The Sunken Cathedral
John F.D. Taff
Grey Matter Press
July 2015
Reviewed by Rose Blackthorn
Jacob Reilly is twelve years old. The fourth of five brothers, he is still working out who or what he will be. He’s not particularly athletic or talented in school, has yet little interest in girls, and unlike his youngest brother Nathan, is not even great at causing trouble or getting attention. What he does enjoy is reading almost anything, having time to himself, and church. He loves the simple cathedral on the shore of a small lake surrounded by trees. He enjoys his duties as an altar boy, carrying the cross or swinging the censer as he walks the aisle on Sundays and the Holy Days of Obligation. This is a place where he feels a part of something bigger, where he can be just himself. A place where others see him, and recognize that he is someone special.
Everything changes, that is the nature of life. The seasons change, and relationships change, we learn and grow—that’s how it’s meant to be. The Sunken Cathedral is the story of Jake Reilly, and about the things that change him forever. Simply told from Jake’s point of view, yet layered with sensation and emotion, this is a story that affects deeply. It is a tale of the loss of innocence, of trust, of self. Children are remarkable at surviving the most heinous things, and yet the hand of an abuser leaves a mark never to be eradicated.
This is the story of how Jake loses all the things that he has treasured in his short life and goes on, trying to pretend that it never happened. No matter what he does, or how far he goes, the shadow of that loss stretches behind him. It isn’t until he finally comes back to where it all began, and faces the pain he has tried to deny, that he is able to find some peace and the ragged beginnings of healing. The Sunken Cathedral is not long, but it is deep. Woven within the beautiful imagery are terrible truths and profound emotions, and the horrifying knowledge that the most dreadful monsters are just people, in the end. But no matter how awful the monsters may be, there is still hope.
- The Sunken Cathedral – Book Review - August 5, 2015
