Publishers have not been slow out of the gate with books-to-be on the crisis affecting the Catholic Church for its handling of the cases of abusive priests. First up will be a book put together by the team at the Boston Globe, which first broke the story and has been serving up news leads to other media ever since. Little, Brown assistant editor Ryan Harbage signed the newspaper's "Spotlight" team, anchored by deputy managing editor for projects Ben Bradlee Jr., through Doug Corcoran at his San Francisco agency, and plans to publish a couple months from now. Harbage will edit the untitled book along with executive editor Geoff Shandler. The publisher has world rights.
At Crown, editorial director Steve Ross signed for a book by veteran author and newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, who has long had his own thoughts on the affair. He signed with agent David Black for world English and audio rights, and hopes to receive a manuscript next year, to be edited by Doug Pepper. Breslin will travel widely, talking to church officials and victims alike about the dimensions of the problem; he will even go to the Vatican. He has made it clear in his columns that he believes the doctrine of priestly celibacy is at the heart of the crisis, and as a committed Catholic himself says, "The many millions in the religion are too good for the Church, and they are tired and angry."
