It is hard to know
what to say about a work already so admired, so praised, so well-known, and one which
is such an utterly conventional choice of favourite reading for an English
Catholic conservative Oxonian. But I’ll try. It is undoubtedly, as Waugh intended, a superb literary
exploration of the operation of divine grace: Father Brown’s
“twitch upon the thread” brings home first Sebastian, then Lord Marchmain, Cara
(seemingly), Julia and Charles, and even some of the soldiers whom Charles’
brother officer is surprised to see in the re-opened chapel. It is rich with
metaphor and emotional depth.
