A rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, by one of our best chroniclers of faith in the 21st century.
"I enjoyed it enormously. The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read." PHILIP PULLMAN
"A novel that probes any number of aggressive varieties of moralism, while testing the reader''s own moral alertness for rigour, realism and generosity. An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative." ROWAN WILLIAMS
"An irresistibly readable, thoughtful and characteristically witty examination of the quandaries and compromises faced by the Church of England in an era of decline . . . I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers." MIRANDA SEYMOUR
As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins
