The Cunning Man - Couverture souple

 “A delight, a novel that travels 70 years of history on its own swift feet, a book of love and wisdom, loss and irony”—The Boston Sunday Globe

When Father Hobbes mysteriously dies at the high alter on Good Friday, Dr. Jonathan Hullah – whose holistic work has earned him the label “Cunning Man” (for the wizard of folk tradition) – wants to know why. The physician-cum-diagnostician’s search for answers compels him to look back over his own long life. He conjures vivid memories of the dazzling, intellectual high jinks and compassionate philosophies of himself and his circle, including flamboyant, mystical curate Charlie Iredale; cynical, quixotic professor Brocky Gilmartin; outrageous banker Darcy Dwyer; and jocular, muscular artist Pansy Todhunter. In compelling and hilarious scenes from the divine comedy of life, The Cunning Man reveals profound truth about being human.

The crowning achievement of “one of the most learned, amusing... accomplished novelists of our time and... of our century.” – The New York Times Book Review

When Father Hobbes mysteriously dies at the high altar on Good Friday, Dr Jonathan Hullah - whose holistic ideas have earned him the soubriquet 'cunning man' - wants to know why. But it is only through looking back at his own long life that answers are forthcoming. He recalls the dazzling intellectual high jinks of his circle of friends, from the High Church homosexual Darcy Dwyer (an expert on the theory of sin) to the curious occurrence of the Coburg Social Parlour's Seventh Annual Bad Breath Contest. Compelling and hilarious, The Cunning Man is a profound exploration of what it means to be an actor in the divine comedy of life.