(The St Benet's Trilogy #1) A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY.

A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY (Also published in certain countries as The Wonder Worker) by SUSAN HOWATCH.

BACK COVER BLURB: When Alice, shy, dumpy, bored and unhappy with herself, wanders the City of London during her lunch hour, she stumbles without warning into a situation which will revolutionise her life. She discovers a modern but mysterious healing centre and is drawn inexorably into the lives of the people who work there.

There's Lewis, the irascible traditionalist, a priest of the old school who has problems dealing with women, homosexuals and the liberal spirit of the age; Rosalind, who appears so glamorous and successful but is in truth unhappy and unfulfilled; Francie, a woman who may or may not be deluded but who burns above all to be loved; and finally Nicholas, the flawed priest at the centre of it all.

FIRST SENTENCE {Part One ~ Alice: The Romantic Dream: Chapter One}: I can remember exactly when the miracles began.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 516}: My whole consciousness seemed to shift and bend almost to breaking point before snapping agonisingly into a new and unbearable position. It was like an earthquake: the grinding roar followed by the ear-splitting cracks as the earth ruptured and re-formed at lightning speed. I had been obsessed, obsessed, OBSESSED - as obsessed as this mad woman in front of me, and in Francie's shining eyes I finally saw my own insanity reflected. (Text hidden in case of a spoiler. Simply scroll over to hi-light. TT)

SOURCE: On my TBR mountain for that long I can't actually remember where I obtained it.

MY THOUGHTS: A novel of what is essentially five parts. I thought it interesting that the author chose to 'get into the heads' of the individual characters so to speak. A ploy that may not have worked as well as it did, as it was it provided a multi-faceted perspective of events as we heard firstly from Alice, then from Lewis, Rosalind and Nicholas (also known as Nick/Nicky) before coming back full-circle to a much changed Alice again. It's just a shame that though featured throughout we never get to hear directly from Stacy, a young priest, who though under-used was one of my favourites.

One of those novels that if asked you'd have difficulty pinpointing just why you'd enjoyed it so much. Despite its many flaws ...

• The so-so, arguably stereotypical, characters. The overweight Alice with low self esteem. Lewis, the elderly, border-line alcoholic priest with a panache for the politically incorrect.
• The over-use of certain catch phrases. I lost count how many times I read the words 'a woman of integrity' used to describe Alice's aunt, the words 'wonder worker' used by Rosalind. Both, depending on the publisher/book title (the novel was published as both A Question Of Integrity and The Wonder Worker) of course being key words in the title.
• The bizarre turn of events. Set in a healing ministry. What could be said to be a novel of every day ministry as Nicholas came to the aid of a grieving Alice all became a bit, well, surreal, as (hoping I don't give too much away here) one of the characters is declared if not exactly possessed, 'heavy with a demonic infestation
• How predictable it was. The above aside I found myself several steps ahead of events throughout so no particularly big surprises ....

oddly enough I thought A Question Of Integrity a compelling read that I found myself still reading well into the wee small hours.

A Question Of Integrity was read for Kelly's Tome Challenge.