Alison Thompson would have been thrown out of her curacy after having an affair if her new bishop, Christopher Ridgefield, hadn’t remembered his own lapse as a curate and given her another chance. When he appoints her as a vicar, she’s determined to do the job well and repay his faith. At first, it’s hard-going. Alison’s assistant, Father Ken, and his wife Sylvia, disapprove of divorced, women priests like her. And though her old friend Michael’s a parishioner, he’s always stirring things up. The fact that her bishop’s behaving oddly after meeting someone from his past, and turning more conservative in the face of press criticism, pass her by. Until, that is, her ex-lover Iain reappears, and the bishop, fearing scandal, issues an ultimatum. As Alison faces agonising decisions about her future, Michael and Sylvia take a hand. And what follows has far-reaching consequences not only for Alison, her friends and parishioners, but most dramatically, for the bishop himself.  A perceptive, thought-provoking novel first published in 2003, Borrowdale's portrayal of imperfect priests trying to live up to their vocations in a church in turmoil over women clergy and sexual ethics is a compelling read.