![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() She describes Acts and Omissions as “a window into the weird world of Anglicanism, as experienced on a Cathedral Close. Ah, how much easier Holy Communion would be if the priest said, ‘Let us offer one another a piece of flan’!”Ĭatherine Fox, a novelist and clergy wife (her husband is the Dean of Liverpool), once memorably defined a deanery synod as “a group of people waiting to go home”, and she brings a sharp and exceptionally well-informed eye to bear on the foibles of the C of E: “Today, as everyone in the parish of St John’s, Renfold, acknowledges when they ring him on Friday, is Father Dominic’s day off.” Always winter and never Christmas”) - as is Jane Austen: “It is a fact universally acknowledged that a single priest in possession of a modest stipend must be in want of approximately seven tons of pastry goods.”įrom this, the author draws liturgical inspiration: “We do genuinely love one another, even though we find the Peace an awkward business. Lewis is referenced, wittily but unexpectedly (a priest is described as “so far back in the closet he’s in Narnia. ![]() In fact, its literary heritage is altogether impeccable, but with a twist. Intended as a 21st-century homage to Trollope and Barchester Towers, it also traces its apostolic descent from Dickens, since it originally appeared in weekly instalments - albeit on a blog rather than in a periodical - and the 2000-word chapters give the novel considerable pace. THIS is a funny, affectionate, and devastatingly accurate portrayal of the Church of England today. ![]()
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