A Kiss for the Leper: A Novel

A Kiss for the Leper cemented François Mauriac's reputation as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Jean Péloueyre, heir to a large estate in southern France, is a misbegotten, malformed young man. Jean, the polar opposite of a hero, is in desperate need of help. "The redeemers and the redeemed are not whom we expect," argues Anthony Esolen in his accompanying article. Mauriac presents Jean and his young bride as cooperators in redemption, leprous, unenlightened souls whose Redeemer took the penalty that makes them—and us—whole, in opposition to Nietzschean concepts of power and sentimental dilutions of Christianity. Mauriac weaves a story that is visceral, violent, and filled with the mystery of mercy, much like the novels that would establish his name, Vipers' Tangle and A Woman of the Pharisees.