Although Sue Gee's The Mysteries of Glass is not a terribly long book, it took me several weeks to read. The prose was so spare and gorgeous and the plot so elegantly crafted I wanted to take my time with it. It's also a book I wanted to let sink in a while before I posted on it, and I still don't think I'll present it in the way I would like to. I think it is actually one of my great discoveries of this year, as a book narrated by a young curate taking up his first post in a remote country parish would probably not be a book I would normally be drawn to. It's thanks to Cornflower that I picked this one up at all, as I don't think I would even have found it otherwise. Hopefully I'll do the same favor for some other lucky reader and you'll find it here--it's a very worthy read.
It's 1861. Imagine being a young man, raised in a religious family, the son of a pastor taking on your first position. Your faith is solid, or so you think. But then you find yourself in a situation that can only end in heartbreak and scandal. The Reverend, who you have come to serve, has a wife who is young and beautiful and you discover you love her deeply. And she reciprocates. All of a sudden everything is turned upside down. Your faith, once so unshakable, is now rent with doubts and unanswerable questions. And don't worry if you, the reader, are not a young man, but are a woman (always my concern when reading a book from the man's point of view--I won't be able to relate--silly I know), because you will also feel the same hesitation and uncertainty that Richard Allen is faced with.
This is a slow moving, very introspective story, and initially I wasn't sure I was going to stick it out, but I am so glad that I did. Gee seems to have a knack at portraying human nature, both good and bad. Richard Allen is so hopeful when he arrives in Hereford, perhaps even a little naive. The feelings he has for Susannah Bowen come as a surprise to him, and he knows the muddle he's placed himself in--desiring another man's wife, but his feelings for her are so pure that it puts his faith in crisis, as surely his love for this woman must be God given? To make matters worse, her husband is mortally ill. Unable to say the things he wants to her directly, Richard writes them in a journal that he locks in his desk. And when he finds that she does love him back, their every glance is filled with meaning that certainly everyone must be able to read for themselves, so he begins dissembling to everyone--even those he loves most. To the parish he presents one face, but to Susannah another entirely.
Setting the story in Victorian England was wise on Gee's part as she has many avenues to explore when it comes to morality and religious conviction and a woman's place in society and even Darwin's impact on how people see themselves and the world around them. Everything fits together to create a beautifully moving and convincing story. Even though she writes with simplicity, the world she paints is one of natural beauty, which also somehow seems very Victorian to me as well. Although the story is wrought with turmoil, it's a hopeful one as well. I cannot recommend it enough. I wonder if her other books are equally as good?