AUSTRALIA AUTHOR · FICTION · GENERAL
Morris West
Also known as: Morris L. West, Michael East
Morris Langlo West AO was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels The Devil's Advocate (1959), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) and The Clowns of God (1981). His books were published in 27 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Each new book he wrote after he became an established writer sold more than one million copies. West's works were often focused on international politics and the role of the Roman Catholic Church in international affairs. One of his best known works, The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963), described the election and career of a Slav as Pope, 15 years before the historic election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope John Paul II. The sequel, The Clowns of God, described a successor Pope, who resigned the papacy to live in seclusion. West was awarded the 1959 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Devil's Advocate. In the early 1960s, he helped found the Australian Society of Authors. He presented the 1986 Playford Lecture. In 1993, West announced that he had written his last book and a formal valedictory dinner was held in his honour. However, he found he could not retire as he had planned and wrote a further three novels and two non-fiction books. West died while working at his desk on the final chapters of his novel The Last Confession, about the trials and imprisonment of Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. - wikipedia
Twenty-eight-year-old Kevin Taylor looked up from the papers spread out over the long chestnut-brown table before him and paused, pretending to think deeply about something before cross-examining the witness.
— from The Devil's advocate, 1990
Most acclaimed
Children of the sun
1883
[aka Children of the Shadows: The True Story of the Street Urchins of Naples] "A damning indictment ... Mr. West has written with deep feeling." - Catholic Times. First published in the 1950s, this non-fiction book deals with the plight of the urchins of Naples, homeless boys who sleep in doorways, and beg and steal and scratch along as best they can, unprotected by the State. Padre Mario Borrelli sets out to help, and embarks on a journey of self-transformation. == There was a child whom I used to visit in the House of the Urchins. His name is Antonino. He was eight years old, but his body was so small and his face so pinched and pale that you would have taken him for five or six. When I came into the small dusty courtyard where he played with the other boys, he would leave the game immediately and run to me, arms outstretched, calling my name ... Then I knew that I must write this book, to purge myself of the nightmare. I must make my voice the voice of the children, the hungry, the homeless, the dispossessed, the damned innocents of Naples. == Eight years old, his body so small, his face so pinched, you would take him for five or six ... Antonino, homeless, loveless child of dark alleys -- a scugnizzo of the Naples slums, one of thousands whose waking hours are spent in petty crime and traffic in vice and whose bed is a street grating above a baker's oven. In the appalling darkness of their lives, only one light shines -- Don Mario Borrelli, the priest of the Urchins, dedicated to saving what he can of this human wreckage.
The Navigator
1984
Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad Museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second very nearly is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top secret scientific project that could change the world forever.And that's before the surprises really begin . . .Rich with all the hair-raising action and endless invention that have become Cussler's hallmarks, The Navigator is Clive's best yet.
Summer of the Red Wolf
2005
Summer of the Red Wolf is the story of a man struggling with the complexities and torments of everyday life who travels to Scotland to fight his inner demons and discovers love, honour and himself along the way. The novel brilliantly captures the feelings of restlessness so common in these modern times.