Frank Healy and
Libby Girard were friends and confidantes in high school in Linden
Falls, Minnesota, and an inner voice told Frank "she's the
one." But Frank had also been told — not so subtly
— that the last words of his mother, who died when he was 11,
were "I want Frank to be a priest." So, he chose the priesthood over
Libby.
A quarter of a century after high school, Frank and Libby are both back
in far northern Minnesota. Frank, aware of a "leak" in his spirit, is
seeking renewal through assignment to his hometown church and the
nearby Ojibwa Indian parish. There he encounters
Libby, whose third husband, a sleazy doctor, has been court ordered because of a drug violation to
serve with the health service on the Indian reservation.
Libby's manic depressive adult daughter, Verna, is with them.
As her marriage and her daughter both are coming apart, Libby grows
increasingly depressed and dependent on Frank. He walks a fine line
between pastoral care and his feelings for her. His vocation, already
shaky, faces its ultimate test.
"It's like hope doesn't reach this far north," Libby remarks during
her depression. But there is hope in North of Hope,
despite mental illness, drug dealing, attempted suicide, incest, and
murder. Libby finds the courage to face her future, largely
thanks to Father Frank, whose ability to "love on a higher
plane" confirms that he is in the right calling.
Of course, readers who don't agree with the Catholic Church's stance on
clerical celibacy would question why Frank has to make a choice. Since
his subjects tend to be priests and other modern-day Catholics, Hassler,
who teaches English at St. John's University in Minnesota, is not
especially well known. Those who can see past the overt religious
aspects will find in his novels universal themes about small-town
life and human kindness.
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