Novels
Foreign Language Translations
Written by Michael D. O'Brien   
Sunday, 15 November 2009 17:11

Michael O'Brien's books have been published in a number of foreign languages, including Croatian, Czech, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish and Lithuanian. To obtain contact information for the publishers, click the "Read More" button below:

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Island of the World
Written by Administrator   
Friday, 28 September 2007 16:09

iw-sm2.jpgIsland of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior. As the novel begins, World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them — the fascist Ustashe, Serb nationalist Chetniks, and Communist Partisans. As events gather momentum, hell breaks loose, and the young and the innocent are caught in the path of great evils. Their only remaining strength is their religious faith and their families.

For more than a century, the confused and highly inflammatory history of former Yugoslavia has been the subject of numerous books, many of them rife with revisionist history and propaganda. The peoples of the Balkans live on the border of three worlds: the Islamic, the Orthodox Slavic East, and Catholic Europe, and as such they stand in the path of major world conflicts that are not only geo-political but fundamentally spiritual. This novel cuts to the core question: how does a person retain his identity, indeed his humanity, in absolutely dehumanizing situations?

In the life of the central character, the author demonstrates that this will demand suffering and sacrifice, heroism and even holiness. When he is twelve years old, his entire world is destroyed, and so begins a lifelong Odyssey to find again the faith which the blows of evil have shattered. The plot takes the reader through Josip's youth, his young manhood, life under the Communist regime, hope and loss and unexpected blessings, the growth of his creative powers as a poet, and the ultimate test of his life. Ultimately this novel is about the crucifixion of a soul — and resurrection.

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Novels — overview and sequence
Written by Michael D. O'Brien   
Tuesday, 22 August 2006 00:00
 {mosimage}Children of the Last Days is not the title of a novel, but rather the umbrella name for the six novels within the series.

Generally most of these novels can be read independently of the others. However, the first three listed below are best read in sequence since they deal with the saga of a single family, in order as follows:

1) Strangers and Sojourners
2) Plague Journal
3) Eclipse of the Sun


4) Fr. Elijah: an apocalypse
5) Sophia House
6) A Cry of Stone

Sophia House is a "prequel" to Fr. Elijah, but the order in which these two are read does not matter. The latter three (4,5,6) can be read in any sequence.

Three other novels, The Island of the World and The Father's Tale and Theophilos, are not officially part of the Children of the Last Days series. The "island" has been published by Ignatius Press in October, 2007, and the "father's tale" will be published sometime in the next few years, since extensive rewriting is still needed on the latter. The latest novel, Theophilos, is in the editing stage and is tentatively scheduled for publication in spring of 2010.

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A Stone in the Heart : a fairy tale
Written by Michael D. O'Brien   
Wednesday, 27 October 2004 21:53

An extract from the author’s novel, Sophia House

Once there was a boy who was prince of a kingdom in the mountains of the east. His father the King went away when the child was very young, barely able to walk, for the Queen had died and the man could not bear for a time to enter the house of his first and only love. The King intended to be away briefly, for he loved his son dearly but wished to hide his grief from the people. In the forest, wandering alone and in distress, he happened upon that beast which is called the serpent, the ancient deceiver of mankind, and it overcame him and ate him there. No word of it ever reached the palace.

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Sophia House
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 27 October 2004 00:18

Sophia House is set in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. Pawel Tarnowski, a bookseller, gives refuge to a Jewish youth (David Schäfer) who has escaped from the Ghetto, and hides him in the attic of the book shop. Throughout the winter of 1942-43, haunted by the looming threat of discovery, the two discuss good and evil, sin and redemption, literature and philosophy, and their respective religious views of reality. Decades later David becomes a convert to Catholicism and is the Carmelite priest, Fr. Elijah, called by the Pope to confront the Antichrist in Michael O'Brien's novel, Father Elijah: an apocalypse. In this "prequel" the author explores the meaning of love, religious identity, and sacrifice viewed from two distinct perspectives.


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