Book commentary by Steve Jalsevac

Dec. 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Today I conducted the most awesome interview I’ve experienced since LifeSiteNews began. Brian Gail is a former semi-pro athlete, former U.S. Fortune 500 CEO and much more. Over a year ago he completed a unique, 540-page modern fiction novel titled Fatherless. I just read the book. It is amazing. I won’t go into it in a lot of detail now since I’ll be writing an article on the novel and my interview with Gail in the next day or two.

Fatherless is for mature readers 18 and up and deals with our culture and many of the moral issues covered by LifeSiteNews, especially the social and health effects of the contraceptive pill. It does this in a very unique and incredibly effective manner – via a compelling, fictional story about the intertwined lives of a number of representative characters of modern western life. It is about the great moral and spiritual struggles and fatherlessness of the late 20th century, especially as they relate to the Catholic clergy, business professionals and family life.

Fatherless was originally written for a Catholic audience, but Gail says many non-Catholics have told him they have appreciated the believable stories and the thoroughly researched information that the novel provides. A well written novel, it’s hard to put down once started.

The book is especially credible in part because (as Gail told me today) much of it reflects the extraordinary actual life experiences of himself, his many business and parish associates and his family. It is not an intellectual novel, nor is it for the faint-hearted or overly sensitive or pious – it’s about real life in the late 20th century. But there are moving and exceptionally inspiring sections within the novel.

I think Fatherless would be especially well suited for Catholic and other Christian business men and women who are constantly struggling with today’s business ethical challenges. Clergy at all levels and fathers of families would appreciate and learn a lot from Fatherless as well. But many others would also enjoy Fatherless and benefit from reading the novel. My wife, a homemaker and mother of eight, wants to read it a second time now that she has heard more about Gail’s life and why he wrote the book.

Fatherless is not so much for the converted as for those, including clergy, who could use the help of such a book to grow away from the many negative influences of our destructive modern culture that have inevitably influenced them. Gail knows. He has been through more intense experiences and personal suffering than most people experience in two lifetimes. Fatherless can provide a lifeline of better understanding and new motivation – for oneself – or to better help others and to transform the culture. That is what Gail is hoping for.

I strongly recommend Fatherless as a great Christmas present. Go to the “Fatherless” website for details and ordering information. The website also has a lot more information about the book and Brian Gail and includes other written reviews, audio interviews of Gail and even a brief video of Gail speaking at a meeting about some of the issues in his book.

By the way, LifeSiteNews gets nothing for promoting this book. The issues the book deals with are right up our alley and the novel is therefore well worth promoting for the good of all. It is good news.

Here is one of the cover endorsements: “âEUR¦Fatherless is, in a word, powerfulâEUR¦” from the late Richard J. Neuhaus (+2009), Editor, First Things Magazine

Lastly, here is a comment from Jenn Giroux, Executive Director and CEO of One More Soul, the publisher of Fatherless:

“Every reader is able to find someone in this book that they can identify with. And since each one of us is faced with decisions every day of our lives that will determine where we will spend eternity, this book makes the perfect Christmas gift for those we love on our Christmas list. Brian Gail manages to take on the most difficult and complicated moral issues of our day in a way that teaches the reader while also entertaining them with his humor, knowledge of the business world, and gifted style of writing.”