Paperback. Black cover with white title.

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Tom Marshfield is a married clergyman and father-of-two. Over the course of a month at a desert retreat for disgraced clerics, he recounts his fall from grace. His energetic adultery in the parish was found out, and he was despatched by his church superiors to a Californian resort where he can reflect on his sins. This novel is the result of his introspection. He plays golf and poker and drinks beer, and tells the story of his philandering, without much remorse, as he explores topics such as religious philosophy, and seeks to justify his destructive actions. This is vintage Updike, containing all of the familiar ingredients: mainly adultery and sex, and acute observations of village life. The footnotes are fun, but a bit irritating, and fiddly on a Kindle. I had to reach for the dictionary and translator quite a lot, maybe too much. This novel is in the same terrain as Roger’s Version, but much slighter. Marshfield’s voice is convincingly done, but maybe overdone; a third-person rendering of the story might have been more satisfying. But even if it isn’t always the easiest of reads, this is erudite and priapic prose that won’t disappoint Updike fans. For anyone who hasn’t read Updike before, don’t start here: read the Rabbit novels.