Charles Ashworth is privileged, pampered and pleased with himself. As Bishop of Starbridge in 1965 he 'purrs along as effortlessly as a well-tuned Rolls-Royce' while he proclaims his famous 'absolute truths' to a society which he sees — with rage and revulsion — as increasingly immoral and disordered. But then a catastrophe tears his life apart and confronts him with the real absolute truths, truths which so shatter him that he finds himself stripped of his pride and struggling for survival. Grappling with the revelation that he has failed his wife, short-changed one son and distorted the personality of the other, Charles's guilt steadily drives him into the immoral and disordered life he has condemned so violently in others. Fighting against the threat of complete breakdown, he then embarks on a quest to rebuild not only his private life but his professional life, a quest which leads him to a final battle with his old enemy Dean Aysgarth in the shadow of Starbridge Cathedral.

Neville Aysgarth, archdeacon, and right-hand man of the Bishop of Starbridge, has spent his life chasing worldly success. In 1942 he has a perfect wife, a perfect family and a perfect future in the Church of England — all ultimate prizes. Then Aysgarth meets an attractive young socialite and is soon dangerously and chaotically involved in adultery, hypocrisy and obsession. Tormented and on the brink of ruin, he must at last face the truth about himself, his marriage and the mysterious past he cannot discuss as he chases the most vital prize of all — his own survival! Witty, wise and compelling, Ultimate Prizes powerfully explores both the temptations of sex and success, and the ultimate themes of sin and salvation.

Told with all of Susan Howatch's drama, intelligence, and emotional depth, Mystical Paths is a breathtaking novel about the powerful, often painful, but finally indestructible ties between parent and child. And like its four highly praised predecessors in the Church of England series, this novel celebrates the redeeming power of self-knowledge and faith.

As Venetia Flaxton edges closer to the threshold of a love affair with the Dean of the Cathedral — a man old enough to be her father — his hidden emotional past and her moral conflict lead them deeper into the mysteries of the human heart and soul. A powerfully moving novel set in the turbulence of the 1960s. Passionate.