Glamorous Powers (by Susan Howatch)

(Amazon UK link)

What an incredible writer Susan Howatch is! I first read her Church of England 'Starbridge' series just a year ago; I can't think of any other author whose works I would re-read in such a short space of time.

'Glamorous Powers' is the second of the Starbridge novels. It features Jon Darrow, an Anglo-Catholic monk who has worked for seventeen years in Abbeys as part of the Fordite order.

In the first chapter, Jon receives a vision which he believes is his call to leave the monastery. He has lengthy discussions with his old adversary Francis Ingram, before they decide what the vision means, and what Jon should do.

It's a very moving book in places; it's best to read right after 'Glittering Images', but would work as a standalone novel too.

(I first read this in 2000, and then wrote a longer review of Glamorous Powers in 2007, when I re-read it again)