This is my favourite of Arditti's books so far - I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read it again. A superb interpretation of the Passion of Christ for modern society set in Hampstead and with all the contradictions of Christianity and secularism at every level of our body and soul. Michael Arditti is positively disturbing, nudging us to rethink our prejudices, passions, beliefs and purpose. In his church there is something and someone for everyone - no one is excluded, how unlike many churches today. My favourite character is the compassionate- Christ-like gay curate Blair Ashley whose lover recently died of AIDS and whose lover's mother, a pseudo aristocrat is defiantly detached - but what of her own sorrows and griefs we may well ask. There's Esther, the bishop's long-suffering wife, who finally discovers her real lesbian love at 53, a couple of women who are 'married' in church by Blair without the vicar knowing - how topical is this for the Church now that the same-sex marriage legislation has overhauled centuries of opposition to those who are born to love the same gender? And the vicar, himself happily married but constantly on self-trial by religious doubts keeps on lurching from one spiritual crisis to another. And if this weren't enough there's an infatuated altar-boy, an HIV-positive GP, a positive librarian sorely misunderstood by his parents and friends and a supposed "militant celibate" archdeacon who, quite literally undercover and at night satisfies his perversions with rent boys at a private altar in his cellar. One of the most profound characters has to be Trudy England, secret childhood Jewish German refugee who having arrived in England renames and redefines her past identity in order to erase it but finally finds peace in becoming who she always was. The heart-rending accounts of the Nigerian Child, Cherish, whose auntie, a Princess without acclaim is another refugee, blind and dying of AIDS reminds us that it isn't just the adults who have journeys to walk. Easter is a very graphic novel, graphic in its sexual encounters and graphic in its pursuit of spirituality; making sense of suffering and the healing (but at times damaging) role of the church, its liturgies displayed in minute detail - as if you were in the church yourself, and the power of perseverance against all odds. There are brilliant descriptions of human behaviour and observation, idiosyncrasies, peccadilloes and the whole gamut of emotions and opinions that our collective snobbery and fear can muster into one congregation. And what makes this so compelling is how Arditti absorbs it all into Christ's body, into his sacrifice at the most poignant time of the Christian year - this is Easter for the 21st century. This is a novel of the transforming power and grace of love and of a loving God who can forgive us all.