The Time of the Angels

From one of the most significant novelists of her generation and a Man Booker Prize winner, a priest descends into madness in a London rectory after WWII (The Guardian).   Carel Fisher was once a bastion of faith, a shining example of Anglican goodness and Christian values. But time and circumstance have worn him down as surely as the bombs of the Blitz have broken apart the very walls around him.   His convictions have vanished and his belief in mankind has tarnished. Imprisoned within his own mind and the decaying walls of his ruined rectory, he has few companions left: his niece and his household staff, all of whom become collateral damage as Father Carel's reality becomes a twisted mirror for his views on the human condition. As relationships and desires, resentments and retributions, begin to crowd the small church, secrets are revealed that will shatter the lives of all involved, no matter how good or innocent they are.   At once haunting and mysterious, The Time of the Angels is a captivating tale of madness and morality that excites and delights, while calling into question ideas of religion and decency in a world torn apart by the aftereffects of war (The New York Times).