Book Review: The World, the Flesh and the Bishop

Happy Book Review Tuesday!  Today we are taking a trip to England and exploring the world of Eyot, a small cathedral town invented by author Elizabeth Aston (Elizabeth Pewsey).  I first learned of Eyot – and Elizabeth – as a result of a guest post she kindly provided in August about developing one’s own world for a fictional story.  A review copy of The World, the Flesh, and the Bishop (the first book in the Mountjoy Series), was generously provided by the author.

As I believe I have mentioned once or twice before, I am a devout Anglophile.  I love all things British – words, mannerisms, London, the history, stories, television, movies…  So when I was asked to review a story – the first in a series, no less! – set in a fictitious English cathedral town, I jumped at the chance.

The Eyot of the Mountjoy series is a lovely town, exactly the kind that I love to visit.  It is a town of small streets, houses, and minds – but large ambitions, scandals, and secrets.  In other words, a perfect literary setting.  The characters are quirky and unusual, full of foibles and neuroses that make their every move and word unique.  There is just the right mix of personalities: a cheerful and beleaguered poverty-riddled single mum complete with an utterly precocious daughter, an “I don’t care a whit about money” wealthy young woman who resents nearly everything about her family’s money except the freedom it buys her, wealthy artistic snobs who can’t imagine why the poor don’t make better choices, a squad of nosy old ladies with their fingers in everyone’s pie, a few debauched rapscallions, a gay best friend or two, and a new bishop with a secret – and wife with a few of her own.

WHEW.

Sound like a lot of characters to keep straight?  It is, at times, but they are all delightful in their own way and the author somehow deftly manages to keep them from becoming caricatures of themselves despite often outlandish behavior that should fall squarely into stereotype land.

Well done, she said.

The story has a fairly big reveal, but it doesn’t come until most of the way through the book.  Up to that point, there is a lot of insinuation and guesswork, a few random “eek!” moments, and a lot of what I imagine as everyday British life in a small town – provided said small town includes such a range of characters, that is.  At times, that “everyday British life in a small town”-ness felt a little overdone and verged on the banal – I found myself wishing something would happen more than once in the vast span of pages between about 25% and 75% into the story (I read this on kindle so can’t give page references).  But then when it did, well, wow!

If the point of the slower going part was set-up, well, I guess it was worth it.  I still think it could have been a tish tighter though.  And since I’m an infamous “loves reading pages and pages about all things British,” well, that possibly suggests that others will get a little antsy for the action even earlier.  Still, the characters are charming and eccentric, the setting is fun, and the incorporation of occasional moments of the utterly bizarre make it a worthwhile selection for anyone who enjoys exploring the world of the British…  🙂