Ultimate Prizes. Susan Howatch

       COPYRIGHT

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1989

      Copyright © Leaftree Ltd 1989

      The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constrains in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780006496915

       Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780007396429 Version: 2018-10-08

PRAISE

       From the reviews:

      ‘This superbly intricate ecclesiastical tale … irresistible’

       Church Times

      ‘A fascinating story’

       Publishers Weekly

      ‘Howatch writes thrillers of the heart and mind … everything in a Howatch novel cuts close to the bone and is of vital concern’

       New Woman

      ‘A mesmerising storyteller’

       Daily Telegraph

      ‘One of the most original novelists writing today’

       Cosmopolitan

      ‘She is a deft storyteller, and her writing has depth, grace and pace’

       Sunday Times

      CONTENTS

       COVER

       TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

PRAISE

PART ONE: CRISIS

ONE

TWO

THREE

       FOUR

FIVE

       SIX

       SEVEN

       EIGHT

      PART TWO: UNDER JUDGEMENT

       ONE

       TWO

       THREE

       FOUR

       FIVE

       SIX

       SEVEN

       EIGHT

      PART THREE: SALVATION

       ONE

       TWO

       THREE

       KEEP READING

       AUTHOR’S NOTE

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

       ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

       PART ONE CRISIS

      ‘It is in the failure to achieve integration … that personalities too often make shipwreck, either breaking down (physically or mentally) under the strain of conflict or abandoning any real desire for an effective synthesis.’

      CHARLES E. RAVEN

      Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge,1932–1950 The Creator Spirit

ONE

      ‘Many of us have a hard fight to control our passions …’

      CHARLES E. RAVEN

      Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, 1932–1950 The Creator Spirit

      I

      The most appalling feature of the morning after I nearly committed adultery was my lack of surprise. I was scared out of my wits, racked