Black Robe by Brian Moore
Harper Collins 1987

Seventeenth-century Canada, where a Jesuit priest has been sent to a remote and hostile territory to convert the heathens, is the setting for this novel. The author dramatises the conflict between Jesuit certainties and native beliefs, which are presented with immense conviction. The narrative is powerful and emotional.
Brian Moore was born in Belfast in 1921.

Back to The Modern Library - the 200 best novels in English since 1950: 1980s