Good fiction books with a Catholic theme

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Anyone have good book ideas that are fiction in nature but have a Catholic theme? Thanks.
 
Brideshead Revisited <3

You will get the usual suspects, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, etc if fantasy is your jam.

I love the fiction of Michael O’Brien, a Catholic novelist.

“Stealing Jenny” by Ellen Gable is a good Catholic novel, Ann Lewis’ books about Sherlock Holmes are excellent.

RH Benson’s “Lord of the World” is a must read (even the Pope agrees with me!)
 
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Silence.
It’s kinda fiction in a way, like historical fiction.

By the Japanese Graham Greene.
 
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Junia: The Fictional Life and Death of an Early Christian by Fr. Michael Giesler

Exiles by Ron Hansen
 
Probably. I did not see the movie. I own the book (in a translation) but I havent read too much of it but I know about it. I believe I have heard about the movie and it seems to be based on the book, though I don’t know how loyal it is.
I liked the same author’s “A Life of Jesus”, though it gave much to skeptics.
 
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The Hawk and The Dove series of books about 13th century English Benedictine monks by Penelope Wilcock. There are seven or eight of them and they are wonderful stories about how the monks grow in holiness by serving each other in the monastery.
 
The Dorsettville series by Katherine Valentine. The first book is A Miracle for St. Cecilia’s. Five books in the series about a small New England town o wish I lived in. Easy entertaining reading written by a Catholic
 
The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain was actually pretty good, I thought. It’s about a fictional character who is an artist and commissioned to design a case for the Holy Grail to be placed in. There are many fictional characters, but they interact with several apostles, such as St. Paul and St. Peter, as well as St. Luke the Evangelist. The artist learns more about Christ through these interactions. There’s some suspense, because of course this is happening in the years shortly after the Resurrection and Christians are being persecuted.

It was fun for me and it helped me to imagine the apostles in a different way, as normal human beings, even if the story is fictional.
 
The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson
The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The Left Hand of God by William Barrett
 
If you like historical early Christian fiction like The Silver Chalice, there are a bunch of other similar books:

The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz
Ben Hur by Lew Wallace
Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell
 
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i read Silence: one of the saddest novels i’ve ever read

i haven’t read “Life of Jesus”

do you recommend it?
 
I liked it very much, read much of it in one day.

It can bring you a new perspective, the only real big complaint I’d say is that it gives too much ground to the skeptic community, and some of that ground is reasonably probably not theirs anymore now that scholarship in the field has advanced further, but if you can get past how utterly little he gives on terms of the miraculous side of things, then I’d say you might enjoy it.
 
I must read ‘Silence’. I read “A Wonderful Fool” also by Shusaku Endo and I loved it very much. It’s also not a “happy” book but I don’t mind sad books or bad endings if they feel real. The story should end according to its line or the way it makes sense.
 
I don’t believe anyone has mentioned G. K. Chesterton. His Father Brown collection is perfect if you like mysteries. There are five books of about 10 stories each.

Also if you like medical thrillers, I have written one myself which can be downloaded free from my blog. It is called Biotech Swirl and is based on some of the realities of the current biotechnology situation. It is a fictional mystery, but has many facts. Though there is a lot of science in it, I think it is important for Catholics to have as much understanding as possible and encourage people to at least get a feel for the basis of biological arguments for life and Creation. The link to get more information and to read / download is here:


I have other books and booklets pictured on the right column of my blog which you can check out from the link above. Thanks.
 
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Regina Doman’s “Fairy Tale Novels for Teens” book series is excellent. They contain a lot of mature themes, so I’d actually recommend them for young adults instead of teens, but they’re very good. Exciting, entertaining, touching, and always contain a good moral for young adults to carry with them when moving out on their own.

In order, their titles are:
#1. Shadow of the Bear
#2. Black as Night
#3. Waking Rose
#4. Midnight Dancers
(Can’t remember the name of the fifth book, sorry)
and #6. Rapunzel Let Down

Also, despite being based off of fairy tales, they are written for both boys and girls. In fact, the third book was mostly written for young men.
 
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