The Kirkus review gives a reasonable description of this book - a book of the religious man in terms of Kierkegaard. The story is based on history - in a forward the author explains how he came upon the material and came to write the novel based on it.

The story follows Brother Jacob, a Danish prince, through the expulsion of the Franciscans from Denmark in the Lutheran tide, through his wanderings in Europe until he comes to Spain, through his final years as a missionary priest in Mexico. The power of the book comes in two forms - first, the forcing the reader to acknowledge the violence of the era; second, the acknowledgement of the wavering of faith as the Catholic church to which Brother Jacob had dedicated his life fails to reform itself, wrongly prosecutes those trying to reform it.

On a more hopeful note, one sees Brother Jacob, along with some other priests, truly interested in the native population, trying to preserve their myths and histories, trying to insure they be treated as fully human.

Some of the more interesting points to me include the description of Thomas More's original sentence before it was commuted to beheading - the depths of violence that I had not realized was present that recently; Brother Jacob's use of St. Francis Brother Sun, Sister Moon etc. to modify the natives beliefs by fullfilment rather than eradication; the attempt to recreate the Utopia as described by More in a rebuilding of the lives of the indigenious peoples; the proposal that Our Lady of Guadalupe was engineered to keep the indigenious peoples down ...

This novel is a slow read - the prose is dense and much of the plot unfolds in Br. Jacob's thoughts rather than in conversation and action ... but there is enough action to provide a plot line that makes you want to know "what next?" And many times, you need to stop and ponder the ramifications of what you have just read - what it tells you about the era, about humanity in general.

I recommend this book very highly especially for those with an interest in history, religion, Middle American indigenious cultures, human response to major cultural shifts ...