PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Michael Divinney
Do not let them intimidate you. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed and nothing hidden that will not become known. MT 10:26
What is Hidden is a novel that enters the storm of the clerical sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and moves through the betrayal, confusion, denial, secrets and harm generated by the sexual abuse of a nine year old boy at the hands of his priest.
The story is set in 1997 when Tyler Kelvey, a new resident at a shelter for homeless men, visits his former eighth grade teacher and discloses for the first time that he was sexually molested by a parish priest when he was a altar boy at Sacred Heart parish. His life was shredded by the three years of sexual assault he endured at the hands of Father Mervin Kominsky and his family ties are all but severed. Estranged from his now divorced parents, Tyler still has sporadic contact with his sister Chloe. There is a bond between them but Chloe, who works in one of the offices of the Archdiocese, is afraid to hope that her brother can recover from his addictions. She is reluctant to get too close.
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