Book description
The story of a young man with a mind full of God but a heart closed
to love. After a nervous collapse while serving at the altar, his
college principal sends him on a placement to London where he enters
an unfamiliar world of outcasts, down-and-outs, rent boys, religious
fundamentalists and people with AIDS. In increasing despair, he
embarks on a journey through the world of Jack the Ripper, the
devastation of the Great Plague and the mysteries of his own family.
As the past and present come full-circle, he finally understands the
true meaning of Passion. This is an intelligent and emotive novel,
potent with atmosphere and rich in ideas and insights. It employs a
unique fictional structure which integrates the contemporary and the
historical, the personal and the theological, the comic and the
polemic in a revelatory way. On its initial publication, it was hailed
as the debut of a major literary talent.
'An exceptional book: at its core it combines the sexual with
the spiritual.' - Sunday Times
'The author's anger, conviction
and sharp observation hold the reader's attention throughout. An
exciting debut.' - The Times
'An ambitious first novel, which
traces the liberation of a human soul through a gradual revelation of
the meaning of passion and the Passion.' - Independent on
Sunday
'It is unusual to find an English first novel of such
unflinching moral seriousness...a varied and involving read.' - Times
Literary Supplement
'A bold and multi-layered first novel, and
one which negotiates a remarkably taut high-wire between frailty and
ardour.' - City Limits
'A powerful and moving first novel.' - Independent
Michael Arditti was born in Cheshire and lives in London. He is the
author of six highly acclaimed novels, The Celibate, Pagan and Her
Parents, Easter, Unity, A Sea of Change and The Enemy of the Good, and a
collection of short stories, Good Clean Fun.
