Literary fiction post-war Italy

“A holy man. A forbidden love. A truth too human to confess.” In the ruins of post-war Italy, a young priest’s love for a pregnant woman sparks a quiet rebellion against the Church that shaped him. Padre Lucerio is a work of literary fiction set in 1950s Italy, where the Catholic Church stands at a crossroads of devotion, secrecy, and political power. Lucerio, a gentle and haunted young priest, becomes celebrated as the “Saint of San Fiorenzo” even as he carries a devastating truth: the woman he loves is carrying his child. Natan Kellermann is a retired clinical psychologist and psychodramatist, born in Sweden and now living in Jerusalem. After publishing academic books and articles, he turned to literary fiction and has written five psychological novels about life’s unfinished stories.