<p><b>A rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, by one of our best chroniclers of faith in the 21st century.</b><br><br><b>"I enjoyed it enormously. The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read." PHILIP PULLMAN</b><br><br><b>"A novel that probes any number of aggressive varieties of moralism, while testing the reader''s own moral alertness for rigour, realism and generosity. An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative." ROWAN WILLIAMS</b><br><br><b>"An irresistibly readable, thoughtful and characteristically witty examination of the quandaries and compromises faced by the Church of England in an era of decline . . . I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers." </b><b>MIRANDA SEYMOUR</b><br><br>As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins