Dear James - Hardcover

“Characters so exquisitely rendered that even a first-time visitor to Staggerford will come to love them as old friends.”
--New York Times Book Review
“A deliciously rich, simmering brew of envy, charity and redemptive love.”
--Publishers Weekly
“Old-fashioned storytelling at its best.”
--Kirkus Reviews
Personal and public crises descend on Agatha Magee in her 70th year. The feisty, quick-witted, fiercely Catholic spinster travels to Italy and Ireland to shake off the malaise of a forced retirement. There, against the backdrop of IRA and Islamic terrorism, she confronts the love of her life, a priest who has betrayed her by concealing his clerical identity. Back home in Staggerford, Minnesota, two spiteful acquaintances smear Agatha’s good name with malicious stories. With the sure touch of a narrative master, Jon Hassler blends gentle satire and acute insight in a compelling story of loss, forgiveness, and renewal.

“Characters so exquisitely rendered that even a first-time visitor to Staggerford will come to love them as old friends.”
--New York Times Book Review
“A deliciously rich, simmering brew of envy, charity and redemptive love.”
--Publishers Weekly
“Old-fashioned storytelling at its best.”
--Kirkus Reviews
Personal and public crises descend on Agatha Magee in her 70th year. The feisty, quick-witted, fiercely Catholic spinster travels to Italy and Ireland to shake off the malaise of a forced retirement. There, against the backdrop of IRA and Islamic terrorism, she confronts the love of her life, a priest who has betrayed her by concealing his clerical identity. Back home in Staggerford, Minnesota, two spiteful acquaintances smear Agatha’s good name with malicious stories. With the sure touch of a narrative master, Jon Hassler blends gentle satire and acute insight in a compelling story of loss, forgiveness, and renewal.