Michael Arditti

Michael Arditti's tale of the tribulations faced by Duncan Neville, editor and proprietor of the Francombe and Salter Mercury blends humour with wry observation. Francombe is an old fashioned seaside resort that has fallen on hard times, unable to compete with the temptations of budget flights to warmer climes. Even the town's pier, once an icon of the resort's prosperity, has fallen into disrepair, and the novel opens with an account from the Mercury of an arson attack that he left the show more pier's future in even greater doubt.

Duncan Neville wants to preserve, or even restore the pier, as an icon of the town's former prosperity, and in addition to his other responsibilities he is Chair of the Pier Preservation Trust. There are dissenting voices, and plans are already afoot for a complete redevelopment of the pier, complete with luxury apartments, a casino and an 'adult' theme park. This battle over the pier's future forms the backdrop against which the other themes of the novel unfold.

Duncan is far from perfect, and has is flaws, but is an essentially sympathetic character. He is, however, about the only one. Several teenagers feature in the novel, including Jamie, Duncan's son, but all of them are utterly ghastly. Most of the other characters have their dreadful moments, too, and Duncan sometimes finds himself embattled and encircled.

The numerous subplots give great scope for humour, though, and there are some hilarious moments. As an observation of small town life and political shenanigans, the book is very successful. show less

Before I picked up this book in the library, I had never heard of Michael Arditti, but I found this story fascinating. Following various members of the Granville family, it explores the difficulties that people feel when trying to reconcile their faith and the modern world - or perhaps, more accurately, how faith can still provide a necessary haven of peace and purpose in a world that can otherwise seem heartbreakingly cruel. Edwin Granville is a bishop who no longer believes in God, but who show more believes in the vital social role of the rituals and community of the church. His wife, Marta, is a secular Jewish anthropologist who sees moral perfection in the African tribe she has spent her career studying. Their son, Clement, is a liberal Christian who has managed to reconcile his faith with his homosexuality; his boyfriend, Mike, is resolutely secular. Susanna, Clement's sister, is perhaps the character who undergoes the most transformation throughout the story, finding comfort and peace within the Orthodox Judaism from which her mother had distanced herself. And there is a rich cast of supporting characters who expand and enrich the story.

I'm not religious, but that didn't stop me empathising with and enjoying Arditti's story. It resonated with me because, at root, it's a story about the changing dynamics of family life, about trying to find meaning in the world and about the struggle to find a balance between worldly success and inner peace. I imagine some readers might feel alienated by the fact that so much of this book revolves around privileged people having heated philosophical discussions - but, to me, it was a book that had real heart and characters who are complex and believable: sympathetic and selfish by turns. I can best describe it by saying that it felt like a cross between A.S. Byatt and Alan Hollinghurst. show less

He is a fine writer, but I could not stomach this. The violence, sexism and racism all justified by the Lord. I know it is an imaginary retelling of key passages in the Old Testament, and that is where these ideas came from. Simply revolting. I'll try to find something else by Arditti. In writing this book, was he trying to show his disgust for David?

The unnamed first-person narrator is an Anglo-Catholic ordinand who has had a nervous breakdown in the middle of Mass and has been sent to a psychiatrist. Each chapter begins with part of his spiel as a tour guide for Jack the Ripper sites in the East End and in the second part of the book for the plague village of Eyam.

The chapters then continue with his monologue addressed to the also unnamed psychiatrist detailing first his refusal to acknowledge his sexual nature and his consequent loss show more of faith as his sexual needs break through to the surface and then his subsequent re-gaining of his faith as he comes to accept his sexual nature.

First published in 1993 and set in the late 1980s, this book powerfully intertwines themes of religious faith, doubts and reflections; gay sexuality and its expressions; Jack the Ripper and prostitution in the 19th and 20th centuries; the Great Plague of the 1660s and HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and responses to them. A feast for the mind, the soul, and the heart. show less