SH: There should be a story for the reader that is greater than any one of the individual narrations. This is because the reader is put by me in the position of God—i.e., he or she has the whole overview, and knows more about the characters in the end than they know about each other.
Q: Alice’s narration opens and closes the book, which gives her version of the events more prominence. Why did you choose Alice for this role instead of one of the other characters?
SH: The fact that Alice narrates two sections instead of one does not make her more important than the other narrators. The story simply required her to do the beginning and end.
Q: Alice shares a name with the heroine of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, something that Lewis Hall notes in his section of the book. Carroll’s Alice seems to be the quintessentially sensible and down-to-earth British girl in a frequently irrational world. Do you see your Alice as sharing some of her qualities? Is she in a similar situation?
SH: Alice is certainly exploring an unknown, fascinating, and occasionally alarming world like Carroll’s Alice. But the comparison with Alice shouldn’t be pushed too far.
Q: The British title for this book was A Question of Integrity, while the American version is The Wonder Worker. Both titles seem to me to refer to Nicholas Darrow. Was that your intention? Did you mean for the titles to refer to any of the other characters?
SH: The Wonder Worker was my own choice of title, and I’m glad the Americans kept it. The name A Question of Integrity was purely a marketing decision made by my UK publishers. All the characters in the book wrestle with integrity versus fragmentation/corruption. The Wonder Worker applies not only to Nicholas Darrow but also to Lewis and indeed to anyone practicing the ministry of healing—it is the “shadow” side of every true, honest healer and can take over with disastrous results if ever they’re tempted to lose their integrity. Nicholas Darrow enacts this theme in the story.
Q: Nicholas begins the book very successful in his relations with others, yet ends disastrously. Alice in turn begins disillusioned with life, yet ends believing in Nicholas after everyone else has abandoned him. Could you speak some about the themes of fall and redemption, which these reversals suggest?
SH: Once Nicholas was destabilized (by his collapsing marriage) he became self-centered instead of God-centered—i.e., he lost his integrity, his focus on a balanced life, and allowed his pride, his arrogance, and his selfishness to gain the upper hand. The story describes how he was helped to recognize this, regret it, and try very hard to turn over a new leaf and get his act together so he could begin a new life. This illustrates the great Christian themes of sin, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, resurrection, and renewal.
Alice, on the other hand, simply develops her personality as she is finally enabled to embark on a process of self-realization. This too is a Christian theme: the more fully ourselves we become, the more we can play an individually designed part in God’s creative scheme of things.
Q: One critic has written about your work, “There’s a lot of demonology in these books, but done in simultaneous translation into psychodrama, so if you prefer to think of jealousy, rage and denial in Freudian terms, rather than as the devil within you, you will be comfortable.” Nicholas and Lewis are both clerical figures, yet both speak in the language of secular humanistic self-help programs. Do you see a tension between religious belief and faith in modern psychology? Are you suggesting that this is a direction religion is taking in the modern world?
SH: There should be no tension between psychology and Christianity. They both deal with the soul and are both concerned with helping people to become more fully themselves and to lead the richest possible life. Unfortunately, some forms of Christianity and some forms of psychology hype up the differences and make them seem more opposed than they really are. There are indeed differences between the two disciplines, but there is no reason they should not be regarded as complementary paths to the truth. There are many Christian priests who are qualified psycho-therapists/counselors/psychologists and feel comfortable speaking both languages, just as Nicholas and Lewis do in the book. I do not think it’s a particularly new direction, since long before Freud, spiritual guides were demonstrating a profound understanding of the human psyche.
Q: You yourself have made a spiritual journey as a writer, from the earlier Gothic mysteries and family epics to the Starbridge series and then this book. What led you to become a writer in the beginning, and how do you feel your writing, and your relationship to it, has changed?
SH: I write because I enjoy it. I still write because I enjoy it. I think the creative high is the most powerful form of pleasure there is. Unfortunately, for every creative high there are hours and hours of hard slog, so one isn’t always in a state of ecstasy!
Q: What is the function of the epigraphs before each section and chapter?
SH: I thought the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were an interesting reference to the actual traditional Christian ministry of healing as it is practiced in the U.K. today—it deals with a whole range of modern malaises and sheds fascinating lights on the healing process and God’s role in it.
Q: Rosalind says that wonder workers “can never resist the temptation to ‘fix’ people,” and even Nicholas uses this term, “fix,” sometimes. Doesn’t this suggest a mechanistic view of healing?
SH: Rosalind was speaking caustically about a ministry of which she totally disapproved. Nicholas uses the term “fix” when he disapproves of his own drive to power. True honest healers don’t “fix” people. They heal by the grace of God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit. It’s the wonder workers who “fix” people to bolster their egos and satisfy their craving for power.
Q: The crisis in the book seems to be sparked by Nicholas and Rosalind’s estrangement, which is due to his devotion to his work at the church. Do you see a religious calling as fundamentally incompatible with most “normal” marriage commitments?
SH: A religious calling need be no more incompatible with marriage than any other career. But as with other professions, marriages can suffer if the parties don’t get the balance right. Some priests prefer not to marry, some priests do. It really all depends on what kind of person you are and how you want to organize your energy.
Q: Critics frequently refer to Trollope and C.S. Lewis when they discuss your work. Who are your strongest literary influences?
SH: Trollope. Iris Murdoch. Graham Greene. Raymond Chandler. Not C.S. Lewis.
Q: What do you want readers to get out of this novel?
