Ooooooohhhhh!
Now that's going to cause a stir!
In Conclave, we find ourselves deeply
embroiled in a quest for power, the ultimate power, the Pontiff.
For over a billion men women and children
around the word, the Pope is their vessel, their voice, their most direct
connection to God, and deep down, men, cardinals from around the world, sin
with ambition as they covert that ultimate accolade.
Set entirely within the walls of Vatican
City and the glorious Sistine chapel, (I have had the honour of having sat
beneath Michelangelo's famous ceiling and gazed in wonder at the towering
fresco that is The Last Judgement), this novel took me back there and some.
The Pope is dead: one hundred and eighteen
cardinals from all across the globe descend on Vatican City, and must decide
who amongst them, is a worthy successor.
Some relish that prospect, some live in
hope; some have a very realistic chance, whilst others will use underhanded
ways to further their lust for top.
Told over the few days and the eight
ballots it takes for those cardinals to search their souls, reach out to their
God and find their new Pontiff, Robert Harris manages to add a great deal of
intrigue to this ancient ritual.
Jacopo Lomeli, is the Dean of the college
of cardinals and is the calm, pious benchmark figure, that some will later
rally to. There's Adeyemi, an African with a big booming voice, but with a dark
secret in his past. Tremblay, who has reputedly been discharged by the
outgoing Pope, stripped of all of his titles, but for much of the book is a
front runner. Will his secret be discovered in time?
Tedesco, another front runner, but with
maybe too much ambition, Bellini, an Italian and a favourite of the Deans,
and there's Benitez, there most recent addition, a cardinal from Baghdad of all
places, a cardinal that no-one except the recently deceased Pope, knew existed!
Deliciously researches, as usual, and
eloquently narrated, Robert Harris's latest book is right up there with his
best. It reads like historic fiction, but suffers nothing for it.
A solid four stars then; not quite as good
as, An Office and a Spy, but still very good all the same.
