Scandalous Risks

In the overheated 1960s in the English town of Starbridge, young Venetia Flaxton edges closer to a love affair with Neville Aysgarth, who is Dean of the Cathedral and old enough to be her father. His hidden emotional past and her moral conflict in the present lead them deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the human heart and soul.

Publishers Weekly

Venetia Flaxton, an intelligent but desultory young woman, details her affair with the 61-year-old dean of Starbridge Cathedral in this fourth of Howatch's Church of England series. ``A commanding novel of substance and heart,'' said PW. Howatch ``treats romance, sex, love and religion with the seriousness and humor of the best 19th-century novelists.'' (Dec.)