The Sign of the Cross
Travels in Catholic Europe
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-0350-5501-2 (ISBN)
Description
Part travelogue, part reportage, part autobiography, The Sign of the Cross is the story of Colm Toibin's religious pilgrimage across Europe.
Between 1990 and 1994, Colm Toibin made a series of trips through Catholic Europe. His journey led him into close contact with people from all walks of life, from priests to politicians, from the intellectually open to the spiritually bigoted. He then set down his impressions in The Sign of the Cross, a beautifully written book filled with personal detail set within its historical context.
Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.
Between 1990 and 1994, Colm Toibin made a series of trips through Catholic Europe. His journey led him into close contact with people from all walks of life, from priests to politicians, from the intellectually open to the spiritually bigoted. He then set down his impressions in The Sign of the Cross, a beautifully written book filled with personal detail set within its historical context.
Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.
Reviews / Votes
Colm Toibin writes beautifully in a spare style that allows for plain description, high humour and effects that are carefully toned. He is at once an honest, uncertain pilgrim with a press card and a sense of devilment, and a son on an Oedipal trail. * Irish Times * A mixture of autobiography, travelogue and journalism which tantalizes the reader with what it withholds as much as it entertains and instructs with what it describes . . . The Sign of the Cross, like all good writing, is a treat. * Independent on Sunday * This book describing Colm Toibin's journey is written with the novelist's familiar clarity and wisdom. It is as much a record of the European Catholic psyche in different political climates as it is an introspective pilgrimage to see what stuff Toibin's own faith is made of. * Daily Telegraph *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
180 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0350-5501-2 (9781035055012)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2023
Picador
€15.99
Available for download
Person
Colm Toibin was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of several novels, including The Master, Brooklyn, and The Magician, and two collections of stories. He has been three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature. Toibin was appointed the Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024.