Lucy Beresford

Ways of escape

The Enemy of the Good, by Michael Arditti

issue 23 May 2009

At a time in modern, secular Britain when religion is seen not as the saviour but as the cause of many of society’s problems, we have become skilled not so much at turning the other cheek as turning a blind eye. Thank God (maybe literally) for writers like Michael Arditti, whose invigorating novels dare to shake us out of our complacency.

Arditti returns to the ecclesiastical territory he charted in previous works, in particular the award-winning novel Easter. As well as examining Christianity as seen through the lives of several members of the Church of England, Arditti’s nuanced cartography now extends to Islam, Judaism, and, briefly, Buddhism and Paganism — although in theological terms he keeps it traditional, with many of his characters in despair and longing for salvation.

Clement, a painter well known for his challenging, some would say shocking, religious art, believes he has reconciled his Christianity with having HIV.

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