Absolute Truths

Absolute Truths
Susan Howatch

The author’s most famous and well-loved work, the Starbridge series, six self-contained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century.Charles Ashworth is privileged, pampered and pleased with himself. As Bishop of Starbridge in 1965 he 'purrs along as effortlessly as a well-tuned Rolls-Royce' while he proclaims his famous 'absolute truths' to a society which he sees - with rage and revulsion - as increasingly immoral and disordered. But then a catastrophe tears his life apart and confronts him with the real absolute truths, truths which so shatter him that he finds himself stripped of his pride and struggling for survival. Grappling with the revelation that he has failed his wife, short-changed one son and distorted the personality of the other, Charles's guilt steadily drives him into the immoral and disordered life he has condemned so violently in others. Fighting against the threat of complete breakdown, he then embarks on a quest to rebuild not only his private life but his professional life, a quest which leads him to a final battle with his old enemy Dean Aysgarth in the shadow of Starbridge Cathedral.

Susan Howatch

ABSOLUTE

TRUTHS

Copyright (#ulink_b58698e7-1e81-53ef-9bcc-ebda033f33bd)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995

Copyright © Leaftree Ltd 1995

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780006496885

Ebook Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN: 9780007396375

Version: 2017-05-04

From the reviews: (#ulink_041bda42-5f70-5695-9c97-37c050041ae5)

‘A tour de force … Susan Howatch has been likened to a twentieth-century version of Trollope. To make such a comparison is to fail to do her justice’

Church of England. Newspaper

‘Howatch writes thrillers of the heart and mind … everything in a Howatch novel cuts close to the bone and is of vital concern’

New Woman

‘Riveting … extremely moving and often very funny … She is a deft storyteller, and her writing has depth, grace and pace’

Sunday Times

‘She is writing for anyone who can recognise that mysterious gift of the true storyteller’

Daily Telegraph

‘One of the most original novelists writing today’

Cosmopolitan

‘The best female writer in Britain today’

Birmingham Evening Mail

Dedication (#ulink_f404d141-0648-536b-95e6-291ad38e5662)

This book is dedicated to all my friends among the clergy of the Anglican Communion (and in particular the Church of England) with thanks for their support and encouragement. My special thanks also goes to Alex Wedderspoon for his great sermon preached in Guildford Cathedral in 1987 on the eighth chapter of St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, verse twenty-eight.

Contents

COVER (#u8f2bcde6-6e6a-5e8b-bcb6-0fbe40f32bde)

TITLE PAGE (#u5c4cf183-18cc-5c2e-9504-2721b440f2c1)

COPYRIGHT (#u1febbc70-aee3-5f79-9021-af87bbd56182)

PRAISE (#ufceebf5d-f891-53ce-913a-ac6a8887217a)

DEDICATION (#u75033a68-407d-5bcc-98d4-74dac45a0ac2)

PART ONE: TRADITION AND CERTAINTY (#u4d4452ba-cc2d-5b8f-8427-6f31bbf1f74b)

ONE (#u40a77681-61d2-5c40-9c20-15fa84c5589e)

TWO (#ue868ece9-7767-5a3f-8a5b-b876c4f30166)

THREE (#u6ec555dd-c1fb-505f-b190-1679fb96197c)

FOUR (#uec09634e-56c4-5338-b407-f05f2c1d038f)

FIVE (#u30904308-2de4-5958-be8b-ac81c184c94d)

SIX (#ucdddb667-d07c-57bc-9839-bc49296295d8)

PART TWO: CHAOS (#litres_trial_promo)

ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

THREE (#litres_trial_promo)