The Vicar of Sorrows — A.N. Wilson

In this powerful novel that will confirm his reputation as one of Britain's brightest literary lights, A. N. Wilson recounts the downward spiral of Francis Kreer, a clergyman who does not believe in God and whose life starts to come apart at the seams. When his mother dies, Francis is shocked to discover that she had a lover and that he must share his inheritance with this (awful) man. Then Francis falls in love-painfully, absolutely-with an irresistible but most unsuitable young woman. A. N. Wilson traces Francis's descent through various circles of the English establishment, a tragi-comic journey that takes the hapless hero to the outer edges of both absurdity and despair.