Rating: 
Summary: Only Book in Series written from a female perspective
Review: This books was the most difficult of the series for me to deal with. Perhaps because the main character is a woman. The woman's situation with the Archdeacon is almost a foretelling of the current Clinton/Lewinsky affair in America. This entire series covers just about every imaginable human relationship and spiritual struggle. Almost anyone who reads these books will see themselves or those close to them in some of the moral struggles described. These struggles are described with amazing objectivity in my view.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, powerful themes
Review: Though one need not be religious to enjoy Susan Howatch's work, a delight of her C of E series is that she is equal in gifts as novelist, theologian (with a Jungian flavour), and scholar. The integration of certain powerful themes is seamless with the "romance" plot, and thus painless for those without religious interests, yet, for those who have studied the spiritual life, the classic conflicts between faith and behaviour are placed into clear focus.Neville Aysgarth is a classic study in self-deception - one of genuine faith, but blinded both by perceived personal needs and the desire to defend a Liberal Modernism credo. Susan Howatch brilliantly sets forth, in this character, how such conflict can not only justify behaviour one would insist was immoral with a clear vision, but glorify it by linking it to a supposed "higher ideal" which differs from the norm. The non-religious who thrive on characterisation will have ample food for thought in the depiction of Aysgarth's bizarre marriage. Venetia, young, intelligent, and restless, provides the themes of the intense drives to find spiritual and sexual fulfillment. Though the reader is tempted to see from the beginning that Venetia's affair with Aysgarth is doomed to be a catastrophe, there is more to this than "love is blind" cliches. Aysgarth's intense personality, and brilliant (if flawed) integration of his self-deception with theological concepts, makes it both understandable and tragic that Venetia can both find the affair exciting and be led to believe that certain of its aspects are indicative of an extraordinary religious commitment and morality on Aysgarth's part. The characters of Charles and Lyle Ashworth, the main characters in Glittering Images, are presented now as the long-married, wise "Rev and Mrs Bishop." Their involvement in the plot has a special dimension, showing that wise, considerate, mature advice, given with the best of intentions, often not only fails to divert misery but increases its impact. This book's providing an engrossing tale (and, for all its bizarre turns, actually one less melodramatic than some others of the series) is enhanced by its giving one the food for thought that distinguishes the entire series.
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