New York: Doubleday, (1989) dj. Hardcover first edition - The fifth novel by this award-winning author. "'Ordinary time,' notes Father Gilvary, is 'the longest, and hardest, season of the liturgical year.' Especially in dusty Durance, Texas: 'buried in the Dust Bowl, resurrected in the oil boom, now, fallen again on hard times.' Here, Father Gilvary is experiencing a crisis of faith, going blind figuratively as well as literally. Henrietta, who runs the Three Square Meals restaurant, is a fervent Pentecostal who can't quite commit. And Cleat, the town waif whose parentage is unknown, just drifts. Into their lives comes Val, a stranger on the run." (Library Journal) 223 pp. ISBN: 0-38526416X.