SH: Pleasure. A novelist’s primary duty is to entertain. If readers also get enriched or enlightened or inspired or whatever as a by-product of the entertainment, that’s fine, but none of that will happen unless the book is first and foremost readable and entertaining.
Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion
This book is told from the point of view of four different characters. Do you think the author favors one character over another? If so, why and how? Which character do you feel the greatest connection with?
Alice is a Cordon Bleu chef with an eating disorder, which means that her greatest talent is linked to her greatest weakness. Do you see this as a theme with any of the other characters?
Alice’s aunt doesn’t seem to have given her a good sense of self-esteem, and yet Alice shows a very strong sense of duty in taking care of her. Do you see this as admirable, or as something that deprives her of her own personal growth? How would you act in a similar situation?
Rosalind refers to America enviously as “a culture where it was socially acceptable for angry people to scream with rage” as opposed to the stiff-upper-lip tradition of Britain. Do you think this is a fair characterization of either country? If so, how do these differences affect women’s lives in particular?
The friendship between Nicholas and Lewis seems more durable than any of the friendships between women in this book; for instance, between Rosalind and Francie. Why
do you think this is so?
Why do you think Francie makes untrue allegations against her husband? Do you see her as a victim or a perpetrator? Is she being manipulative, or do you think her actions are excusable because she is disturbed?
What is the significance of Nicholas’s toy bear? What does it mean for him as a child? What relevance does it have for how he treats people as an adult?
Nicholas and Lewis are healers who, when they are troubled, turn to their own spiritual directors, most notably in Nicholas’ session with Clare (this page–this page). Do Nicholas’s and Lewis’s methods of healing differ from those of their own spiritual directors? If so, how?
The novel differentiates between being an “honest Christian healer” and a “shady, manipulative wonder worker,” yet the title suggests that Nicholas might be more of the latter than the former. Do you think this is true? What are the differences you see between the two?
There is a lot of speculation about the reasons for Stacy’s death. Why do you think he commits suicide?
Who do you think is stronger—Alice or Rosalind? Why?
Traditionally, religious figures are expected to be above sexual temptation, but all of the men of St. Benet’s-by-the-Wall struggle with their sexuality. Lewis struggles with his celibacy; Stacy struggles with his sexual orientation; and Nicholas struggles with the attraction women have for him. What do you think the role of sexuality in a clergyman’s life should be?
Nicholas is portrayed as the highly charismatic center of a small religious community—a role that has come to be viewed very suspiciously these days. Overall, do you think Nicholas’s depiction in the book is more positive or negative?
What experiences have you had personally with highly charismatic figures, religious or otherwise? How did you react to them? Did you trust them as much as most people seem to trust Nicholas?
What do you think the reasons are for the breakup of Nicholas and Rosalind’s marriage? Do you think it was inevitable? Is there anything either of them could have done to prevent it?
Rosalind has kept important parts of her life secret from her husband, Nicholas, because she feels he isn’t really paying attention to her. Do you think she was right to do so?
The book shows Nicholas using his psychic abilities three times—the first with Alice and her aunt, the second when he hypnotizes his wife, and the third when he “exorcises” Francie. In each case, he oversteps what might be considered proper behavior, but with very different results. When and how are his uses of his psychic powers beneficial? When and how are they destructive? What does this say about the risks of charismatic healing? What are the ethical questions involved in this sort of work?
What role do religion and spirituality play in the lives of the various characters? How does their belief (or lack of it) in God affect their relationships with others?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SUSAN HOWATCH was born in 1940. She obtained a law degree from London University and then immigrated to the United States, where she lived for eleven years. During that time she wrote eight novels, including her international bestsellers, Penmarric and The Wheel of Fortune. In 1980 she returned to England, where she began to study Church history. The result was the six novels that make up the Starbridge series. In 1993 she made headlines by funding a lectureship in theology and natural science at Cambridge University.
Excerpts of reviews of Susan Howatch’s
The Wonder Worker
“Susan Howatch’s novel is a journey through the dark side of priestly egos, past the twists and turns of their needs and addictions to power.”
—Florida Times-Union
“What would life be without Nicholas Darrow, [his] sidekick, Lewis Hall, perennially unsettled Venetia Flaxton?… Happily, all three are back in The Wonder Worker.… Howatch is unsurpassed.”
—Newsday
“She does it again in The Wonder Worker.… By book’s end, you care so much about these lives.… One hopes that this is the start of yet another great series.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Combining romantic fiction with an exploration of both Christianity and the labyrinths of the human spirit seems an almost impossible task, but time and time again Howatch has pulled it off.… She walks right into both the bedroom and the inner sanctum of the soul.”
—Washington Post Book World
“The plot of The Wonder Worker has many twisting corridors and locked rooms. It is a testament to Howatch’s skill as a storyteller that she manages to hold her diverse cast together without losing her narrative’s drive.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“She has a special kind of courage to bring ministers and their calling to center stage, allowing them to err, to fail and to succeed.…”
—Detroit News/Free Press
“Susan Howatch is back on familiar turf … [a] novel of emotional, psychological and spiritual exploration.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“[A]dmirers … will be in for a surprise.… a busy but beautifully managed story. One admires her for the courage … perhaps she’s trying to be a wonder worker herself.”
—Booklist
“Here she darkens her pallette and addresses the dangerous side of ecclesiastical passions … the self-delusions to which priests are susceptible as the deal with their own humanity.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
The Wonder Worker Page 65