| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Glittering Images for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Susan Howatch may well be the Anthony Trollope of the 20th century. Howatch is more than just a novelist of ideas… She is a skilled storyteller who makes the reader wonder, and care about her people.' ANDREW GREELEY, Washington Post
'Rich in human interest, sex, scandal, moral crises and a good deal of humour, it is a book to keep you hooked throughout' Sunday Times
'Howatch writes thrillers of the heart and mind … everything in a Howatch novel cuts close to the bone and is of vital concern' New Woman
'Susan Howatch… is writing for anyone who can recognise that mysterious gift of the true storyteller.' Daily Telegraph
'One of the most original novelists writing today' Cosmopolitan
'Howatch's outstanding gifts as storyteller are combined here with a new seriousness of theme; the result is a superior novel.' Publishers Weekly
'One of the most original novelists writing today' Cosmopolitan
Product Description
Reissue of the author’s most famous and well-loved work, the Starbridge series, six self-contained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century.
Beneath the smooth surface of an Episcopal palace lurks the salacious breath of scandal. Charles Ashworth is sent to untangle the web of self-delusion and corruption only to become embroiled in a strange ménage à trois that threatens to expose the secrets of his own past…
In Glittering Images tension and drama combine in a compelling novel of people in high places, of desperate longings and the failure to resist them, of lies and evasions, of tarnished realities behind brilliant glittering images.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After writing 5 highly successful family sagas Susan Howatch had a spiritual experience which converted her to Christianity. She then embarked on the series of six novels which were later to be known as the Starbridge books; she had lived herself for some time in the Cathedral Close at Salisbury, and her fictional town Starbridge is actually Salisbury. Just as her family sagas were written in a multi-person first-person narrator format, so was the Starbridge series, but this time each narrator gets a whole book instead of only a section of one!
Glittering Images is the first book in the series. I had already read al five of the family sagas before I had the courage to start on Starbridge; I saw had the courage because I was sure that a whole series of books set in the Church of England could not help but be stuffy and priggish. But this of course is Susan Howatch, a master storyteller. And these books are considered by many to be an enormous step forward.
I found the depth of character found in all the Starbridge even more impressive than in the sagas. She shows not only an extraordinarily deep understanding of the human condition, she also shows great compassion and warmth for all her characters so that even if they have weaknesses and make mistakes, we can nevertheless forgive and love them.
In the first trilogy of books. Set in the 1930's and 1940's, each of the three narrators is stripped down and turned inside out, so that the reader knows all there is to know about them.
In this first book we first meet Charles Ashworth, who will be a major player in the series. Charles has conservative leanings and a Middle Way churchmanship. As ever, Howatch succeeds in giving us an in-depth portrait of a very likeable and sincere man, and sets him in the middle of a story that simply pulls you through, unravelling secret after secret. A wonderful book, which made me immediately want to start on the next one in the series... Glamorous Powers! I've opened an online discussion and reading group based on the Howatch novels; if you are interested in joining please mail me!
Glittering Images is the first book in the series. I had already read al five of the family sagas before I had the courage to start on Starbridge; I saw had the courage because I was sure that a whole series of books set in the Church of England could not help but be stuffy and priggish. But this of course is Susan Howatch, a master storyteller. And these books are considered by many to be an enormous step forward.
I found the depth of character found in all the Starbridge even more impressive than in the sagas. She shows not only an extraordinarily deep understanding of the human condition, she also shows great compassion and warmth for all her characters so that even if they have weaknesses and make mistakes, we can nevertheless forgive and love them.
In the first trilogy of books. Set in the 1930's and 1940's, each of the three narrators is stripped down and turned inside out, so that the reader knows all there is to know about them.
In this first book we first meet Charles Ashworth, who will be a major player in the series. Charles has conservative leanings and a Middle Way churchmanship. As ever, Howatch succeeds in giving us an in-depth portrait of a very likeable and sincere man, and sets him in the middle of a story that simply pulls you through, unravelling secret after secret. A wonderful book, which made me immediately want to start on the next one in the series... Glamorous Powers! I've opened an online discussion and reading group based on the Howatch novels; if you are interested in joining please mail me!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Susan Howatch's ability to spin a good yarn is well known. Add to that the complexities of the Church of England and characters who have a realistic relationship with God (what a refreshing idea!) and you get this un-put-downable novel. I've recommended it to all my friends, and my husband - all have loved it.
And don't forget to read the rest of the Starbridge Novels after this cracking opener...
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Set in Starbridge, which is really Salisbury, this is a story of love, life, morals and conscience. She brilliantly describes the struggles between the generations and the way we live we our lives within the framework of the Church of England. There are no bad characters, only acts which are not good.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A psychological 'whodunit'
The book was recommended to me by a friend who waxed lyrical about the 'brilliant characters, all of whom have some flaw' How right he was! Read more
Published 15 months ago by Barnabas
Deceptively easy to read with hidden depths
Howatch sets this drama in the Church of England just before WWII. The title phrase is shot through the book, the glittering image with the true, darker reality behind. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Moorland8
different But enjoyable
This series of books are not my usuall choice of reading but I find that I am most INTRIGUED by the inside of the lives behind men of the Church of England. Read more
Published 21 months ago
Disappointed
I remember Howatch fondly from my twenties with the sweeping family sagas which I enjoyed so was tempted to investigate this new route of her writting. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Italian Fiancee
These books could change your life
A series of novels spanning several decades in the Church of England may not sound like a gripping read. Read more
Published on 2 May 2006 by Persephone
Glittering Images
Glittering Images, along with the other five books of the Starchester chronicles, portrays with eerie clarity the seldom seen inner workings of the Church of England. Read more
Published on 13 April 2003 by Jane Gibb
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
