What People are Saying
“Fr. Ference’s scholarly work is a great contribution to the understanding of one of America’s most influential authors, who used the incarnate human experience to expand the soul’s ability to receive the mystery of transformative grace.”
—Bishop Edward Malesic, Diocese of Cleveland
“This is the book on Flannery I've been waiting for without knowing it: a serious investigation of the Thomistic inflections and foundations that give form to O’Connor’s fiction. Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist allows these friends across the centuries to clarify one another.”
—Joshua Hren, founder of Wiseblood Books, author of Infinite Regress and Contemplative Realism: A Theological-Aesthetical Manifesto
“There is no one so well-versed in O’Connor’s philosophical background as Fr. Ference. In his attentive exploration into Flannery’s art and the thought behind the work, especially her reading and absorption of Thomas Aquinas, he illuminates the soul of O’Connor’s fiction.”
—Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Giving the Devil His Due: Flannery O'Connor and The Brothers Karamazov
“Fr. Ference has written a fine O’Connor volume undertaken with the parameters of Thomism, the first study of its kind. His book is not to be missed by anyone with an interest in, and appreciation for, O’Connor’s writing.”
—Henry T. Edmondson III, author of Return to Good and Evil: Flannery O’Connor’s Response to Nihilism