(Twenty chests of minted Spanish gold in a sunken galleon-...)
Twenty chests of minted Spanish gold in a sunken galleon-this is the lure that brings historian Renn Lundigan to a tiny island off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Renn enlists islander Johnny Akimoto to teach him scuba diving but soon realizes there's a far greater danger in the reef than the sharks. Gambling den owner Manny Mannix has followed him to the island, and now he threatens not only Renn and Johnny but also the beautiful young scientist Pat Mitchell. Gallows on the Sand is a fast-paced story of high adventure, with the rich characterization that made Morris West one of the bestselling writers of his day.
(Richard Ashley is a journalist who cares about the truth,...)
Richard Ashley is a journalist who cares about the truth, and he's about to break the greatest story of his career. Italy's ruling clique is rotten to the core. A scandal centered around Vittorio, Duke of Orgagna, points to a web of corruption and deceit emanating from his estate in the south. But Ashley finds that the truth is not all it seems when he falls in love with Orgagna's wife. Everything is more complicated, more passionate, than before-and tainted by death. Suddenly Ashley's greatest story threatens to be his last.
(Winter 1945. The Second World War is over, but it is a ti...)
Winter 1945. The Second World War is over, but it is a time of armistice, not peace. Austria is grieving its defeat and the loss of a generation of men; it is a land without leaders. To men like Major Mark Hanlon, Occupation Commander of the alpine town of Bad Quellenberg falls the task of destroying the legacy of the Nazis once and for all. When his driver is murdered by an Austrian soldier, Hanlon is determined to bring the man to justice. But investigating the crime proves difficult in a community where nearly everyone has something to hide. Morris West's fast-moving story brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of occupation in a traumatized postwar Europe.
(In an impoverished village in southern Italy, the enigmat...)
In an impoverished village in southern Italy, the enigmatic life and mysterious death of Giacomo Nerone has inspired talk of sainthood. Father Blaise Meredith, a dying English priest, is sent by the Vatican to investigate. As he tries to untangle the web of facts, rumors and outright lies that surround Nerone, The Devil's Advocate reminds us how the power of goodness ultimately prevails over despair. The Devil's Advocate was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature and was made into a film.
(The pope is dead and the corridors of the Vatican hum wit...)
The pope is dead and the corridors of the Vatican hum with intrigue as cardinals gather to elect his successor. The result is a surprise: the new pope is the youngest of them all-a bearded Ukrainian. The Shoes of the Fisherman is the moving story of Kiril I, recently released from 17 years in Siberian labor camps and haunted by his past. Not only is he the leader of a fractured Catholic Church, but he also finds he must confront his inquisitor and tormentor in order to avert another world war.
(American ambassador Maxwell Gordon Amberley has a reputat...)
American ambassador Maxwell Gordon Amberley has a reputation as a tough negotiator. Yet when he is sent to Vietnam, the dilemma he faces throws him into self-doubt. He is made arbiter of his nation's fate on the one hand, and of the life and death of the ruling house of Vietnam on the other. Out of every international crisis comes at least one great book. From the explosive, bitter and savage battlefront of Vietnam, Morris West's masterly novel The Ambassador brings to life the early days of the Vietnam War and its backroom political dealings, foreshadowing the repercussions that continue today.
("The Tower of Babel is an outstanding achievement by one ...)
"The Tower of Babel is an outstanding achievement by one of the great best-selling novelists of our time. Set in the Middle East, on the very brink of war, it portrays the Arab-Jewish confrontation with a sense of political reality that is both profound and startling. "It is a measure of Morris West's power of understanding that in the age of the anti-hero he has written a novel in which every character can be termed a hero."
(A famous writer travels to the remote, windswept islands ...)
A famous writer travels to the remote, windswept islands of Scotland's Outer Hebrides looking for peace of mind and a chance to dispel his inner demons. On the way, a car accident throws him together with the raven-haired doctor Kathleen McNeil. He also falls in with the Red Wolf, a man who lives by the old codes-some of them violent. As a love triangle develops, the refined, civilized writer finds himself pitted against the rough-hewn man of nature. Summer of the Red Wolf is an epic story for a modern age; a fast-paced narrative in a rugged landscape, driven by the timeless themes of love and jealousy.
(Paul Desmond admires his close friend George Harlequin fo...)
Paul Desmond admires his close friend George Harlequin for his impeccable European breeding. Head of a prestigious Swiss bank, Harlequin belongs to a vanishing class of gentlemen whose handshake is their bond. Then their gilded world is blown apart. A computer printout identifies the Harlequin et Cie bank as the target of a gigantic takeover. The mastermind is Basil Yanko, a ruthless financial genius whose instruments are fraud, blackmail, and terror. As the conflict moves from Zurich to London, New York and Mexico, Harlequin must become a 'villain by necessity'. Can Desmond help his friend save his bank-and his family?
