A good easy read, with quite good characterisation, though the plot and setting are both far fetched! ( )

2 bro's Paul + Sean Cronin, priest + politician + orphan Nora - okay

The direction of Paul and Sean Cronin’s lives was shaped the day their father, a self-made multimillionaire, decided that one of his boys would grow up to be a cardinal while the other would become president of the United States.

For his elder son, Paul, the father had even chosen a wife—the beautiful Nora, who had come to the Cronin home as an orphan child years before. Obediently, and with a genuine vocation, the younger son, Sean, went into the priesthood. With a more cynical view, Paul went to Notre Dame to prepare for a life in politics until the Korean War intervened. Then came the news—Paul Cronin was missing in action.

“If he dies,” Sean’s father told him, “you must leave the seminary and marry Nora.” The words sang in Sean’s head. Could he renounce his sacred calling—and marry the girl he had always loved?

The book covers the lives of three people from preteens to middle age. The people are all fulfilling the destiny set forth for them by their patriarch. The internal debate and relationship between the brothers and Nora makes the book highly interesting although it may lack a little on the plot side. Definitely a book to read if you like complex, realistic characters. ( )