Editing Susan Howatch (section)

==Starbridge series==
This series of six books sets out to describe the history of the [[Church of England]] through the twentieth century. Each of the six books is self-contained, and each is narrated by a different character. However, the main protagonist of each book also appears in the other books, allowing the author to present the same incidents from different viewpoints.

The action of all six books centres around the fictional Anglican [[diocese]] of Starbridge, which is supposedly in the west of England, and also features the Fordite monks, a fictional Anglican monastic order. The cathedral and ecclesiastical hierarchy at Starbridge are based on the real-life [[Salisbury]].

The first three books of the series (''Glittering Images'', ''Glamorous Powers'', ''Ultimate Prizes'') begin in the 1930s and continue through [[World War II]]. The second three (''Scandalous Risks'', ''Mystical Paths'', ''Absolute Truths'') take place in the 1960s.

'''''Glittering Images''''' is narrated by the Reverend Dr Charles Ashworth, a Cambridge academic who undergoes something of a spiritual and nervous breakdown after being sent by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] to secretly investigate possible sexual transgressions in the household of the Bishop of Starbridge. Ashworth is helped to recover and to realize the source of his problems by Father Jonathan Darrow, the widowed abbot of Grantchester Abbey of the Fordite monks.

'''''Glamorous Powers''''' follows the story of Jonathan Darrow himself as he leaves the Fordite order at age sixty following a powerful vision. He then must deal with the problems of his adult children, address the question of a new intimate relationship, and search for a new ministry. His particular crisis surrounds the use and misuse of his charismatic powers of healing, and his unsettling mystical visions, or "showings".

'''''Ultimate Prizes''''' takes place during World War II. It is narrated by Neville Aysgarth, a young and ambitious Archdeacon of Starbridge from a lower-middle-class background in the north of England. After being widowed and marrying again, he too undergoes something of a breakdown but is rescued by Jonathan Darrow.

'''''Scandalous Risks''''' follows Aysgarth to a canonry of [[Westminster Abbey]] and back to Starbridge, where he becomes dean of the cathedral and Ashworth becomes a bishop. It is narrated by Venetia Flaxton, a young aristocrat who risks great scandal by beginning a relationship with the married Aysgarth, her father's best friend. The relationships, and Aysgarth's family, closely echo the relationship of [[H. H. Asquith]] and [[Venetia Stanley (1887-1948)|Venetia Stanley]].

'''''Mystical Paths''''' follows Nicholas Darrow, son of Jonathan, as he narrowly avoids going off the rails prior to his ordination while investigating the mysterious disappearance of Christian Aysgarth, eldest son of Dean Aysgarth.

'''''Absolute Truths''''' comes full circle and is narrated by a much older but still troubled Charles Ashworth, thirty-one years after he was originally encountered in the first of the books.