Of Men and Angels

Description

'Arditti is a master storyteller who uses his theological literacy sparingly to deliver a challenging but enthralling read' Guardian Award-winning, bestselling author Michael Arditti's tenth novel, documenting the history of homophobia and religion. God's vengeance on the wicked city of Sodom is a perennial source of fascination and horror. Michael Arditti's passionate and enthralling new novel explores the enduring power of the myth in five momentous epochs. A young Judean exile transcribes the Acts of Abraham and Lot in ancient Babylon; the Guild of Salters presents a mystery play of Lot's Wife in medieval York; Botticelli paints the Destruction of Sodom for a court in Renaissance Florence; a bereaved rector searches for the Cities of the Plain in nineteenth century Palestine; a closeted gay movie star portrays Lot in a controversial biblical epic in 1980s Hollywood. With its interrelated narratives and interwoven documents, Of Men and Angels is both formally inventive and imaginatively rich. Abounding in characters as vivid as they are varied, from temple prostitutes and palace eunuchs, through fanatical friars and humanist poets, to Bedouin tribesmen, Russian exiles and, of course, angels, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, penetrating insight and profound human sympathy.

Michael Arditti is a novelist, short story writer and critic. His novels are The Celibate (1993), Pagan and her Parents (Pagan's Father in the USA) (1996), Easter (2000), Unity (2005), A Sea Change (2006), The Enemy of the Good (2009), Jubilate (2011), The Breath of Night (2013), Widows and Orphans (2016), Of Men and Angels (2018) and The Anointed (2020). His short story collection, Good Clean Fun, was published in 2004. He was awarded a Harold Hyam Wingate scholarship in 2000, a Royal Literary Fund fellowship in 2001, an Oppenheim-John Downes memorial award in 2003 and Arts Council awards in 2004 and 2007. He was the Leverhulme artist in residence at the Freud museum in 2008. His novels have been short- and long-listed for several literary awards and Easter won the inaugural Waterstone's Mardi Gras award. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary DLitt by the University of Chester.

Anyone who is afraid that the English novel is sliding into a backwater of domestic anecdote should find their anxieties assuaged by the writing of Michael Arditti * The Times * A Graham Greene for our time * Spectator * Arditti succeeds in creating fiction that is morally serious, moving and intense * Times Literary Supplement * Arditti is a master storyteller who uses his theological literacy sparingly to deliver a challenging but enthralling read * Guardian *