cover image Francis: A Saint's Way

Francis: A Saint's Way

James Cowan. Liguori Publications, $19.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-7648-0707-7

More Odes to Saint Francis This spring has already brought us Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis (Knopf) and Francis of Assisi (HiddenSpring), both of which have been favorably reviewed in PW, the New York Times Book Review and elsewhere. The 13th-century saint has captured yet another writer's imagination in Francis: A Saint's Way by Australian novelist James Cowan. Cowan takes the approach of a devotional biography, exploring Francis's inner world more than his social one. This engagingly written biography wrestles with larger questions of asceticism, sainthood, poverty and ethics as the author winds through the watershed moments of Francis's life. ( Apr.)