Book Corner 2026.56

by Stephanie Sy-Quia

Fantastic story. The main characters are Father David Fletcher, a forward-thinking Catholic priest serving in his home county in England; and Margaret Bendelow, a progressive laywoman who studied in Rome and teaches theology – radical theology. The time period is the 60s during Vatican II. Our protagonists are hopeful for real change in the Roman Catholic church – married clergy, contraception. All such hopes are of course disappointed, and all the more disappointing because Vatican II seemed to come so close to delivering real change.

Though the title is “A Private Man” and it’s David’s story which first takes center stage, Margaret ends up being the beating heart and razor-sharp mind of the book. She’s brilliant and articulate, sexually forward and comfortable with contraceptives, free with her knowledge and opinions, such that the Holy Spirit was meant to be female.

Not a spoiler, but David ends up leaving the church to marry her. They end up with a daughter and a grandson; Margaret outlives David and the story of the two lovers in the 1960s and beyond intersperses with the story of Margaret in her old age being cared for by her grandson, Adrian. She is sinking into dementia, but Adrian probes her for more info about his grandparents’ past – it was something of a family secret that David was a former Catholic priest, and Adrian’s only learned that fact recently.

The chapters about Margaret’s decline were a bit hard for me, giving what I am anticipating with my mother-in-law. Adrian spends a lot of time on his bicycle visiting with her, and a lot of time shedding tears.

The chapters where young David and young Margaret each pursue their vocations and studies in Rome were beautiful, extremely evocative of the beauty of Italy.

But it’s a sad story, really. Interesting to note it was based on some true facts about the author’s grandparents.