DURHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2000

 

CATHERINE FOX

Catherine Fox was born in 1961. After reading English at Durham University, she went on to a doctorate in theology at London. She now lives in Walsall with her husband, a vicar, and their two children. Love for the Lost is her third book. Angels of Men, her first novel, and Benefits of Passion are also published by Penguin.

Isobel Knox is happy and confident in her new job and likes her single life, free as it is from confusing and complicating entanglements. Suppressing her emotions and burying painful memories has become second nature to her, but it seems to work; after all, why should letting it all out necessarily be good for you?

There are two men who could shatter her calm, brittle world: Davy, a young policeman, who, despite Isobel’s distance, falls in love with her, and Johnny Whitaker, a charismatic priest with a troubled marriage. As Isobel’s feelings for Johnny become stronger and deeper, her façade begins to crack, and memories and emotions of years before come back, overpowering her with feelings she thought she had long past dealt with.

 

‘I thought THE BENEFITS OF PASSION was funny, fresh, moving and highly readable. A comedy with bite’

Helen Dunmore

‘I don’t think anyone could read it without enjoying it. She is, in fact, brilliantly skilful as a novelist…’

Penelope Fitzgerald

‘Wow! I was enchanted by ANGELS AND MEN’

Barbara Trapido