De ecclesiis,

Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd and A Month in the Country by J L Carr

Two novels, each written by a Booker award-winning author.  The former title failed to receive a nomination although it seems every bit as good as Chatterton which did get picked in 1987.  Peter Ackroyd was born in London in 1949. A novelist, biographer and historian, he has been the literary editor of The Spectator and chief book reviewer for the The Times, as well as writing several highly acclaimed books including a biography of Dickens and London: The Biography. He lives in London.

'There is no Light without Darknesse
and no Substance without Shaddowe'
So proclaims the architect, Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren and the man with a commission to build seven London churches to stand as beacons of the enlightenment.

Set in the early 18th century, Dyer is progressing work on the churches which are all set in London's East End. He is, however, involved in Satanic practices (something inculcated in him as an orphan), a fact which he must keep secret from all his associates, including his supervisor Sir Christopher Wren.  This is all the more challenging since he indulges in human sacrifice as part of the construction of the buildings. Dyer's simmering contempt for Wren is brought closest to the surface in discussions they have concerning rationalism versus Dyer's own carefully disguised brand of mysticism. 

In the 20th century, a detective,  Nicholas Hawksmoor is called in to investigate a bizarre series of murders by strangulation that have occurred in and around the churches designed by Dyer. The murders are all the more mystifying since the murderer appeared to have left no identifying traces, not even fingerprints on the victims' necks.  However the area is stalked by mysterious shadows, and it becomes clear that not only the weight of the investigation, but unseen forces from the past come to bear on Hawksmoor in a powerful, destructive manner.

'Chillingly brilliant . . . sinister and stunningly well executed' Independent on Sunday

A Month in the Country  by J L Carr was nominated in 1980 for the Booker Prize.  The plot concerns Tom Birkin, a WWI veteran employed to uncover a mural, that was thought to exist under coats of whitewash,  in a village church. A Month in the Country is tentative, aware of its temporality. When he arrives in Oxgodby, Birkin knows very well life is not all ease and intimacy, long summer days with "winter always loitering around the corner." He has experienced emotional cruelty in his failed marriage. As a soldier, he witnessed death: destruction and unending mud.  It transpires that many of the incidents in the novel are based on real events in Carr's own life, and some of the characters are modelled on his own Methodist family

 At the same time another veteran is employed to look for a grave beyond the churchyard walls. Though Birkin is an atheist there is prevalent religious symbolism throughout the book, mainly dealing with judgment. The novel explores themes of England's loss of spirituality after the war, and of happiness, melancholy and nostalgia as Birkin recalls the summer uncovering the mural, when he healed from his wartime experiences and a broken marriage. The happiness depicted in A Month in the Country is tentative, aware of its temporality. When he arrives in Oxgodby, Birkin knows very well life is not all ease and intimacy, long summer days with "winter always loitering around the corner." He has experienced emotional cruelty in his failed marriage. As a soldier, he witnessed death: destruction and unending mud.............  Many of the incidents in the novel are based on real events in Carr's own life, and some of the characters are modelled on his own Methodist family.