Grace and Truth by Jennifer Johnston

217 pages, hardback, published by Headline

This book was quite a disappointment.After "Two Moons" and "This is Not a Novel",I was expecting really more from this writer. The books starts with family drama: Sally`s husband announces that he was going to divorce her.Sally is an actress and is constantly out of home.More than that,she had a troubled childhood,being raised by her stern single mother. When her husband leaves her alone,she is haunted by unpleasant memories of the past.She decides to streghten her relationship with her grandfather,The Bishop,and get to know more about family`s past. At first,he is reluctant to allow her to get close to him but then he decides otherwise and gives her a bunch of paper containing the story of his awful sin and dark secret (well,the secret was that The Bishop had an incestious contact with his own daughter and a baby was born from this sin...and the baby was...guess who? Of course,Sally!). At first she is shocked,then she accepts the truth,her husband comes back to her and everyone is happy. I think that it`s ridicilous to write such a story in 2005 when,honestly, it cannot surprise or shock anyone.Perhaps the intent was to show some critics of the clergy (The Bishop in the novel has no faith in God,he simply does the service and gives very eloquent speeches) but I don`t think this is a hot topic nowadays.
So,if you like Jennifer Johnston,don`t start reading this novel;you will be wasting your time.If you don`t know her and want to read some of her books, it`s better to start with "This is Not a Novel".