Owl Among the Ruins - Mark Bate

OWL AMONG THE RUINS The Reverend F.F. Urch, a jaded clergyman, has recently come to a new parish in a South Coast town. Urch meets a lot of improbable - but real - people, and is made aware of his own isolation. Friends lead him out of loneliness, into healing for his brokenness, and the possibility of loving and being loved. A younger woman is on a parallel course. She gains healing from the older man, and is brought - against her will- to faith herself. The climax is the consummation of their love. Urch is a nonjudgemental listener and gives help without thought, as, with grim and self-deprecating humour, he grapples with his demons and finds redemption in love. MARK BATE An Oxford Graduate, Mark Bate is a new/old voice. New - this is his first novel. Old - he has been around for some time, writing and reflecting on the Life of Faith in a post-Christian world. At a time when Europe seems to be moving away from Faith, or to its wilder extremes, he is as confused and anxious as the hero of Owl Among the Ruins. Like him, he is stuck with a Christian commitment, and works as a bog-standard parish priest.