A Private Man

A vivacious woman falls in love with a priest in 1950s England in the emotive and revelatory debut novel from poet Sy-Quia (Amnion). At a funeral in 2018, Adrian Fletcher learns the family secret that his long-deceased grandfather David left the Catholic priesthood to marry his grandmother Margaret. Recently graduated from university, Adrian moves in with Margaret, whose dementia prevents her from telling the whole story of David’s “laicization.” Sy-Quia unravels the story on parallel tracks, alternating from Adrian’s prolonged grief over Margaret’s decline to Margaret and David’s formative years. David, a WWII veteran, studies in Rome and is posted back to his childhood parish. Meanwhile, Margaret becomes enamored by Catholic devotion and converts, then moves to Rome to study theology at a new experimental college that admits laywomen. Back in England, she teaches alongside David at a girls’ school. David’s liberal views surprise Margaret, and the two are swept up in the possibilities promised by Vatican II, eventually allowing their spirited discussions about celibacy and the possibility of women entering the priesthood to verge into romance. Sy-Quia plumbs the depths of David and Margaret’s confusion as they grapple with the limits placed on their freedom by the Catholic Church, and the narrative of forbidden romance blossoms into a revelatory meditation on the double bind of faith, showing how the characters’ impossible decision will force a loss either way. This is superb. Agent: Matthew Marland, RCW Literary. (Apr.)