UNIVERSAL FATHER: A LIFE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

Karol Wojtyla's early life experiences were of intense love and intenseloss: born in Poland in 1920, he was eight when his mother died, twelvewhen his older brother died of scarlet fever in the hospital where heworked as a doctor, and twenty when his severe but loving father diedduring the Nazi occupation. God and the Catholic Church were from thebeginning his consolation and strength. What is new and unusual about thistimely biography is the attention the author gives to the inner man. GarryO'Connor has not only investigated Karol Wojtyla's life before he becamePope - his love of football, skiing and the outdoor life, his commitmentto acting, his friendships with men and with women, his experiences underGerman and then Soviet occupation, his nationalism, his early years as apriest - but has also subtly analysed the Pope's own poems, plays andphilosophical works as clues to what drives him. The result, based onO'Connor's scrupulous research, is a vivid and accessible living portraitthat dramatically tracks both the personal tragedies, including theassassination attempt in 1981, and the great public confrontations on theworld stage.