Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Atwelle Confession
    The Atwelle Confession
    The Atwelle Confession
    Ebook315 pages4 hours

    The Atwelle Confession

    By Joel Gordonson

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    After discovering rare gargoyles mysteriously positioned inside an ancient church being restored in the small English town of Atwelle, the architect Don Whitby and a young research historian Margeaux Wood realize that the gargoyles are predicting the bizarre murders that are occurring in the town. Five hundred years earlier when the church is being built, two powerful families in Atwelle are contesting control of the region in the delicate backdrop of King Henry VIII’s dispute with the Pope over the King’s divorce. In the middle of these conflicts, the same bizarre murders are being committed in the town. Two stories of identical macabre murders five hundred years apart - One surprising solution in the mystery of the gargoyles and the Atwelle Confession.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSelectBooks
    Release dateSep 19, 2017
    ISBN9781590794555
    The Atwelle Confession
    Author

    Joel Gordonson

    Joel Gordonson, before becoming a novelist, has had a successful career as an international attorney. With law degrees in the United States and from the University of Cambridge, he has published scholarly works in legal publications while writing fiction on the side. In addition to writing, he has done extensive public speaking including decades of appellate arguments, seminars, speeches, and media appearances. "Home" is divided between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California.

    Related to The Atwelle Confession

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The 1745 Rising reassessed

      Oct 8, 2022

      Explore a selection of digital history guides in the History Scotland store: https://scot.sh/hsdownload Reminiscences of a Jacobite: The Untold Story of the Rising of 1745 Michael Nevin Birlinn Ltd (2020) pp. 288 Hardback, £25.00; paperback, N/A;

      7 min read

    • Article

      Your LETTERS

      Sep 9, 2022

      Your LETTERS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Faith Healing

      Jun 19, 2023

      Faith Healing
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hail St Mary's, Full Of Grace

      Nov 15, 2023

      Growing old, one loses one's capacity to be shocked. But lately I have been shocked by the senior clergy in our neck of the woods. Somers Town is just north of the British Library and Euston Station. It has always been a deprived neighbourhood. It wa

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Dec 28, 2021

      In Tracy Borman’s feature on Princess Charlotte of Wales, she refers to the whole of the kingdom going into deep mourning for several weeks after the death of the princess. Indeed, the impact was felt as far away as the small parish of Llanfihangel A

      3 min read

    • Article

      Readers' Letters

      Jul 26, 2023

      SIR: I have just celebrated my 80th birthday and been much acclaimed by my family and friends. Even the government has got in on the act, as it has increased my state pension by 25p a week. Unfortunately, my village shop has hardly anything to offer

      5 min read

    • Article

      Making Their Mark

      Nov 25, 2021

      Making Their Mark
      6 min read

    • Article

      RECOMMENDED READ: High Praise

      May 16, 2023

      AT SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL in London, you can hear the same bells that Shakespeare paid for to be rung at his brother’s funeral. In the Yorkshire village of North Grimston, 21st-century children are baptised in the same font as those of a thousand years

      3 min read

    • Article

      Your LETTERS

      Sep 11, 2020

      I was inspired to write in to you to encourage beginners to family history always, always, always to look at original documents. I have been looking back at my branch of the Dunn family in Bermondsey, who seemed to have the habit of calling their off

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Will For A Christian Burial

      Feb 27, 2024

      The Will For A Christian Burial
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book of Uncommon Prayer

      May 3, 2023

      Book of Uncommon Prayer
      3 min read

    • Article

      Treasure-houses Of The Nation

      Mar 30, 2023

      MY CHURCH TURNS 900 this month. Nine hundred years is a lot. You feel the transience of your time very strongly when your institution celebrates its nonacentennial. Even my long-reigning predecessor, Rector Abbiss, who finished his 65-year incumbency

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Coalition Of Interest

      Dec 14, 2022

      A Coalition Of Interest
      4 min read

    • Article

      Saint Cuthbert’s Incorruptible Body

      Sep 8, 2020

      In the year of our Lord 687, in cause of an early, wet spring, the body of Saint Cuthbert was laid in the ground to rest. On the tomb were figured angels and seraphim of plain but wonderful design. And among these flitted cherubs, like apricots set i

      19 min read

    • Article

      Made With Love

      Dec 13, 2023

      Made With Love
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 1, 2023

      Send your letters to editor@joymag.co.za Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for

      7 min read

    • Article

      Death Without Ceremony

      May 5, 2020

      Death Without Ceremony
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Sacred And The Profane

      Mar 28, 2024

      The Sacred And The Profane
      3 min read

    • Article

      Paddling Through History

      Jun 15, 2023

      Paddling to DeCourcy Island is at the top of my summer activities wish list. The Southern Gulf Island region is steeped in thousands of years of culture and history for the Snuneymuxw, Stz’uminus, Lyackson, Halalt, and Penelakut First Nations. DeCour

      9 min read

    • Article

      Elegy To An Old Friend

      Aug 10, 2022

      Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk In the old church tower Hangs the bell—An old friend that seems to know All our joy and all our woe; It is glad when we are wed, It is

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Roman Roots Of The English Church

      Apr 1, 2022

      Going to Church in Medieval England Nicholas Orme (Yale University Press, £20) The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History James G. Clark (Yale University Press, £25) THE FALLOUT OVER THE CHURCH of England’s response to Covid-19 is still with u

