The Gardens of the Dead

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For endless support, patience and guidance, I warmly thank: Ursula Mackenzie, Joanne Dickinson, Araminta Whitley, Pamela Dorman, Beena Kalmani, Austin Donohoe, Victoria Walker, Catherine Browne, Stephen Guise, Sr Jean-Baptiste Koetschet OSB, Fr David Middleton OSA. As ever, I remain gratefully indebted to the communities at Bec.

One of the principal characters is concerned with how evil might be undone. The seed for this question came from a talk given by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.

Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to Anne and our three children. They have helped me at every turn, sharing the peculiar weight of a second novel’s making.

NOTE

As I hope the Bunyan undertones make clear, much of the landscape in this book is imaginary or serves a symbolic purpose. I ask pardon from readers who note, for example, that there are no ‘Four Lodges’ at Hornchurch Marshes. The Gilbertines were an English religious order that did not survive the reformation. References in the text to ‘The Rule’ are to that of St Benedict.