God's Pauper is an imaginative retelling of the life of St. Francis.

Kazantzakis' writings are an anguished expression of the eternal struggle between the spirit and the flesh, and he uses the story of St. Francis to draw us into the Maelstrom.

The story is dramatically unfolded to us by the Saint's constant companion, Frate Leone, who takes us through the agonies of physical and spiritual humiliation. We accompany the Saint before the Pope to establish his Brotherhood; to Damietta and the Saracens armies; and in solitary vigils on Mount Alvernia. The minutest and the mightiest elements of nature form the backcloth of the drama of events. Hate, compassion, jealousy and fear are among the principal ingredients in the drama, fused together with infinite subtlety.