Little Saint

A form of perfectionistic paralysis seems to have gripped Green, author of the critically acclaimed 1972 novel The Dead of the House, who spent more than a quarter-century writing this evocative account of her romance with a French village and its martyr-saint. Like the masonry and artwork of the antique Proven al chapels Green describes, her words bear the imprint of long, loving attention to detail. In the 1970s, Green became entranced by Conques, a hamlet in the south of France, and its shrine dedicated to Foy, a 4th-century Christian girl martyred for refusal to sacrifice to a pagan deity. Foy's relics, encased in a golden and jewel-encrusted statue, made Conques a medieval pilgrimage center. Green explains, with stunning sensitivity for a modern writer, what devotees felt when they stood in the saint's presenceDa mixture of awe and intimacy that exerts power still. Green also captures the rhythms of life in a French village. By the end readers feel they know her neighbors, can taste the village's special foods, and can see the churches and sacred stones Green contemplates. One can quibble with certain aspects of the bookDthe descriptions of flora and fauna become tedious, and Green idealizes peasants as only ""big city"" writers are capable of doing. Yet Little Saint rises as close to perfection as hagiographic literature ever has. The author, who has passed away since completing the book, should rest easy. (July)