This smart, endearing novel tells of a love triangle involving an ex-monk, the divorced mother of a precocious 6 year old, and God.
Michael Christopher, suffering from a major spiritual crisis - and a longstanding battle with a barracuda of an abbot - leaves Our Lady of Bethany monastery after 20 years of the contemplative life and moves into an in-law apartment in San Francisco's Sunset district. Gradually drawn to his landlady, Rebecca, Christopher wrestles with the age-old conflict between the yearning for a life of contemplation and the need for a life of action-in-the-world, as well as their ultimate reconciliation.
Sprinkled throughout are letters from Michael Christopher (quoting everyone from Merton to Ronald McDonald) to Brother James, a young monk who has taken it upon himself to "save" the fallen contemplative. But it's Rebecca's spirit and quest that carry the novel, as well as her relationships with her open-hearted daughter; her eccentric Marin County mother; her dolt of a surfer ex-husband; and of course the monk downstairs, that make the novel shine.