(Pope Gregory XVII has spent a lifetime quietly serving th...)
Pope Gregory XVII has spent a lifetime quietly serving the Church he loves - until he announces a prophecy so alarming that it threatens to tear the Vatican apart. Terrified, the Vatican cardinals imprison him in a monastery. Is he mad, as they believe, or is it all an elaborate plot? An old friend of the pope sets out on a risky quest to find out. On the way, he discovers the power of love and faith, while terrorists and politicians use every deadly and unholy means to stop him.
(John Spada publicly runs an enormous multi-national corpo...)
John Spada publicly runs an enormous multi-national corporation, privately he heads Proteus, a clandestine resistance movement. His aim is to free prisoners of conscience wherever they may be. As the story unfolds, Spada himself becomes an outlaw, and holds the world hostage.
(Pope Gregory XVII has spent a lifetime quietly serving th...)
Pope Gregory XVII has spent a lifetime quietly serving the Church he loves - until he announces a prophecy so alarming that it threatens to tear the Vatican apart. Terrified, the Vatican cardinals imprison him in a monastery. Is he mad, as they believe, or is it all an elaborate plot? An old friend of the pope sets out on a risky quest to find out. On the way, he discovers the power of love and faith, while terrorists and politicians use every deadly and unholy means to stop him.
(Even in death, Cassidy is larger than life. Charles Parne...)
Even in death, Cassidy is larger than life. Charles Parnell Cassidy is a powerful politician. He's a backroom fixer: generous, but also greedy and cunning. Martin Gregory is his disenchanted protégé who, having married Cassidy's daughter and become a success on his own terms, scorns his father-in-law.When the terminally ill Cassidy arrives in London to die, he makes Gregory the executor of his will and sets a complex trap by offering him the keys to a vast empire of wealth and corruption spanning Australia and Southeast Asia. With Cassidy's evil influence ever-present, Gregory tries to unravel the old man's complicated obligations and debts, while struggling to ensure the security of his family.
(When the daughter of an old Florentine family dies, she l...)
When the daughter of an old Florentine family dies, she leaves a bequest to her lover Max Mather, an American art historian who has been managing the family's rare art collection. Mather is left with two priceless artworks by the great Renaissance master Raphael-without the family's knowledge.As Mather contrives to have the artworks discovered at auction in New York, big-time collectors, dealers and auctioneers are drawn into his game. In trying to out-deal the deal-makers, he becomes embroiled in a tangled web surrounding the brutal murder of a promiscuous Manhattan painter, Madeleine Bayard. The two stories intertwine in this fast-paced tale of intrigue and murder in the international art world.
(The Vatican trilogy that began with The Shoes of the Fish...)
The Vatican trilogy that began with The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) and The Clowns of God (1981) reaches a conclusion in West's limning of a modern pontiff presiding in a time of terrorism and violence. Leo XIV, a pope physically at risk as well as spiritually troubled, is unlike his warmly remembered predecessor, John XXIII. Reactionary and forbidding, out of touch with the faithful, Leo undergoes bypass surgery that puts him at the mercy of "Brother Death" and in the care of a Jewish Italian surgeon with Zionist connections. Amid political intrigue and counterespionage, both pope and physician become prime targets of Islamic terrorists.
(Autumn 1990. The world is teetering on the edge of war in...)
Autumn 1990. The world is teetering on the edge of war in the Gulf, Germany is reunited and crumbling USSR stares ruin in the face. In Japan, a group of powerful men and women gather to create a rescue plan that will bring all three countries together for the first time in fifty years. Polyglot international publisher Gill Langton is mediator-in-chief. Treading the highest wire of global power-broking, he alone can balance politics with intrigue, maneuver with counter-maneuver. But his love for the beautiful, enigmatic Martha could bring it all tumbling down.
(On Bryan Cavanagh's birthday, a sealed letter from Rome a...)
On Bryan Cavanagh's birthday, a sealed letter from Rome arrives, bearing the arms of the ancient house of the Farnese di Mongrifone. Affectionate, even imperious, it is a summons from the woman he loved-and lost-in the turbulent, opportunistic world of postwar Europe. Beset by his memories of an extraordinary voyage on a private yacht on the Mediterranean forty years earlier, Bryan returns to Rome, where he discovers a closely guarded secret. In The Lovers, Morris West spins a glowing thread of love lost and regained, woven through a rich tapestry of intrigue, betrayal, suspense and murder.
(Carl Strassberger's comfortable life in the south of Fran...)
Carl Strassberger's comfortable life in the south of France is shattered when his brother-in-law Larry Lucas, the heir to the family banking business, suddenly vanishes after landing a multimillion-dollar deal. Investigating Larry's disappearance, Carl uncovers a sinister travel company that helps wealthy, unhappy clients disappear to a new life. But Carl fears Larry is dead-or worse. Vanishing Point is a story of flight and pursuit, of financial intrigue, of old and menacing secrets unearthed and of normal lives thrown suddenly into violent confusion.
