The Shoes of the Fisherman

by Morris West · first published 1963

The Shoes of the Fisherman is a novel by the Australian writer Morris West first published in 1963. The novel concerns the election of a Ukrainian pope, and is a dissection of Vatican politics. The protagonist, Kiril Pavlovich Lakota, appointed a cardinal in pectore by the previous pope, was inspired by the lives of two Ukrainian Catholic bishops: Cardinal Josyf Slipyj and Bishop Hryhorij Lakota. Slipyj was released by Nikita Khrushchev's administration from a Siberian Gulag in 1963, the year of the novel's publication, after political pressure from Pope John XXIII and United States President John F. Kennedy.

Summary: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Genre:

Political fiction

Original language:

English

Year page:

1963