ISLAND OF THE WORLD: THE NEW NOVEL from MICHAEL O'BRIEN!

Island of the World: A Novel

Island of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior. As the novel begins, World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them--the fascist Ustashe, Serb nationalist Chetniks, and Communist Partisans. As events gather momentum, hell breaks loose, and the young and the innocent are caught in the path of great evils. Their only remaining strength is their religious faith and their families.

For more than a century, the confused and highly inflammatory history of former Yugoslavia has been the subject of numerous books, many of them rife with revisionist history and propaganda. The peoples of the Balkans live on the border of three worlds: the Islamic, the orthodox Slavic East, and Catholic Europe, and as such they stand in the path of major world conflicts that are not only geo-political but fundamentally spiritual. This novel cuts to the core question: how does a person retain his identity, indeed his humanity, in absolutely dehumanizing situations?

In the life of the central character, the author demonstrates that this will demand suffering and sacrifice, heroism and even holiness. When he is twelve years old, his entire world is destroyed, and so begins a lifelong Odyssey to find again the faith which the blows of evil have shattered. The plot takes the reader through Josip's youth, his young manhood, life under the Communist regime, hope and loss and unexpected blessings, the growth of his creative powers as a poet, and the ultimate test of his life. Ultimately this novel is about the crucifixion of a soul--and resurrection.

Read more about Island of the World, including praise for the novel from Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, David Lyle Jeffrey, Michael Coren, Joseph Pearce, James V. Schall, S.J., and Dr. Edoardo Rialti.

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Michael O'Brien, born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1948 is a self-taught painter and writer. He has worked as a professional artist since 1970 when he had his first one-man exhibit at a major gallery in Ottawa. The show was nearly sold out in a short time, and has been followed by 40 exhibits across North America during the ensuing 30 years.

Since 1976 he has painted religious imagery exclusively, a field that ranges from liturgical commissions to work reflecting on the meaning of the human person, transcendence and immanence. His paintings hang in churches, monasteries, universities, community collections and private collections in the U.S.A., Canada, England, Australia, and Africa.

The artist is also well known writer on religion and culture. His essays have appeared in several international journals and anthologies concerned with these topics, urging the people of the Western world to examine the negative effects of materialism, and to rediscover authentic spiritual sources in the absolutes of the Christian faith.

Both his written work and visual art have been reviewed and reproduced widely. He is an author of several books, notably his seven volume series of novels published by Ignatius Press of San Francisco. The first volume, Father Elijah, published in 1996, has sold more than 40,000 copies in hardcover, and subsequent novels have also sold well.

In addition, Ignatius Press published A Landscape With Dragons, an examination of the phenomenon of contemporary pagan influence in children's culture. A book of his paintings and meditations, The Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary contains 15 images from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Other titles include The Family and the New Totalitarianism, a collection of essays on the crisis of the family in a secular age, and a children's book, The Small Angel. The video edition of The Small Angel, produced by Anton Casta, is distributed by St. Max Media.

Michael's most recent novel is Sophia House , the sixth novel in the acclaimed Children of the Last Days series. It is the prequel to Father Elijah and is set in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation:

Pawel Tarnowski, a bookseller, gives refuge to David Schäfer, a Jewish youth who has escaped from the ghetto, and hides him in the attic of the book shop. Throughout the winter of 1942-43, haunted by the looming threat of discovery, they discuss good and evil, sin and redemption, literature and philosophy, and their respective religious views of reality. Decades later, David becomes a convert to Catholicism, is the Carmelite priest Fr. Elijah Schäfer called by the Pope to confront the Anti-christ in Michael O'Brien's best-selling novel, Father Elijah: An Apocalypse.

Michael and his wife Sheila have six children. He writes and paints full-time at his home near Combermere, Ontario.

Visit StudioOBrien.com, Michael's personal website, with excerpts, essays, and artwork.

Michael O'Brien books published by Ignatius Press:






Related Interviews and Columns on Ignatius Insight.com:

• Novelist of the Last Days | An Interview with Michael O'Brien. An April 2005 interview with Michael about his novel Sophia House.

• Two-part interview with Michael | August 2004. Michael talks with IgnatiusInsight.com about his novel, A Cry of Stone, the work of the novelist, and the role of the arts in the Catholic Church and in the world. Read part one of the interview here and part two here.

• "Thought Crime Becomes a Reality in Canada" | An article by Michael from August 2004 about a new Canadian federal hate crimes law that will include speech against sexual orientation.

• "Are Christians Intolerant?" | An excerpt from A Landscape with Dragons: The Battle for Your Child’s Mind.

• Review of "A Cry of Stone" | From National Catholic Register, July 2004.