The Fall of the Year

His first novel in six years finds Mosher at his agile best, spinning a tale that richly melds vibrant character sketches and a palpable sense of place. Father George LeCoeur, ""the unorthodox priest and greatest scholar and third baseman in the history of Kingdom Common,"" is the driving force of Mosher's novel, which takes place in his remote fictional village near Vermont's Canadian border. Father George is also the author of a 3000-page local history, small excerpts of which appear at the opening of each chapter. It is the priest's adopted son, Frank Bennett (now a prospective seminary student), who serves as narrator, telling stories about the locals whom Father George has asked him to aid in one way or another. As he recounts his experience with Kingdom Common's inhabitants, including feuding families, ""outsiders,"" like Chinese Dr. Sam E. Rong and tailor Abel Feinstein, an idiot savant who's an irreverent biblical scholar, a red-headed teenage daredevil and a traveling magician and mind-reader, we come to know Frank much better than his father and mentor. But that is Mosher's intention. A beautiful young caretaker arrives from Montreal to tend to Father George in his decline and those close to him are mystified that the priest seems to have fallen in love. Indeed, he seems to turn his back on everything he lived for, leaving Frank puzzling--over his father and life in general--until the final revelations. A few early chapters lack the storytelling momentum that comes so easily to Mosher when he writes about conflict, be it family scuffles or the struggles of newcomers who try to make a life in Kingdom Common. But his spare folktale style, a wide spectrum of unforgettable minor characters and rich sense of story sustain this ultimately winning novel. Author tour. (Oct.)