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This is a novel in the style of Evelyn Waugh's early satires. It satirises the way the media, lawyers and promoters of a gay lifestyle deal with clerical sexual abuse. It is a tale of outrageous hypocrisy that will sometimes make you laugh, sometimes cringe, and sometimes leave you appalled, but will always be 'glittering' in its satire, as one reviewer put it.
STORY
Paul Zomers arranges a welcome for new neighbours Haydies and Persefony Sticks to the pristine hinterland above the coast. After more drinks than is wise, Paul blurts out that he knows Fr Pleasance who at that moment is featuring in media reports for the abuse of a minor. Partner Brad and the new neighbours will not let the mere mention pass. As Paul's story advances so does the number of glasses of champagne until he makes a confession that unleashes an uncontrollable chain of events that draws in media people and a group of public liability lawyers. While Paul wrestles with events that eventually bring him to the attention of the national media, he gets unwittingly caught in a strange re-orienting relationship with Persefony and her alternative life-style. Others watch the gradual swapping of roles with dismay. They have to do something about it.
REVIEW
'...while [the story] depicts a people comfortable in their sin, there is something beneath the surface which communicates to the reader how very disordered the whole sequence of events is. It is in the absurd hypocrisy and the seeming inability of the various characters to connect the dots, as it were, between their own failings and the supposed failings of the Church that resounds with a message wholly at variance with the gross abominations perpetrated within. And this is—I should think—the goal of satire, to render absurd that which takes itself so very seriously...the author certainly achieves this...'
Adam Mitchell Bond, Bradford, Pennsylvania USA
...I liked [your novel]. I got caught up in the characters and situations and wondered how things would turn out. I think you manage the scenes very well and often bring them to a subtle yet provocative conclusion. You also make the scenes work together very well. And you write well, so I think you should certainly be able to make a career as a writer...Your Norm Mudlord (the names are good) reminded me of our Rush Limbaugh, and I liked how you had the characters criticize others while engaging in the very behaviour they were criticizing. That's another example of subtlety, and something you can build on...
Dr John Wilson (no relation)
Associate Professor English, English Department, Lock Haven University, Pennsylvania, USA
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