A PATH OF SERIOUS HAPPINESS (The Hawk and the Dove, Series Two)

By Penelope Wilcock

Brother Philip, not to put too fine a point on it, is something of a prat. Quick with the unthinking jest, deaf to nuance, he annoys the other novices, and exasperates the senior monks. Now, coming to the end of his novitiate, his vocation is feeble at best. Does he have it within him to join, for life, the community of St Alcuins? Can St Alcuins find space for him? Brother Felix could hardly offer a more striking contrast - acutely intelligent, genuinely humble, painfully scrupulous, driven by shame. Felix is vulnerable, yet his intellectual gifts and sense of call fully justify Abbot John's decision to send him south from Yorkshire to Cambridge, there to study for a year and be ordained. Now Felix is in trouble (he is given to self-harm) and John resolves to fetch him home. But the journey, lasting weeks, is tough and dangerous. Whom can he spare? Who has the authority? His choice, Father William de Bulmer, is appalled to learn his travelling companion will be Brother Philip, whose popular songs and stupid jokes are gratingly familiar. As they set out, will William find the capacity to tolerate the brash young man? Can the crustiness of one, and the immaturity of the other, make space for mutual respect, and the possibility of friendship? The Hawk and the Dove novels can be read in any order, but do follow a sequence. This volume follows on from Brother Cyril's Book.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DDGWYBLW
• ISBN13: 9798326001542
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 234 Pages
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.0"