Description: From Simon & Schuster, The Divine Comedy of John Venner is Gregory Blake Smith's unforgettable novel.John Venner, a thirty-five-year-old doctor of divinity at a small New England college near one of America's last Shaker outposts, becomes obsessed with a shapely Shaker virgin and battles the conflicting emotions brought on by the yearnings of the flesh and the spirit.
Brief description: Gregory Blake Smith is the award-winning author of several novels including The Divine Comedy of John Venner, a New York Times Notable Book. He is a Professor of English and the Liberal Arts at Carleton College.