I discovered this book after reading the recent obituary on J.F. Powers. Now I'm recommending it to everyone. Father Urban is a priest who sounds more like a rotary member, a fund-raiser, a PR man. When the powers that be send him to the hinterlands, he bows to the inevitable. Other victories seem to turn on him at the same time. Hob-knobbing with the weathly, which at first seemed to benefit his order, turns into a nightmare in which he remembers his duty at just the last minute. This prose is so dryly humorous you must read it carefully to catch it all. You will become enchanted with Father Urban and sorry to leave him at the story's end. I wanted this story to go on and on.