Be Near Me

It would be fair to say the town had a suspicion of strangers. Driving over the moor at Achentiber that first October evening, I saw Dalgarnock Abbey and the town below it emerge out of the darkness like burning matter in a dream of constant renewal. I tasted sea-salt coming at the open window, I turned off the radio, and immediately thought of the Balliol drinking song.

In a small Scottish parish, an English priest is stalked by the fear of scandal, classed hatred and lost ideals. Over the spring and summer of 2003, Father David makes friends with two young people and because of this his life is the focus of public hysteria. As he looks back to his childhood, and to Oxford in fever of a student revolt Father David begins to reconsider the central events of his life, and to see what may have happened to the political hopes of his generation.

A well written novel and I found it easy to read and was supprised at some of the insights of the author to his life outside of the parish where he comes to take up his post and the discrimination that follows from helping a young couple.