Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul
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Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul is a memoir written by Tony Hendra, an English humorist and satirist. Tony Hendra is also the author of the novel The Messiah Of Morris Avenue which depicts the second coming of Christ in the United States that is ruled by the religious right.
[edit] Plot summary
When Hendra was 14, he had an affair with a married woman. When her husband, a devout Catholic, discovered them in each others' arms, he took Hendra on a trip to Quarr Abbey, a monastery on the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. Hendra, expecting to be disciplined, was surprised when a "cartoonish" monk, Father Joseph Warrilow, instead treated him kindly. Hendra fell in love with Quarr and decided to become a monk.
When Hendra reached the age of eighteen and could legally begin his time at Quarr, Father Joe found out that Hendra had received a scholarship to Cambridge University, he urged Hendra to first attend college and obtain a degree before he could be admitted to the monastery.
While at Cambridge, Hendra fell in love and married. Though unable to become a monk, he continued to visit Father Joe for more than 40 years, until Father Joe's death on April 27, 1998.
[edit] Controversy with daughter Jessica
Though Father Joe was received with critical acclaim, his memoir was questioned when in 2005 his daughter Jessica Hendra published a memoir titled How to Cook Your Daughter. She claimed that Hendra had sexually molested her three times as a child. A reporter for The New York Times talked to two therapists who treated her, as well as three friends in whom she confided, and her husband and mother. All said that Ms. Hendra credibly told them at different junctures of being molested, one of them when she was 12.
Quotes:
"It's being seen as completely confessional, totally honest, the whole story. It's not the whole story. By not saying anything, I felt I was being complicit in it. This book is an erasing of what happened to me. I want people to understand these things don't go away." -- Jessica Hendra
"I can only just categorically deny this. It's not a new allegation. It's simply not true, I'm afraid." -- Tony Hendra
[edit] Product details
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Random House (May 18, 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN 1-4000-6184-9
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.0 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
