Under the Sun of Satan: A Novel

Georges Bernanos's dramatic debut novel, Under the Sun of Satan, plunges the reader headfirst into the riddle of evil and the drama of salvation. The story follows young Fr. Donissan, a man of passionate devotion but limited intelligence, as he strives to serve the Lord in his rural ministry, and is saturated with dramatic intensity and defined by Bernanos' characteristic fitful language. The priest's capacity to delve into the inner lives of his flock, combined with his awareness of Satan on the prowl, provides him with formidable opportunities for grace—with a prostitute, a kid on the verge of death, and his fellow priests battling with doubt.

Meditative, keenly insightful, at times alarming, Under the Sun of Satan displays the masterful scope of Bernanos’s artistic vision, a vision which only grew in clarity with his later works.

“Like no other Christian writer of our times, Bernanos is the minstrel of grace.”  ~Hans Urs von Balthasar