Flower of Heaven

It's a thriller that doesn't quit. From his serene parish in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Father Richard Merrill had led a seemingly quiet life as a man of the cloth, shepherding his flock to find the solace of a higher power. Now, the core of his belief and his being is propelled into the darkest chaos. And, what's more, it's all for the sake of his own flesh and blood, Flower of Heaven, the utterly engrossing page-turner by Julien Ayotte, swirls together love and intrigue of perilous global proportions as forces conspire to shake the sanctity of one holy man. It's a heart-stopping work that spans continents, while mining the deepest channels of the human heart.

Fr. Richard Merrill, or Fr. Dick, the priest of St. Matthew's Parish, has found himself in an all-too-human predicament. It harks back to one brief interlude in Paris during his younger years, which unbeknownst to him, beget two sons who were given up for adoption. The mother, Francoise Dupont, a former gallery director at the Louvre, has since married an Arab prince. For the priest, this news compels him first to enlist an insurance man, Jim Howard, to ensure his children have a proper legacy.

Falling quickly in love, their connection was sealed with the prince's gift of a rare fragrance, the Flower of Heaven, which was created to represent a gift from Allah. By ancient writ of the kingdom, the bloodlines of her sons place them directly in line to succeed her gravely ill husband, now the king. But herein lies trouble. More than a few of the king's enemies are consumed with stopping them from ascending the throne, and capturing it for themselves.

It's up to Fr. Dick to take up a new and crucial calling to save his sons. With help from the FBI, the CIA and an old mercenary, the race is on. From France, to Haiti, the United States, and the Middle East, Merrill will take whatever measures necessary to save his sons and unmask the scent of the Flower of Heaven. With evocative detail, high-flying action, and ingenious plot twists, Flower of Heaven is a searing, brilliantly crafted literary debut that will keep readers hungry for every enthralling page.