(As a young and outspoken priest, Luca Rossini was brutall...)
As a young and outspoken priest, Luca Rossini was brutally tortured in an Argentine military prison, and then nursed back to health by the beautiful Isabel. Exiled to Rome to avoid scandal, Rossini becomes a cardinal and the pope's confidante. He is admired and feared by his colleagues, for he understands the Church, speaks frankly and knows how to present his ancient faith to the media. When the pope becomes gravely ill and a successor must be chosen, Rossini takes a central role. In the midst of the political intrigue that surrounds the selection of a new pope, Isabel arrives in Rome-along with Rossini's daughter. Suddenly, Rossini must confront painful memories of Argentina and the scandalous passion of his long-suspended love affair. Eminence is Morris West at the peak of his powers as a novelist, offering profound insights into the workings of the Catholic Church in a gripping personal story.
(One of the most famous victims of the Holy Office of the ...)
One of the most famous victims of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was the brilliant Dominican monk Giordano Bruno, burnt at the stake for heresy in 1600. Morris West recreates a diary of Bruno's intimate thoughts as he languishes in Rome's worst prison for seven years. Bruno's reflections and frank memories of his life reveal him to be both a fine thinker and a flawed priest-and a man willing to pay the highest price to be true to himself. The Last Confession was West's final novel, published posthumously. Written with passion and compassion, this is a voice that mesmerizes from the start.
Morris Langlo West was an Australian playwright and author. He was one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century.
Background
Morris Langlo West was born on April 26, 1916 in Melbourne, Australia. He was the oldest of six children born to Charles Langlo West and Florence Guilfoyle Hanlon. By the time he was six years old, West became aware of growing tensions between his parents. Charles worked as a travelling salesman and was often absent for long periods. Times were hard for many people in Melbourne at the time, and the West family often struggled to make ends meet. Matters were made worse when Charles became involved with another woman who lived in the same district, and by his gambling on horse racing.
Education
In 1937 Morris Langlo West received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne.
From 1933 Morris Langlo West taught in New South Wales and Tasmania, but before taking his final vows, he decided to leave religious life in 1940. During World War II West served in the Australian Imperial Forces Corps of Signals, in the South Pacific, from 1939 to 1943. While stationed in Queensland, West wrote his first book, A Moon in My Pocket (1945), based on his experiences in the religious order, and published under the name of Julian Morris. The work, which questioned religious customs, became a bestseller.
In 1943 West became a secretary to William Morris Hughes, former Prime Minister of Australia. After his discharge from the Army, West was a publicity manager at Radio Station 3 DB in Melbourne for two years, and founder, later a managing director of Australian Radio Productions Pty Ltd (1945 - 1954). During this period West wrote and produced soap operas, including The Burtons, sponsored by the BEX Company, which made headache powders.
In 1951 West suffered a breakdown, and was hospitalized for three weeks. In 1955 he moved to Sorrento, Italy. After 1954 he was a film and dramatic writer for the Shell Company and the Australian Broadcasting Network. From the 1950s West lived abroad. Between the years 1956 and 1968 he lived in England, and later in Italy, Austria, and the Unites States. In Vatican he worked six months as the Vatican correspondent of the London Daily Mail. West returned to Australia in 1982.
In the years following his return to Australia Morris West served one term as Chairman of the National Book Council and one as Chairman of the Council of the National Library of Australia. West also wrote screenplays, radio dramas, plays and was also an artist. At the time of his death, West was at work on a new novel, The Last Confession, about a Catholic heretic and philosopher.
Achievements
Morris Langlo West is the author of 30 novels and has sold more than 60 million copies of his books worldwide in over 27 languages. He is best known for his novels The Devil's Advocate, The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Clowns of God. In 1997 the National Trust of Australia declared him a National Living Treasure.
Two American universities and three Australian universities have conferred honorary doctorates on him; the University of Western Sydney in 1993, The Australian National University, Canberra in 1995 and the University of Sydney in 1999.
In his youth, Morris Langlo West was a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers "as a kind of refuge" from what he described as a difficult, lonely childhood for several years. However, he never considered himself as anything other than a committed Catholic.
Views
Morris Langlo West established the Morris West Trust Fund to help the National Library to publish books of value to the national heritage. In the early 1960s, he helped found the Australian Society of Authors.
Quotations:
"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine."
"It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the Love and the courage to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risks of living with both arms. One has to embrace life."
"You know one of the causes of modern despair is the fact that we have had proposed to us, from various quarters, an impossible perfection."
Connections
In 1941 Morris Langlo West married Elizabeth Harvey. Their first child, Julian, was born in 1942. In 1944 their second child, a daughter, Elizabeth was born. Later, they divorced. He married his second wife, Joyce Lawford, in 1953, and had three sons and one daughter.
