Three Cheers for the Paraclete

Winner of the 1968 Miles Franklin Award

From the moment he allows his young cousin and bride to spend the night in his room, Father Maitland causes raised eyebrows and dark mutterings amongst the brothers at St Peter's.

Time and again his efforts to do the right thing for his fellow men lead him into conflict with his superiors and the immutable laws of the church - a conflict which ultimately threatens to destroy him both as a priest and as a man.

Thomas Keneally's darkly satirical novel, which won him his second successive Miles Franklin Award resounds with intellect and humour.

About the Author:

Thomas Keneally won the Booker Prize in 1982 with Shindler's Ark, later made into the Academy Award-winning film Sschidler's List by Steven Spielberg. He has written ten works of non-fiction, including his recent memoir Searching For Schindler, and the histories The Commonwealth of Thieves, The Great Shame and American Scoundrel, and 28 works of fiction, including The Widow And Her Hero (shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award), An Angel In Australia and Bettany's Book. His novels The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith, Gossip From The Forest, and Confederates were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while Bring Larks and Heroes and Three Cheers For The Paracletewon the Miles Franklin Award. His most recent novel The People's Train was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, South East Asia division.