The Rector of St. Mark's

A clergyman in love is a dangerous thing. When Arthur Leighton finishes his sermon and turns his thoughts to Anna Ruthven, he knows he should be thinking of higher matters. But his heart refuses to obey. Anna belongs to his parish, and she belongs to God first. That's what a good rector believes. Then comes a letter: Thornton Hastings, wealthy and assured, intends to court Anna this summer. Arthur's carefully constructed world fractures. He has no wealth, no status, only his calling and the quiet hope that Anna might love him back. As summer arrives, the contest begins: prayers against pounds, devotion against desperation. Holmes writes with sharp insight into what it meant to be a man of faith who could not stop wanting. The novel captures the raw Victorian tension between sacred duty and human desire, between the man of God and the man who simply wants.