Our Father - Softcover

For Veronica Smiles, Our Father who art in heaven also resides in the Sahara desert, London suburbs and Victoria Station, among other unexpected locations. She invites Him to a party and frets over introductions. "Should she say, 'This is God, I'd like you to meet so-and-so?' Or 'This is our Lord?' Or 'The Almighty?' . . . . Perhaps she should just call him Fred, a cosy name that would unnerve nobody. . . ." (He doesn't show up until after the last guest has left anyway.) Veronica, who conducts a tepid romance with a sterile wine merchant she has met on a train despite the torch she carries for God, is an inspired creation. In her 14th novel, Rubens (The Elected Member) creates an edgy tension that builds as Veronica's determination to discover the awful truths of her past begins to drive her mad. Or is it her craziness that propels her toward those horrifying revelations? Or is it her past that has sent her around the bend from the beginning? This provocative novel is a stunning portrait of a woman wobbling on the fine line between slightly eccentric normalcy and a sojourn in her own unique version of hell.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A typical Rubens novel, not only because of its black humor but also for its revelation of tempestuous psychic forces operating under bland and innocuous exteriors. Veronica Smiles, a 37-year-old London spinster whose chief pleasure in life is to explore deserts, develops the unwelcome habit of bumping into God. Unfortunately, he turns out to be an egocentric and rather malicious bore with a good line in religious cliches. Much of the novel consists of flashbacks to the traumatic events of Veronica's childhood; she must come to terms with a dark secret. The plot at times strains credulity, and some of the surprises are easily guessed in advance, but there is enough insight and outrageous humor in this novel of guilt and expiation to make it worth reading. Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.