5 October 2000.
ISBN 0-316-64622-9 (HB)
For sisters Alison &
Jacquie Barrett, their holiday in Greece in 1989, is the holiday of a lifetime.
Brought up strictly by their parents in the confines of the Free Baptist
Fellowship, the sisters take this opportunity to spread their wings. Jacquie
sees it as a last fling before her impending marriage, but Alison falls in
love. Little do they realise that this carefree holiday will shape both their
destiny's.
Eleven years later when Sophie Lilburn first sees Quire Close, she is
initially struck by its beauty, and is beguiled by her husband Chris, who has
been offered the position of Tenor Lay Clerk and History teacher, to leave
London and move to Westmead. While Chris takes up his post and considers it a
privilege to live and work in the shadow of the great Westmead Cathedral,
Sophie becomes increasingly suffocated, not only by the shadow of the
Cathedral, but by the intimacy of the close and its inhabitants.
With time on her hands, she
becomes increasingly desperate to have a child and obsessively trapped by the
daily visits of Leslie Clunch who has recently retired after being Head Verger
for thirty years. Sophie learns that the power lies between Leslie Clunch and
Elspeth Verey, widow of the Dean of Westmead. And that it is not wise to cross
either of them. When Elspeth's son learns she is a well-known photographer, he
takes to visiting her, which is a welcome respite from the oppression that
Sophie is feeling. But in such a small community nothing escapes the gossips
and when she learns of the unsolved murder of a young woman over a decade ago,
she feels even more threatened by the people around her.
Following the death of her father, Jacquie, now divorced, seeks to find
her sister who she has not seen since her wedding. Her quest leads her to
Westmead, where she finds more that she could ever have imagined.
Kate Charles has woven a truly absorbing tale, of murder, and how the
repercussions of one’s actions
will reverberate down the years. In a short review it is not possible to
portray the power of the Reverend Prew, the gossipy Jeremy Hammond and the
delightful Canon Swan. I urge you to read it for yourselves.
The fascinating characters in this book blew me away. I didn't want it
to end, I wanted to go on reading about their lives.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
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