Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul (2004) is a memoir written by Tony Hendra, an English humorist and satirist. It was on the New York Times Best Seller list for many weeks.
When Hendra was 14, he had an affair with a married woman. When her husband, a devout Catholic, discovered them in each others' arms, he took Hendra on a trip to Quarr Abbey, a monastery on the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. Hendra, expecting to be disciplined, was surprised when a "cartoonish" monk, Father Joseph Warrilow, instead treated him kindly. Hendra fell in love with Quarr and decided to become a monk.
When Hendra reached the age of eighteen and could legally begin his time at Quarr, Father Joe found out that Hendra had received a scholarship to Cambridge University, and he urged Hendra to first attend college and obtain a degree before he could be admitted to the monastery.
While at Cambridge, Hendra married. Though unable to become a monk, he continued to visit Father Joe for more than 40 years, until Father Joe's death on April 27, 1998.
US first edition hardcover