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Summary
Summary
"A SKILLFUL BLEND OF CHARACTER, PHILOSOPHY AND NARRATIVE. . .Formidable personalities embroil themselves in ruthless power struggles that would make a corporate raider blush." --The Washington Post Book World It is 1965, and Charles Ashworth has attained the plum position of bishop of Starbridge, an honor that keeps him in a heady whirl of activity that would exhaust the most seasoned corporate executive. With the invaluable support of his minions and his attractive, unsinkable wife, Ashworth stands against the amorality and decadence of the age--"Anti-Sex Ashworth." He slays his opponents by being a tough, efficient, confident churchman, the torments of his past long since dead and buried. And then the unexpected, the unthinkable, strikes. Suddenly Ashworth finds himself staring into the chasm of all the lies hes been telling himself for years: about his marriage, his children, even his views on the Church. And as he suspects his old nemesis and dean, Neville Aysgarth, of drinking too much, of financial chicanery, of--God forbid--having an affair, Ashworth discovers to his horror that he is tempted to commit the very acts that he has so publicly denounced. . . . "ENTHRALLING. . .Rich, dense, almost indecently entertaining." --San Jose Mercury News "POWERFUL. . .MIRACULOUS." --Booklist (starred review) SELECTED BY THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
Author Notes
Susan Howatch was born on July 14, 1940 in England. She graduated from the University of London in 1961 and served as a law clerk and secretary in the early 1960s before becoming a full-time writer. She writes in a variety of genres, including mystery, romance, and historical fiction. Her books include The Dark Shore, April's Grave, Penmarric, and the six-volume Starbridge series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This sixth and final volume in Howatch's series of novels concerning the church of England revolves around the spiritual and moral upheavals of the 1960s. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Old wounds are healed and new loves found on Starbridge Close in this, the final novel in the bestselling sextet (Glittering Images, 1987, Mystical Paths, 1992, et al.), which, like its predecessors, transforms the private lives of English high churchmen into an absorbing novel of intrigue and mysteries, divine and temporal. In a nice symmetrical touch, the narrator is again Dr. Charles Ashworth, whose adventures began the series. Now in his 80s, Ashworth, prompted by the obituary of old nemesis Neville Aysgarth, recalls the events of ``the year of my third catastrophe.'' That year is 1965, and Ashworth is a bishop ``famous for defending tradition at a time when all traditions were under attack.'' Such rigid adherence to absolute truths is asking for trouble, and sure enough trouble is soon on its way. An elderly homosexual vicar is found beaten up; to avoid scandal, Ashworth hides the old man's porn collection from the police; son Michael threatens to marry a most unsuitable girl; Aysgarth is being suspiciously cagey about the Cathedral fund-raising accounts; and Lyle, Ashworth's beloved wife, suddenly dies. As Ashworth responds to these crises, grief and the knowledge that he had not helped Lyle when she needed it makes him behave erratically. He sleeps with a widow, drinks too much, quarrels with his sons and Aysgarth. He has a terrifying encounter in the Cathedral, which convinces him it is possessed by demons. But spiritual peace and new love--an old flame from the past turns up--only come to the bishop when charismatic Lewis Hall conducts a dramatic exorcism that reveals the Cathedral's demons to be Ashworth's long-suppressed guilt, and when aging mystic Jon Darrow elicits confessions from both Aysgarth and Ashworth. A superb climax to a sequence that has triumphantly vindicated that ill-assorted gang of four--plot, prayer, perfidy, and priests. (Book-of-the-Month Club selection; author tour)
Booklist Review
/*STARRED REVIEW*/ The sixth and final part of Howatch's Church of England series is a powerful advocate of the whole, matching the drama and emotional reach of Glamorous Powers (1988) and Ultimate Prizes (1989). Charles Ashworth, the narrator of the first in the series (Glittering Images, 1987), is even more attractive as an aging intellectual bishop struggling to come to terms with the very un-Christian 1960s. His attempt to maintain discipline, faith, and a relationship with God in the midst of a troubling secular world goes right to the heart of the Howatch project in these six magnificent novels. There's really very little like this work in modern literature. There are hints of Trollope, hints of C. S. Lewis, in these pages, but nowhere else does one discover the distinctive genius of Anglican theology--intelligent, commonsensical, optimistic--so movingly wrapped in the heartbreaking dramas of husbands, wives, fathers, children, and spiritual guides. At the center of each novel is a tragedy, beyond which is an epiphany the narrator cannot quite grasp. Charles' tragedy is the loss of his closest companion, but, of course, his problems go much deeper. The shield of his glittering image, shattered once before, six novels ago, is shattered again. But Howatch's novels are not so much about tragedy as about the way ordinary men and women struggle through humility and forgiveness toward the far horizon of redemption. Little more can be said about this miraculous cycle of novels. These are works that deserve to endure well beyond the troubled age that spawned them. (Reviewed December 1, 1994)0679412069Stuart Whitwell
Library Journal Review
This final novel in a double trilogy about the Church of England in the 1930s and the 1960s is a splendid conclusion to the series (begun with Glittering Images, LJ 6/1/87) and a powerful combination of psychological insight, theological depth, and storytelling ability. Howatch simultaneously provides her reader with both marvelous entertainment and genuine insight into the human condition. The narrator for this volume is Charles Ashworth, now Bishop of Starbridge, who staunchly, even self-righteously, defends traditional values. This continues until crisis-and his wife's journal-reveal to him the "shadow" side of his own life and its effect on his two sons; his dean, Stephen Aysgarth; other clergy; several women; and himself. The end is phoenix-like, as characters rise from their own ashes, yet never unrealistic. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.