Necessary Sins is a multi-generational family saga spanning from 1789 to 1843. Readers travel through a variety of settings, some of which include Saint Domingue (now Haiti), Paris, Rome, and Antebellum South prior to the Civil War. At the center of the novel is Joseph Lazare – a young, devout Catholic priest facing a family secret, and wrestling with forbidden love. As a child, Joseph was told that his darker complexion came from his paternal grandmother, who was Spanish. Quite by accident, he later discovers that his grandmother was actually an African slave in Saint Domingue, and his father had been stolen from her during the slave revolt and brought to America. Joseph spends years coming to terms with the truth about his family and biracial heritage. He later confronts another crisis when he finds himself falling in love with Tessa – a young, married, Irish immigrant. Torn between his staunch commitment to God, the demands of the church and his feelings for Tessa, Joseph must wrestle with an inner battle that tests everything he thought he knew about himself and his faith. Necessary Sins is a well written, engaging, and multi-themed novel. Despite the fact that it’s almost 500 pages long and covers over four decades of time, the plot line is smooth, clear and well-paced. Necessary Sins is a story of love, faith, secrets, betrayal, racial divides, and epic loss. It explores the toxic power of family secrets, and the resulting devastation they have on generations to come. This is a well-researched, authentic portrayal of life in the 1800s; the injustices of slavery, and the fragility of human life. Necessary Sins provides an abundance of multidimensional characters – each of them trekking through their own arduous path, enduring unthinkable tragedies and heartbreak along the way. Bell did a magnificent job of demonstrating how the unrealistic demands of the Catholic priesthood collide with the basic human need for connection. She presents Joseph’s desires and subsequent self loathing. Every “unpure” thought is met with shame, guilt and torturous self-punishments in the name of religion. Starting in childhood, Joseph was determined to sacrifice everything for the priesthood, including his freedom. He entered seminary at age thirteen. While there, his mail was opened and reviewed before it was given to him. He was completely isolated from his family. He was taught that his sole purpose in life was to serve God and the church, and nothing more. Joseph learned that pleasure of any kind, sexual or otherwise, is a sin. One must question if this training was perhaps more about a brainwashing agenda than it was about God. When describing a conversation between Joseph and another priest about their vocation, Bell writes, “It has…..puffed itself up with rules that have little to do with God and everything to do with control. That’s what celibacy is about. The Church tries to terrify us into submission; it claims we endanger our ministry and forfeit our souls if we fulfill the needs God himself has implanted.” Bell’s account of Joseph’s struggles with celibacy are honest, open, and appropriately detailed. I devoured Elizabeth Bell’s first book in the Lazare Family Saga. Moving and thought provoking, Necessary Sins tackles complex life issues. This novel illustrates that no matter how hard we aspire to perfection, the truth is we are all just human beings struggling to navigate our complex world. We are all fighting inner battles. We are all flawed. And the most damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. I look forward to Bell’s second book in the series, Lost Saints. “The true priest immolates himself on the alter of duty…His whole life is a perpetual sacrifice.” – James Cardinal Gibbons, The Ambassador of Christ (1896), as quoted by Elizabeth Bell, Necessary Sins