Gladys Hobson

Love, hate, lust and betrayal. When Angels Lie is a dramatic and romantic story involving taboo love within the Anglican Church. The Reverend Paul Stringer intends keeping his love affair with his rural dean secret, but did not bargain for his ‘angel’ secretary, Angela, falling in love with him. Nor did he expect his charismatic lady organist to play such a powerful role in his life. The story is set within country parishes coping with the tensions of challenging situations and controversial changes. Dedicated and sensitive leadership is called for. But dramatic events, involving powerful and memorable characters, threaten both the relationship with his partner, and all that has been achieved during his ministry.

Review

Gladys Hobson has written an award winner with ‘When Angels Lie.’ Daring to take on a subject guaranteed to make some readers squirm, Hobson boldly explores the life of handsome Anglican priest Paul Stringer as he takes on an impoverished parish and pursues a loving affair—with a neighboring male priest. The author follows him as he struggles painfully with a commitment to his church and his desperate need for acceptance and companionship.

Although the two priests determine to keep their personal affair confidential, they learn that suspicions are quick to arise in this small community. Confused by the rebuffs of the parish’s most eligible bachelor, local women begin to grow increasingly suspicious of his often repeated vow of bachelorhood. Worse, the enmity of the church warden, the jealousy of a woman spurned and the sexual escapades of two teenage lovers in the chapel are twisted into a scandal that threatens to expose the relationship of the priests and destroy their many accomplishments.

Smothly, expertly written, the author captures the essence and conflict of human love and religion as they struggle to coexist in a judgmental world. Hobson reveals a church hierarchy attempting to compromise with a nervous reality, and walks the reader ever so beautifully through the torment of a young man deeply devoted to his vows and wanting fervently to serve his parish--with the support of a loving partner.

Hobson is a writer of the first class, able to build a story quickly and maintain excitement throughout the book. Her characters are full and multidimensional—at times, the reader is torn by compassion and empathy for one and then the other. I, for one, give it ten across the board.

Andrew F. O’Hara, editor,The Jimston Journal
Author; The Swan, Tales of the Sacramento Valley