Justin Swanton

Oh believe me, Justin, I more or less agree. It's mightily flawed. It's just that it's one of those books whose flaws - huge as they were - didn't stop me from loving it despite myself..
Yes, I think the main problem is that it's two different books shunted together. The main character is two different people, with no clear depiction of how she got from one to the other. Almost as if he wrote the first two-thirds of the book and then thought - sheesh - I forgot I was supposed to make her a saint.
There is a hell of a lot wrong with the book - structure-wise, characterisation-wise and message-wise. But I find myself not wanting to analyse it too closely. For me he couldn't write a dull sentence if he tried, so I take it one sentence at a time and enjoy what there is to enjoy and leave it at that!

Interestingly, we had our local Historical Novel Society chapter meeting the other day and our theme was death. I read them the last bit of Fausta's death scene in the dry room - and they loved it.

I hope I didn't imply it was a great piece of literature. But an interesting work nonetheless - if nothing else just because it was Waugh's only historical novel.

No, it's definitely not available on Kindle or on ebook at all. I remember looking at the time. Should be pretty easy to get hold of in book form.

Hi Justin,

Personally, I loved it. It was one of my favourite reads of last year. I haven't read much of him but I don't think he could write a dull sentence and it carried me along on the dialogue alone. You're right - it wasn't well received at the time, though he said it was his favourite of his novels. It is not without flaws - he wrote the novel out of serious religious conviction, and it doesn't really work - partly because he only really gets down to this business right at the end of the novel, which is the least enjoyable and convincing bit.

I'm trying to think now what the rest of the group thought of it. Some were put off by the religious message (more that it didn't work with the light tone of the book than by the message itself). But generally I think we all enjoyed the writing and warmed to the main character, even whilst acknowledging its flaws.

If you haven't read it, it's pretty short, so worth giving it a go if just out of curiosity.