Eight hundred years ago a vault containing the body of St Anthony was opened. It had been thirty-two years since the original internment and most of the body had turned to dust the tongue had been left in an almost perfect state of preservation. Since then it had been kept safe in a church in Padua; safe that is until one night. Along with various relics of saints, it was stolen.

Father Torturo had only recently arrived in Padua. Originally sent to assist the Archbishop of Ferrara he was moved when he resisted the late night advances of the Archbishop. Although he was highly educated, speaking many languages and having studied great philosophical works, the influence of the Archbishop of Ferrara meant he was only allocated the most menial of tasks.

However, as time passed the incident was forgotten and his duties improved. Meanwhile he continued his studies learning everything he though necessary to ensure his advancement. He also made infrequent visits to a Slovenian doctor who was performing a series of bizarre operations on the priest – operations that certainly wouldn't be permitted in any real hospital.

Soon Father Torturo was appointed Cardinal and began his advancement within the Vatican City culminating in his being elected Pope. When, during a gathering in St Peter's Square he displayed the ability to heal the sick with just the power of his touch the other Cardinals started to realise that the church was changing – and not necessarily for the better. But how do you deal with such a situation?

The Translation of Father Torturo has to be the most original book I have ever read – no exceptions. Torturo starts of as an apparently normal priest but through a series of extreme operations he begins to replace several of his bones and organs with the preserved relics of various saints. This seems to give him the magical ability to heal the sick. But for one man to have so much power inevitably leads to corruption and Torturo is no exception.

The word Translate is defined in many different ways by Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary. It is described as "To remove, as in ecclesiastic, from one office to another", "to change into another form; transform", and also "to convey or remove from one place to another, as a human being from earth to heaven, without natural death". These three definitions form the crux of the story. Father Torturo is willing to do anything necessary to ensure he achieves the ultimate position within the catholic church, that of the Pope. But in an apparent contradiction to his holy destiny Torturo is willing to crush anyone who stands in his way.

This is a very disturbing story. The lengths to which the priest is willing to go is the stuff of horror stories but to call Translation a horror story is to do it a major injustice. It is so much more than that. It is often shocking, sometimes strangely amusing but totally compelling. From a personal point I loved the fact that it was partly set in two of my favourite cities – Venice and Rome. Having visited both I was able to picture the locations being described and, as Torturo travels from Venice into Slovenia, I was with him having done the same journey only a few months ago.

This is only a short book – some 194 pages but it is one of the finest original stories I have ever read. I do not know whether Brendan Connell has written any other books but one thing is sure – this is a hell of an act to follow! It doesn't get much better than this.

If you're not too fussy about literary genre barriers and what you're after is simply good fiction, here's something bound to satisfy your taste, a cross between fantasy and horror with a touch of solid mainstream fiction for good measure.

The novella, entirely located in a fairly credible Italy, narrates the extraordinary events in the life of a young priest, Father Torturo, a wicked, energetic, manly character whom the reader won't easily forget. Raised in his uncle's house after his parents were murdered, Torturo soon proves to be a gifted scholar in Latin and Greek which, in turn, leads him to enter the seminary.

As a young priest he comes in the service of the bishop of Padua and gets involved in the strange disappearances (and reappearances) of certain holy relics such as Saint Anthony's tongue and the bones of some minor saints from Milan.

By means of shrewdness, determination and blackmail Torturo is able to advance up to no less than popedom, becoming in no time the young, adored and feared Lando the Second. Unscrupulous, ruthless even with his closest friends and intoxicated with power, the unconventional pope becomes, before long, the victim of a dreadful vengeance which turns him into a human wreck.

The author, Brendan Connell, has created in Torturo a memorable character, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if he should show up again in some of the writer's future work.

Connell tells about Torturo's rise and fall in a very smooth writing style, now humorous now overtly horrific, always entertaining, never boring. He displays an uncanny insight of the Vatican's secret intrigues surrounding a pope's election, a good knowledge of the atmosphere and the topography of the major Italian cities and, more in general, a deep knowledge of the vices and weaknesses of human nature. Last but not least, maybe because he lives in Ticino (the Italian speaking part of Switzerland) Connell is the first author of English mother-tongue I've read who can write Italian phrases without including one or two errors in every sentence...

But back to Torturo. In order to not spoil the reader's pleasure all I'm prepared to add is that a formidable twist in the tail will surprise and delight anyone who feels sorry for the priest's terrible fate.

Once again, great storytelling by an author who definitely deserves to be closely watched.

Synopsis
In 1263, when the vault containing the body of St. Anthony was opened, thirty-two years after its original internment, the flesh had turned to dust, but the tongue was in a perfect state of preservation. For almost eight-hundred years it was kept mounted on a pin. But now it has been stolen. Padua, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome...Father Torturo, the neo-decadent anti-hero, moves through a modern Italy reeking of incense and filth. In an adventure stained with magic and garnished with cruelty, he travels on an ambitious journey to popedom, where the only laws that restrain him are those of his own artistic taste.