««Konklave» , Robert Harris

For reasons unknown to me, many websites list Conclave in the ‘Cool Detective’ category. This may mislead readers, because the novel only fits one word from that definition. Conclave is indeed cool. It is undoubtedly the best work I have read in the new year. It is a novel that helped me overcome two crises at once: a reading crisis and a crisis of faith.

ROBERT HARRIS is the author of nine best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, England, with his wife, Gill Hornby.

Many book lovers experience a reading crisis. It is a state where you read nothing but headlines on social media. When you have to force yourself to get through every percentage of the book on your e-reader. With Harris's novel, it's the opposite: a slight tremor in your fingertips, an irrepressible desire to read, read and read, accompanied by a strange fear that the book will end, that this magical feeling will disappear. A fear of the emptiness that will inevitably surround the reader after they reach the last word of the novel. It's a real stroke of luck to come across a book like this at a time of reading crisis — and what can I say, I'm lucky.

A crisis of faith is a very common phenomenon among Christians. I will not go into personal details, but I will note that The Conclave allowed me to see the Catholic Church in the light that once attracted me to it. Volumes could be written about the contemporary problems facing the Church. Harris does not delve into them, but he mentions almost every one.

The contrast between the supporters of liberalisation and the reactionaries is masterfully portrayed, without exaggeration. This is perhaps the main success of the novel: as you read, you see the cardinals as ordinary people, the kind you meet all the time, with their vices and virtues. This liveliness allows you to believe in what is happening in the novel, to believe in every last detail, right down to the feeling of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

However, I have not mentioned the plot of the novel. The fact is that it cannot be summarised. Or rather, the author himself has summarised it in the title of the novel: ‘The Conclave’. One hundred and eighteen cardinals elect a new Pope. Any addition would be superfluous — after reading the novel, you will understand everything yourself. I repeat, there is nothing familiar to the detective reader. After all, the election of the Pontiff is a detective story in itself.

You can buy this book at Amazon

This article was sponsored by Mike Chapman