By chance, I came across this engrossing novel where Davy explores in quasi-documentary fashion the possible reaction of the Anglican Church to a royal same-sex wedding of the future queen – no less. The novel is fictionally set in 2013/2014.

By chance, I came across this engrossing novel where Davy explores in quasi-documentary fashion the possible reaction of the Anglican Church to a royal same-sex wedding of the future queen – no less. The novel is fictionally set in 2013/2014. Alexandra, the heir to the throne, politely asks that the Anglican Church considers blessing her upcoming same-sex marriage and all hell, ahem discussion, breaks loose!

I particularly enjoyed how the whole novel oozes “Britishness” even the royalist Muslims. The novel is a clever patchwork of blogs, newspaper clippings, meetings and revolves around the royal couple, the Archbishop of Canterbury on the one hand and a secondary storyline about a gay man on the other hand. The narrative is so life-like that sometimes I had to recall that it is fiction.

The scenes depicting discussions between those “nice chaps”, who are of course as cut-throat through well-mannered as people in power tend to be, or the fictional blogs and comments are a delight to read and Davy exposes the hypocrites very well. There are many chuckles to be had when one considers that the Anglican church came into being to accommodate the not so traditional marriage habits of Henry VIII.

This is not a romance but a thorough exploration of hypocrisy and discrimination challenged by those with character and morals beyond the mere words of scripture and fanaticism. It is fun to read and entertaining if you want to see how the wheels of power might turn in one of the most British institutions, i.e. the Anglican church and the royal family in the unlikely event of a same-sex royal wedding. Well done!