The Final Retreat

Joseph Flynn is a middle-aged Catholic priest who finds himself at his bishop’s behest, on an eight-day silent retreat. The fusty, 'stale environment has little to offer but a desk, pen and paper, and ample time to make use of them. Filling page after page, he delves into his past, the loss of his vocation, his uncontrollable craving for sex, and the events which are destroying his life. Celebrated concert pianist and composer Stephen Hough unflinchingly explores these disturbing contradictions in this passionate and sophisticated novel.