Full Quiver Publishing, my company, has just released on Kindle a compassionate and compelling story about two men dealing with same sex attraction, The Lion’s Heart, by Dena Hunt. This book has the endorsement of Courage International.
We have also created a new novel page for this book. Check it out here: www.thelionsheart.ca You can read reviews, an excerpt and a synopsis.
First, a synopsis:
Is love ever wrong? Paul Meyer has never let anyone get too close. Until Max. The Lion’s Heart is a heart-rending story about love and sacrifice. The emotional struggle of Paul’s same-sex attraction, the guilt he feels, and his ambivalence toward his Catholic faith all come together in this look inside the heart of a tortured man.
Here’s an excerpt:
“No, it wasn’t the deception, unpleasant as it was, that troubled him. In fact, he simply couldn’t put his finger on it. All he knew that was truly different with Max was that he loved him. And it was that, that single stark truth, which made everything different. He never loved before …. He put the empty wine glass on the balcony floor beside him and tried to find again that mysterious, interior quiet that city noise always brought him. But he felt instead a kind of disquiet that seemed urgent …. Love was never wrong. He’d heard that so often from sincere people, good people … ‘Love is never wrong.’ More than a platitude, it became a mantra. No one could argue with it, not without being judgmental or bigoted. Paul himself always believed it, although he never thought much about it before—never had much reason to think about it. But then, he’d never really loved anyone before….”
Here are a few reviews for The Lion’s Heart:
“Dena Hunt is a consummate storyteller who does not shirk or shy away from the difficult questions about life and love that her story raises. The Lion’s Heart contains not only the loves of lovers, spouses, parents, and children but also the demons and dragons that selfishness unleashes. The Lion’s Heart is not for the faint-hearted, nor is it for the hard-hearted. It pulsates with a passion that will bring true hearts to their knees.”
Joseph Pearce, author of The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde, co-editor of the St. Austin Review
“It may be fiction but The Lion’s Heart reflects a truth that is as real as the sunrise. The moral conflicts and dilemmas are treated with dignity and there are no easy answers, though, thank God, there are answers. The style, beauty, and flow of Dena’s writing speaks for itself. I could not give this book a higher rating, for it is at the top of the charts. I thank Ms. Hunt for having the courage and the beauty of heart to see, feel, and love as she did – for this book is, above all, a work of love. May it be accepted as such.”
A.K. Frailey, author The Deliverance Trilogy http://www.akfrailey.com
“The Lion’s Heart moved me to the core. Dena Hunt managed a rare feat: a delicately crafted novel that is at once a work of beauty and existential weight, and yet forces you to keep reading with all the urgency of a thriller.”
Bernardo Aparicio Garcia, Publisher, Dappled Things
“Whatever side of the controversy you call home, this book is a game-changer. With The Lion’s Heart, Dena Hunt gives us a compassionate story courageously told, depicting the truth in all its dimensions. Readers will never be the same, and with The Lion’s Heart, the landscape of faith-based fiction is changed forever.”
Erin McCole Cupp, author, Don’t You Forget About Me
“Dena Hunt conveys some of the very real struggles of those persons who have same-sex attractions (SSA), especially the shame, confusion, and misery that can accompany such feelings. She shows how that suffering can affect family and friends. The path to understanding homosexuality requires abundant patience, prudence, and good will because the topic is not primarily a controversial cultural issue, but rather a complex personal reality. It is one for which there is not one simple or general explanation – or response. This novel gives us a glimpse into the lives and hearts of those touched by SSA who are striving to understand themselves, and so to love genuinely after the example of Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church.”
Rev. Paul Check, Executive Director, Courage International
“If I had not been familiar with Dena’s writing, I would have passed on this novel due to the subject matter. I read the book because I know Dena as a daily Mass communicant and fellow parishioner. I know I can trust her to have something meaningful to say and to say it in a beautiful way. “The Lion’s Heart” does not disappoint. The topic of same sex attraction might be troublesome at first but Dena goes for the heart of the human condition. She writes about the universal conditions of desire, betrayal, contrition, and forgiveness. As a devout Catholic she includes characters we will all recognize, showing us their shortcomings as well as their redeeming qualities. At the core of it all is a human heart made in God’s image to be redeemed only by our loving God.”
Deacon Paul Worth, Texas
If you would like a FREE Kindle copy, please leave a comment below or email me: fullquiverpublishing(at)gmail.com
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