Virtual Refectory: Let's get down to Gothic!
Tour, tours and triviality...
Good morning, lovely Ecclesiasticals—and a happy Bank Holiday to my fellow Englishmen and women.
We are now four days away from the publication of Heaven on Earth. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. The second review actually came out over the weekend in The Spectator. You can have a gander at it here, but I particularly love the final paragraph: ‘The book gives full weight to the wealth of legends associated with cathedrals, several of which received supernatural visitations during their construction, most frequently by the Virgin but also by a divine eunuch (Hagia Sofia) and the Devil (Cologne). It chronicles the often fractious relationship between ecclesiastical patrons and master masons, fictionalised so gloriously in William Golding’s The Spire, and offers fascinating nuggets of historical information, such as that Henry VI of England was the only medieval monarch to have been crowned in Notre-Dame.’
If that doesn’t sum the book up and make you want to read, I don’t know what will, ha!
On that note, I am about to commence my book tour. We start next week with three dates across south-western Waterstones. I’ve decided to bring you along here on my Substack, so expect a sort of tour diary to follow over the next few weeks.
Prior to the book tour, I have another tour to lead: my Cathedrals of the South-West Andante Tavels tour. I love leading this in March and September each year. 3 days of cathedral visiting, eating, drinking, and being merry—what more could you want?! And I believe there are just a few places left if anyone wants a last-minute getaway.
So, for today, I wanted to get you ready for what’s to come—by providing the real story behind Gothic. And I’ll see you soon as I set out my travels—Enjoy!
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