{"title":"Books by Michael Arditti","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529425758","title":"The Choice","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, by one of our best chroniclers of faith in the 21st century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I enjoyed it enormously.  The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read.\" PHILIP PULLMAN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A novel that probes any number of aggressive varieties of moralism, while testing the reader's own moral alertness for rigour, realism and generosity.  An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative.\" ROWAN WILLIAMS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An irresistibly readable, thoughtful and characteristically witty examination of the quandaries and compromises faced by the Church of England in an era of decline . . .  I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers.\" MIRANDA SEYMOUR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins the BBC, where she is sent to interview the artist Seward Wemlock about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A serious and important writer\" ROSE TREMAIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThirty years on, now rector of that same church, she chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. David claims they are in love, but Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her duty of care?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on past concerns over Wemlock's relationship with his teenage models. Had she heeded the whispers at the time, how many lives - her own included - would have turned out differently?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Choice \u003c\/i\u003eis a rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, questioning whether it's possible, let alone prudent, to separate the art from the artist, which reaches to the heart of the contemporary culture wars.  Richly comic and deeply compassionate, it is a remarkable synthesis of the sacred and profane.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At a time when British fiction has never been more timorous about tackling novels of ideas, Michael Arditti has produced one worthy of Iris Murdoch and Graham Greene. Brilliantly ambiguous, waspishly witty and thoroughly enjoyable, this is Michael Arditti's own masterpiece to date\" AMANDA CRAIG\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685791080821,"sku":"9781529425765","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43128638472370,"sku":"9781529425758","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529425765.jpg?v=1792598979"},{"product_id":"9781784632977","title":"The Mellow Madam and Other Stories","description":"From the septuagenarian prostitute exposed in a tabloid sting to the Queen Bee of a local dramatic society upstaged by her cleaner; from the nine-year-old girl caught in the crossfire of her parents’ divorce to the widow stranded on an Antarctic cruise during the COVID pandemic; from the doctor’s wife confronting the enormity of her husband’s online dealings to the forgotten musical comedy star yearning to return to the spotlight; these twelve captivating and compelling stories explore a diverse range of female experience. By turn humorous and poignant, whimsical and provocative, they make for richly rewarding reading.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305027088757,"sku":"9781784632977","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784632977_f11fe38e-d583-465a-80b2-72140f8c5ce0.jpg?v=1786025727"},{"product_id":"9781911350576","title":"Of Men and Angels","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Arditti is a master storyteller who uses his theological literacy sparingly to deliver a challenging but enthralling read' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward-winning, bestselling author Michael Arditti's tenth novel, documenting the history of homophobia and religion.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGod's vengeance on the wicked city of Sodom is a perennial source of  fascination and horror. Michael Arditti's passionate and enthralling new  novel explores the enduring power of the myth in five momentous epochs.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young Judean exile transcribes the Acts of Abraham and Lot in ancient Babylon; the Guild of Salters presents a mystery play of Lot's Wife in medieval York; Botticelli paints the Destruction of Sodom for a court in Renaissance Florence; a bereaved rector searches for the Cities of the Plain in nineteenth century Palestine; a closeted gay movie star portrays Lot in a controversial biblical epic in 1980s Hollywood. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its interrelated narratives and interwoven documents, Of Men and Angels is both formally inventive and imaginatively rich. Abounding in characters as vivid as they are varied, from temple prostitutes and palace eunuchs, through fanatical friars and humanist poets, to Bedouin tribesmen, Russian exiles and, of course, angels, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, penetrating insight and profound human sympathy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308537524597,"sku":"9781911350576","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781911350576_21ecdfba-eb53-4b0f-846b-17a670a60ab8.jpg?v=1786029535"},{"product_id":"9781784633646","title":"The Tribe","description":"The Tribe is the epic tale of a family and its history and a family in history.The Carraches are a powerful Sephardic dynasty in the cosmopolitan city of Salonica during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. After the Greek annexation of the city, they settle in France until, in 1940, the Nazi Occupation sends some into hiding, some into flight and others into camps. In the early 1960s, the survivors and their children confront the family’s past, with long hidden secrets uncovered and deep-seated conflicts exposed, even as the Eichmann trial forces the world at large to confront the full enormity of the Holocaust.The Tribe crosses cultures and continents in its exploration of family, race, nation and empire. As the central characters journey from adolescence through early adulthood to late middle age, they experience first loves, political and sexual awakenings, artistic triumphs, religious pressures, marital struggles, dynastic rivalries, brutal persecution, resilience and liberation, before, helped by their children, they finally achieve a degree of reconciliation both with one another and the city of their birth.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56369152590197,"sku":"9781784633646","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784633646_7bb5ab4f-a359-498c-8ccd-ed3903e9fd4e.jpg?v=1786025762"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-michael-arditti.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}