This is an evocative, and longing story about a laywoman and a Catholic priest that is based on the author's grandparents' actual experiences. Because of David's life commitment to the church and celibacy, it is a forbidden love; nonetheless, Margaret enters the picture to question the norms, the times, and David himself. For a debut novel it is very impressive, filled with wonderful prose.

In 2018 Adrian attends his great uncle Ralph’s funeral where he receives a shocking revelation which his mother confirms as true. However, the story starts in 1953 in Rome with David who is a charismatic, handsome, newly ordained priest. He returns to England to a parish in Birmingham where he will begin to serve the community. Margaret becomes a Roman Catholic but wishes to challenge its archaic rules. She studies for a time at Regina Mundi in Rome and eventually acquires a job in a Catholic College where she’s drawn into David’s orbit. This is their story told in flashbacks and in the late 2010s via Adrian.This is such a beautifully written debut novel which has me caught up in David and Michelle‘s lives, it really captures their story, their love of literature, art, food and so on. It’s almost lyrical and poetic (no surprise as I believe the author is a poet!) and is extremely emotional and moving especially for me via David and in the present day through Adrian as loses his much loved grandmother, Margaret, to the cruelty of dementia. Her moments of clarity are very illuminating of her and David’s powerful and wonderful story and they’re obvious love of their faith. This obviously gives David much inner turmoil but their feelings for each other win out. I particularly love Margaret, she’s quite simply fabulous, she’s highly intelligent and devastatingly honest and well ahead of her time. The author also really captures the charisma and attraction of David. The novel has everything in it, there are a couple of shocking scenes where I have a sharp intake of breath, scenes where closed thinking is the order of the day, it’s a love story, it’s a reflection of faith and church, it’s complex, complicated and messy at times, but it’s also very touching. Overall, this is a truly stunning debut and a deeply personal book for this clearly exceptionally talented author.