As the story begins, we meet four children, siblings ranging in age from six to sixteen, hiking in hills on an errand for their mother, to gather calendula blossoms for medicinal use. We learn they are from the village of Sursum Corda, on the Little Jordan River. Sursum Corda, Latin for “lift up your hearts”, is said by the priest before the prayers of consecration at Catholic Holy Mass. Reference is made to People of the Flatlands, and People of the High Forest, locations of the closest settlements of other friends and family. We are trying to fix the time and place of our story, but it isn’t readily apparent— the distant past? The distant future? If so, what has happened to our world?

O’Brien is setting the stage for a story within this story, an answer to that question. For someone from the distant past has left a memoir of what happened in that time, our time, that radically changed the world, hidden but now discovered by these children. If you are familiar with Catholic prophecy, then events such as societal breakdown, Christian persecution, the Illumination of Consciences, the Three Days of Darkness, and the subsequent rebuilding of a Christ-centric society will be very familiar to you. These events have been predicted for many decades, even centuries.

O’Brien creates a story involving three families who upon receiving dreams and inner promptings, set off for a remote location, away from cities and towns, believing they are leaving their homes for a short time. Along the way, they meet another family of sons, two young women, a family of three young children whose parents were killed, and two other young teens, all either experiencing similar prompts, or in need of help. Marauders are on the roadways, killing and looting, creating chaos. Churches are burning, priests and bishops are imprisoned, cell phones no longer work, and transactions are cash only. We are seeing the breakdown of civil society, economic collapse, and totalitarian governmental control, all within a two day span. The caravan comprises twenty-five souls, who will be the ancestors of those living in the settlements at the story’s beginning.

O’Brien’s fictional story is a depiction of what is sure to happen in the near future, per Heaven’s patient and repeated warnings to those who choose to hear and prepare. While physical preparation is important (such as preserved food and water) of greater importance is spiritual preparation. Michael O’Brien is an excellent Catholic author, whose novels include Father Elijah, Strangers and Sojourners, Elijah in Jerusalem, The Father's Tale, Eclipse of the Sun, Sophia House, The Lighthouse, and Island of the World. This is the first one I have reviewed here, his newest, but I encourage you to seek out this one and others. He is a fine story teller, and deserves a wider audience. Ignore the signs of our times at your own peril.