‘A comic masterpiece, unputdownable (literally!). Austenesque in its portrayal of that marvellous cast of characters and the consequences of their actions.’ JAMES LEFANU
A deliciously readable debut novella by our bestselling author Ysenda Maxtone Graham. Set in a Church of England parish in an affluent London suburb through the course of one calendar year, it may well unleash your inner Barbara Pym – but it comes with a decidedly contemporary twist.
It’s the first week in January, and the inhabitants of Lamley Green, a leafy village on the edge of London, are preparing to face the New Year. At No. 12 Holly Grove however the curtains remain closed. Lucy Fanthorpe’s husband Nick, respected lawyer and stalwart of the church choir, died unexpectedly on New Year’s Day and Lucy is in bed with her head under the duvet as letters of sympathy slip through the letterbox. Laid low by grief she’s also wracked by suspicion. Nick’s behaviour before he died was strange. Was he having an affair?
Meanwhile Lamley’s parish church St Luke’s is without a resident rector, and a team of retired priests and parishioners, under the leadership of Archdeacon Martin, is keeping the show on the road during the interregnum. An advertisement has been placed in the Church Times for a ‘collaborative and caring priest, with a passion for growth, who can build and sustain a vibrant and proactive team’.
Just as the parish is in a state of flux and anxiety, so are its parishioners: grieving Lucy, Carol the lugubrious church volunteer, snobbish Elizabeth, commitment-phobic Vicki and Eliot trying to break even with their B&B, Latin master Hugh on the cusp of a solitary retirement, ruthless newcomer Chantelle who’s prepared to do anything to get her daughter into the over-subscribed church school, and Rachel the ordained sceptic who dares to speak her mind.
With her usual consummate skill, Ysenda Maxtone Graham, well-known to readers of Slightly Foxed for her hilarious and bestselling Terms & Conditions, brings together the members of this small community in a light-hearted but touching story which also points up affectionately but with deadly accuracy what’s wrong – and what’s right – with the modern C of E. Is Love Divine in the air? If so it will come in many unexpected guises.
‘I was enchanted by Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s gently hilarious new book. It was not just the cast of wonderfully recognisable parish characters, the clever plotting, and the understated satire that delighted, but the reminder that, for Christianity to be authentic, it must be kind, generous, and above all profoundly sincere. Beautifully bound in red cloth by Slightly Foxed, this is a volume that would grace any drawing room, kitchen table – or Christmas tree.’ CATHERINE COLDSTREAM
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‘ . . . the best chronicler of contemporary life, mores, pretensions, cross-generational conversations, speeches, sermons, egregious letters, displays of idiocy, ever. Every social situation debagged or deconstructed with such acuity and wit. I adored it.’
‘This book is a joy and I hope Ysenda is thinking of a sequel. Beautifully published by Slightly Foxed. Put it on your Christmas list right now!’
‘A tour de force. Anybody would think [Ysenda] were a past master (mistress all wrong) at the genre of fiction, with a side hustle of screenplays. I adored the church politics – and I write that as a communicant of the C of E who just knows! . . . it’s all so moving.’
‘A comic masterpiece, unputdownable (literally!). Austenesque in its portrayal of that marvellous cast of characters and the consequences of their actions.’
This is a wonderful novel – funny, warm, human, acute. The dear old Church of England – skewered … but with a lot of love. Highly recommended.
I was enchanted by Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s gently hilarious new book. It was not just the cast of wonderfully recognisable parish characters, the clever plotting, and the understated satire that delighted, but the reminder that, for Christianity to be authentic, it must be kind, generous, and above all profoundly sincere. Beautifully bound in red cloth by Slightly Foxed, this is a volume that would grace any drawing room, kitchen table – or Christmas tree.
When people recommend books by their friends, it’s wise to be wary of bias. “Well they would say that, wouldn’t they” etc . . . That said, I do wholeheartedly urge Love Divine by Ysenda Maxtone Graham on all and sundry. I have been a fan of her journalism and her non-fiction forever, and this move into fiction contains all the things that make her writing so good – her beady eye, the discreet savagery of her wit, her great empathy for the underdog and the overlooked. She’s folded all these into an adorable and structurally audacious story set in a parish on the leafy edge of London. I devoured it at speed and now consider myself much educated on today’s Church of England, and inordinately entertained by it too. Slightly Foxed have published it in a very handsome hardback volume. Massive gifting potential.
Leafy Lamley Green, a vibrant village boasting an ancient church and an ‘outstanding’ school, is the rich-in-intrigue ¬setting for this novella. Spanning a year during which the quest for a new rector takes centre stage, it’s the dramas around the edges that simmer.
Newly widowed Lucy, a doctor’s receptionist, is plagued by suspicions about her late husband. Latin master Hugh is facing retirement and the prospect of a reunion with a lost love; B&B owner Vicki is threatened by ruinous reviews, and someone seems to have a vendetta against Hyacinth Bucket-like churchwarden Elizabeth.
Played out in emails, texts and scripted dialogues, there are some wonderful set pieces, not least a wicked skewering of literary festival celebs. But as Christmas draws near and the new rector arrives, it’s love and mercy that, fittingly, triumph.
We are in Barbara Pym territory here and it is heaven.