His father, Harry Sylvester, Sr., was heavily involved in politics during the 1920s and 30s, serving as a Republican in New York in a number of capacities.

The novel, a bildungsroman, revolves around the young football star Sebastian as he navigates the complexities of college life.

[6] Set in Southern Maryland, Dearly Beloved is "about a small group of Jesuit priests doing what we might call missionary work among the hard-drinking, amoral, fiercely color-conscious poor whites, and the Negroes.

The story chronicles Bain's research into the Hermanos de Luz (or the Penitente Brotherhood) and his subsequent conversion to Catholicism through the process.

The novel also presents a fictionalized version of Mabel Dodge Luhan and her community of artists, whom Bain repudiates in favor of the provincial Catholics.

Sylvester deals realistically with themes such as adultery and abortion in Dayspring, which earned the novel mixed reviews upon its publication.

[8] Dayspring was Sylvester's first novel to attract international attention; the literary publishing house, Rich & Cowan, released an edition of the book in 1949.

Moon Gaffney's story centers on a young man torn between his political ambitions and his religious ideals.

[9] Sylvester dedicated Moon Gaffney to a group of "good Catholic radicals," including John C. Cort and Dorothy Day.

[12] Sylvester's final published novel, A Golden Girl, is set in Peru and is his least overtly religious work.

The publication of this final novel coincided with the beginning stages of his divorce from Rita in 1951, as well as his official repudiation of the Catholic Church.

During that time, he wrote scripts for the Voice of America radio broadcasts and regularly contributed to local newspapers.

[18] He died after a long battle with Parkinson's disease on September 26, 1993.Sylvester, though no longer a household name, knew many of the prominent writers of the 20th century.

However, his complete papers are housed in Georgetown University Library's Special Collections, and include correspondence, manuscripts and three unpublished novels, Watch in the Night, The Young Men, and The Youth (and Education) of Don Lorenzo.