How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Excellent
Advantages:
Fascinating, well - written and lovely characters
Disadvantages:
Will not appeal if you are anti - religion !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
“A Question of Integrity” was the original title of the book that is now “The Wonder Worker” by Susan Howatch and forms part of a trilogy, set in and around St. Benet’s Healing Centre, a centre for Christian spiritual healing in London’s square mile.
I had already read “The Heartbreaker” which is in fact the final book in the trilogy, but I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read the other two books in the series. This book is the first.
Set in the early 1990s, the book tells a remarkable story through the eyes of four of the main characters, each of whom narrate a section of the book. Susan Howatch generally writes in this way, which I quite enjoy, as it enables us to have different people’s perspectives on similar events, which is particularly good when there is a subject matter such as religion, which tends to be viewed differently through different people’s eyes. Despite the fairly frequent changes of narrator, there is little repetition and the story moves on each time the narrator changes, rather than going over old ground. Howatch manages this style remarkably well, and I never once felt as if there were gaps in my understanding of the story, or how it affected different characters, suggesting that she has chosen the most appropriate character to narrate each section and still managed to give us glimpses into what the other main players were thinking.
Our first narrator is Alice Fletcher, a dumpy girl with few friends, who has spent most of her adult life caring for her maiden aunt, out of gratitude for her aunt taking her in when her parents rejected her. Alice is at the end of her tether as her aunt’s illness has reached the stage where she doesn’t even recognise Alice and caring for her has become a full time job. One day, to escape the rain, Alice stumbles upon St. Benet’s. She is not a religious person, but is captivated by the charismatic minister, Nicholas Darrow, and quickly taken under the wing of Francie Parker, one of the “befrienders” at the centre.
Although somewhat reluctant at first, Alice becomes involved with the church as Nicholas and the church’s doctor, Val, with whom Nicholas works in partnership, visit her aunt to attempt some healing. What happens is to change Alice’s life forever and link her inextricably with St. Benet’s and the three priests who run the centre.
Our next narrator is one of those priests: Lewis Hill. Lewis is from the old school, struggling with an arthritic hip and with a somewhat misogynistic attitude. Our insight into Lewis comes from his daily journal as he struggles to come to terms with his own childhood, his failed marriage and his recent acquaintance with Venetia Hoffenberg, a reforming alcoholic and good time girl, who has captivated him and made him question his attitudes towards women and celibacy. Lewis worries about Alice, who seems to be infatuated with Nicholas, and fears that she is being used as a “trojan horse” for the devil to get into the centre and cause problems. Lewis is also concerned about Stacy, the young curate at St. Benet’s, who is missing his home and his three sisters, and also appears to be struggling with his sexuality. Lewis also becomes unwittingly involved when Francie Parker starts to behave very strangely. Then, Lewis has even more to deal with, when Nicholas drops the bombshell that his wife, Rosalind has left him.
At this point, Rosalind takes up the narrative. Living apart from Nicholas, at their country home, during the week, whilst he gives his all to his ministry has not been easy for Rosalind, despite the couple having been childhood sweethearts and we soon learn that their seemingly idyllic marriage was anything but.
A distraught Nicholas continues the tale, and we can begin to see that some kind of disaster is escalating at St. Benet’s – although it is not immediately clear what it is going to be. Finally, Alice resumes her tale and we learn the truth – and it is something of a shock to everyone involved, as a number of seemingly unrelated events and situations come crashing together to form a situation that tests even Nicholas’s faith. Somewhat ironically, Alice, who was something of a lost soul at the beginning of the story, ends the tale as one of the most balanced and well-adjusted characters, lending a calming effect when everything else seems to be falling apart around her.
This is yet another brilliant book from Susan Howatch. As I said when I reviewed “The Heartbreaker”, I was initially a little put off by the religious subject matter, as I am not a religious person. However, it is sensitively written, certainly not “preachy”, and I find the whole subject of religious healing (something I knew little about until discovering this series of books) completely fascinating. As I said before, you would not require any kind of religious beliefs yourself to read the book, but I think that you would at least need tolerance of other people’s religious beliefs, so although an agnostic could happily read and enjoy the book, an atheist might find it unrewarding.
Susan Howatch is a fantastic storyteller. I’ve already mentioned the effortless way in which she manages to keep the story flowing from one narrator to the next, and through this she manages to give us a wonderful picture of each character, as we get to learn not only their own view of themselves, but also how they are seen by others. This is particularly poignant for a character like Alice, who sees herself as fat, ugly and worthless – but by others is seen as anything but.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, multi-faceted characters and something a little different from the usual chick lit, crime and thrillers that seem to dominate the book charts. Look for it under “The Wonder Worker” or “A Question of Integrity”, as it is available under both titles, although the former is the more recent edition and is currently priced at £4.89 in paperback on Amazon. The other books in the trilogy are “The High Flyer” (which is next on my ‘to read’ list) and “The Heartbreaker”.
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