All-TIME 100 Novels

The Power and the Glory

Another of Greene’s intricate moral landscapes, where corrupt characters might still be capable of goodness and virtuous ones indulge their virtues murderously. The central figure is a “whisky priest,” on the run in Mexico in the 1930′s, during years when the Catholic Church was being suppressed by the Mexican government. The priest, never named, is being pursued by an unnamed police lieutenant, a ruthless idealist who will not hesitate to take hostages from every village where the fugitive priest might stop and shoot them if the priest’s visit is not reported. Guilt-ridden, always craving alcohol — at one point he downs the communion wine — the priest manages all the same to carry out his duties on the road and to perform small acts of grace, even the ones that seal his fate. Those did not turn out to be enough for the Vatican. Thirteen years after this book was published, the Church condemned it and insisted that Greene make changes. A sincere Catholic but also a dextrous operator, he replied that the copyright belonged to his publishers.

Next: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie