The City Of Invention

This is the story of a young man from the lower middle classes who sets off to take up his first post as curate in a rural parish on the borderland between England and Wales. At first everything seems idyllic but he soon finds that beneath the tranquil surface lurks all sorts of unpleasantness. Sue Gee's acute physical description conjures up a powerful sense of place, and her ability to convincingly evoke an inner world allows her to explore the impact of science on faith in the second half of the nineteenth century. I found it compelling.