In the small, mainly white well-to-do Boston suburb of W_____ during the mid-1990s, the young, charismatic black pastor of the Pilgrims' Congregational Church suddenly vanishes. Why? Where did he go? Who saw him last? What would have, or who could have, caused him to leave? When will he return? Or will he, ever? The Faithful Narrative of a Pastor's Disappearance, the title of which deftly and deliberately nods to a famous Jonathan Edwards sermon of 1737, is a perceptive, compelling, and often laugh-out-loud novel of the many paradoxes of today's New England: new cultural values and old religious traditions, liberalism and provincialism, acceptance and prejudice. With a richly varied and wholly representative cast of characters-the parishioners who, each and all, discover, are affected by, and finally must surmount the pastor's absence-this is a blistering yet insightful satire of religion and real estate, suburbs and sex-drives, adultery and the American Dream. Benjamin Anastas offers a novel that, as Newsday observed, "is a mighty good read. The characters and their social milieu are wonderfully drawn, and the writing is sardonic and memorable."