Scandalous Risks

Book excerpt: The Washington Post Book World has proclaimed that “Susan Howatch may well become the Anthony Trollope of the twentieth century.” Now, in Scandalous Risks, Howatch returns us to the English town of Starbridge, home to a great medieval cathedral and the religious, political, and sexual intrigues that whirl around it. It is into this charged atmosphere—in the already overheated 1960s—that a young woman searching for meaning in her life, and an older man prominent in the Church, begin moving inexorably toward emotional collision. As Venetia Flaxton edges closer to the threshold of a love affair with Neville Aysgarth, who is Dean of the Cathedral and old enough to be her father, his hidden emotional past and her moral conflict in the present lead them deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the human heart and soul. Here is a powerful and moving novel of good and evil, resolve and temptation, hope and despair. Praise for Scandalous Risks “Wonderful.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer “Howatch is at her best when dealing with conflict, bringing a passion and tension to her portarit of people facing moral dilemmas.”—The Washington Post “Keep[s] one turning the pages.”—The New York Times Book Review “Passionate.”—Entertainment Weekly