War in Heaven, A Novel

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 256 pages
• Published by: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. January 1, 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0802812198
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0802812193
• Book Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 ounces

Product Review
"The telephone was ringing wildly," begins Charles Williams's novel War in Heaven, "but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse." From this abrupt--and darkly humorous--start, Williams takes us on a 20th-century version of the Grail quest, with an Archdeacon, a Duke, and an editor playing the old Arthurian roles. Throughout, Williams reminds us that these legends were above all about divine, not just human, romance. While filled with marvels and black magic, the novel also suggests that the devil just might be what the face of God looks like to those who have sought destruction, just as that face is love to those who have sought love. The choice, Williams affirms, is always ours. --Doug Thorpe

Product Description
Here Williams gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the Search for the Holy Grail. looking at the distinction betwen magic and religion, War in Heaven is an eerily disturbing book, one that graphically portays a metaphysical journey through the shadowy crevices of the human mind.

Reader Reviews
Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these...Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (John 1:50-51) "War in Heaven," much like the story of humanity, is all about the invasion of the supernatural--the divine and the demonic--into the mundane settings of everyday life. Charles Williams has a keen sense of what Thoreau called the "lives of quiet desperation" that most people live. The characters in "War in Heaven" are plagued by everyday demons long before they encounter any exceptional ones...Williams takes these lives, and in a most un-quiet way...builds an entrancing story--one that shakes the reader to the core. This is one of the scariest books I've read in a long while. The presence of evil is palpably felt in the antagonist of the book...a very creepy kind of evil...not your run of the mill stuff. I don't want to spoil the plot (not to mention that the plot is a little hard to describe-owing to the fact that so much of what is import in this book has little to do with story line--so much of it is "in the moment.") So all I will say here is that the conclusion is well worth the "dry spots" one finds in the prose. It is one of the most beautifully written scenes I have ever come across in English Literature. I recommend this book...but not to the faint of heart.