of the preceding work of the author will recognize the humble and good priest, completely dedicated to the most impoverished young people, driven out of his orphanage by a warped cabal of powerful authorities without scruples, the heirs which Christ described as bleached sepulchres. But it is here that the drama which had been tied around the child Bata and his slandered guardian turns to conversion, to the forgiveness and peace of hearts and souls. It is that of the grain that fell to the ground.
One will come to understand this novel as having a spiritual quality similar to that of the works of the philosophers of the time of Bloy, Bernanos, Mauriac, Malègue. Our time has been private for too long. The author, with a rare happiness of expression, leads the reader deep into the topics of today, carried by the air of time. Here, it is the eternal life that acts, even if the circumstances are deeply rooted in our time of blood, tears, slanders… and of grace.
A book to be put in the hands of everyone.
You will find these two works in the Editions du JUBILE (www.editionsdujubile.com)
