An ecclesiastical equivalent of the Archers written for
the type of people who spend August Bank Holiday tweeting about the depth of
the mud at Greenbelt. That's how I described Acts and Omissions by CatherineFox. This description could equally apply to the sequel Unseen Things Above,
which has just been published by Marylebone House, the new fiction arm of SPCK.
This book whilst just as well observed as it’s forerunner
is slightly more reflective in tone. There somehow seems more depth to it now Bishop
Paul has been dispatched to the other side of the world and the focus falls
more onto the other clergy in the fictional diocese of Lindchester together
with one or two newcomers.
Whether you have read Acts and Omissions or this is your
first visit to this fictional diocese you will warm to characters such as Dominic
and Wendy – clergy who have a parish ministry and whose portrayal by the writer
displays an affection clearly rooted in her own experience of meeting such
people as the wife of the dean of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral.
One does wonder at points if Matt, the Archdeacon, is
based upon her own husband as he at various points is referred to as “our hero”
for no discernible reason. This would fit with him being the man who wins the
heart of Janey, the feminist academic.
The book is fiction but with an almost ethnographic
quality. As with Jeffrey Archer’s The Fourth Estate one is left wondering
exactly how much is fact and how much is fiction.
This novel continues to focus on relationships but looks
at them in an even more nuanced way. It highlights the CofE’s double standards
which mean a heterosexual couple must marry whilst a same sex couples are barred
from doing so. However the debate around equal marriage is not approached in a
simplistic or polemic way. Rather this book, as with the first, is that it
looks at the debate in a way which is sensitive to the complexities of a
variety of positions and highlights the humanity of those involved. It shows
perhaps most clearly how, in seeking to follow right practice many good people
are put in positions where they find themselves having to go against their own
consciences and have conversations they have no wish to. Fox appears to have
shifted off the fence in this volume, I would say she provides as good an
explanation of the situation in the CofE and why one way or another it must
change as you could find anywhere and in a much more readable form.
Without giving the plot away it also shows the problems
that overzealous activists and allies who may want to use the campaign for
their own, self-centred, reasons can reek. In this case we are told early on by
the narrator that the person in question is the villain of this piece. However,
often similar problems are caused by allies of good character who seek to advance the cause
of equality without a knowledge of what LGBT people themselves have been doing to
slowly build up good will and cause change through relationship or more subtle
lobbying.
The book also guides you through the system for choosing
bishops in the CofE which is enlightening.
The book is again a highly readable one which will lift a
wry smile from many within the church and no doubt yet again give the reaction
of “I’d never have believed it if it weren’t written by the wife of a dean”
from those outside. There are insider jokes but these will not distract from
the enjoyment of those who are not aware of them.
My only niggle is that the reader does not need to be
told by the narrator who is the villain and who is the hero, rather it is
better that they be left to make up their own mind. It felt a bit like being at
the pantomime and having it spelt out who to boo and who to cheer before the
characters came on stage.
This is the type of read which can be read on a train,
beach or indeed anywhere else. Personally I found it the perfect end of term
read to be enjoyed with a glass of good wine with something soothing on the
stereo. Would I recommend it? Of course I would although I would recommend the
newcomer read Acts and Omissions first.
Unseen
Things Above by Catherine Fox is published by Marylebone House
ISBN:
978-1-910674-23-9
