Glittering Images (by Susan Howatch)

(Amazon UK link)

'Glittering Images' is a novel by Susan Howatch, and is the first in the Starbridge series.

This book takes a while to get going, but is an incredibly powerful story set in the 1930s in the UK.

Charles Ashworth, a young clergman in the Church of England, has a commission from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is sent to see if a bishop in the fictional town of Starbridge is potentially causing a scandal by his indiscretions.

Charles gets caught up in the strange household he discovers. Various crises start to unravel his own past, and we gradually learn about his personal hangups.

Charles meets Jon Darrow, a psychic high Anglican monk, who becomes his spiritual director. We are taken right into the ministry of psychological healing as Jon helps Charles to re-look at his upbringing and understand his repressed emotions.

There's an exciting and fast-moving plot with believable people. I thought this book amazing.

Highly recommended.

(See this post for a longer review of the novel, re-read in 2007)