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Time To Give With Love

      Dec 14, 2022

      CHRISTMAS is one way that we measure the passage of time. It’s a punctuation moment in the year and we find ourselves remembering that it’s the first Christmas in this house or that it was the last Christmas with her or him. Nostalgia plays a large p

      3 min read

    • Article

      Coleridge Comes Home

      Oct 19, 2022

      On 21st October, a statue of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) will be unveiled, 250 years to the day since his birth in 1772. It will stand in the local church in his small, thriving home town: Ottery St Mary, tucked away in a pocket of countrysid

      3 min read

    • Article

      Of British History, Britten And Puffins

      Jul 21, 2021

      AS a child, I was given a charming book called They Lived Like This in Chaucer’s England. Its drawings of minstrels, pilgrims, dogs and merry-making ignited a spark of fascination for the daily lives of people in the Middle Ages. Therefore, I devoure

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Nameless Grave

      Apr 20, 2023

      Be sure your sin will find you out. It sounds like a warning, a threat of fire and brimstone. It’s a fitting epitaph for the so-called ‘Sinner’s Grave’. In the corner of a quaint churchyard, deep in the Lincolnshire countryside, sits one of the most

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Atwelle Confession

    3/5

    7 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Confession: I chose this novel because there is a gargoyle on the cover. I am a sucker for gargoyles. Let me live inside our beloved Notre Dame, in the Cologne Cathedral, in St. Vitus in Prague with the scariest gargoyles I’ve ever seen (and honourable mention the darkly grotesque and utterly ugly gargoyles in the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona that are truly scary to look at) and I'm happy, I feel at home. When I read the blurb though, I admit I had some suspicions, because the same old "two academics make a groundbreaking discovery and find the time to fall in love, while we move back and forth in time" can be quite boring. And yet, I thought ‘let’s give it a try, you never know…’ However, this book was no exception, sadly...

      The story is divided between the present time and 1532, during the turbulent era of Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the monasteries. Two academics are on a mission to restore a church in Atwelle, a small English town, where they find a series of gargoyles that seem to be connected to a series of murders. It sounds interesting, and it really is, but there were so many problems with the unfolding of the story, in my opinion, and I now consider this novel a great disappointment.

      Although the writer tries to create a dark atmosphere, with the tall, naked trees and the cold in the air, and the stormy nights, there were many problems that took over the story quickly. The dialogue is problematic and at times, unnatural, frightfully wooden and a bit silly. For example, a character asks a father about his children and he replies "I've lost count of how many they are." I cannot imagine someone replying in such a way,unless he has more illegitimate children than Robert Baratheon, and here this wasn't the case. This is just one example of many strange quotations that didn't make much sense. In addition, the way the writer communicates the thoughts of the characters is confusing and a bit tacky. Think of contemporary soliloquies with uninspired humor. As you can tell, the interactions were pretty much and many times disappointing. I think the writer has very little idea of the daily speech during the times of Henry VIII. E.g. "There traditionally are..." "I can explain it entirely.", "...let's just say.." Yes, this is modern speech, nothing to do with the 16th century. My eyes are bleeding....The cherry on top were all the syntactical mistakes, the spelling and punctuation problems, so at times, this ARC was almost unreadable.

      The characters are equally problematic. I was bothered by Margeaux's almost racist behaviour towards a student who favours the Gothic style of clothing. She seems superficial and too naive to occupy the seat of a professor. Don is too forward, too flirty for a man who calls himself an academic. He seems almost condescending towards Margeaux, just because she's good looking and doesn't seem to take her seriously. "Now you're sounding like an academic." Seriously? He doesn't sound like an academic himself, if I may say so. When discussing a gargoyle figure, Don says the exact following words: "Maybe the architect or the sculptor just thought this would be really cool." If this is the language of an academic, I am right in having lost all faith in humanity.

      So, what to do when the writing is mediocre at best, the characters irritate you to no end, and the story is interesting but goes to waste due to a multitude of issues? The wisest choice is to abandon it altogether. Since this was an ARC, I decided to persevere. It's a pity because the story had some potential, but, in my opinion, the execution was terrible...I don't know about Mystery, but Historical Fiction and dialogue in general are certainly not the author's great strengths...I read that he wrote a book about the coming of age of Jesus. I dread to think the dialogue in that one...I am sorry but no...

      Many thanks to SelectBooks and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      There’s something odd about St. Clements church in Atwelle, Cambridge researcher Margeaux Wood can feel it. When odd gargoyles are found carved into the eaves of the church during its restoration, her hunch seems to be confirmed. Teaming up with Don Whiby, the architect in charge of the restorations, Margeaux sets out to uncover the story behind the unique carvings. But then there is a murder, and soon another, and the pattern of the murders seems to echo the mysterious carvings in the eves. Furthermore, these murders seem to echo similar crimes committed during the reign of Henry VIII . . .I really liked the concept of this book. The interplay between Tudor England and modern times was well done. Gordonson gives the reader a wealth of historical detail to work with, and I found the balancing act played by both church officials and highly placed citizenry during Henry VIII’s conflict with the Vatican to be truly fascinating. The mystery itself is original and interesting.That being said, I found the execution of the book to be somewhat wanting. The characters of Margeaux and Don, and others central to the plot, feel a bit unfinished. There is little to the characters beyond the immediate needs of the story, nothing about wants, desires, or dreams beyond the gargoyles in the church. Additionally, the antagonists seem to have little motivation for being such. They are acting to foil or to harm our protagonists, yes, but why?There are some nicely suspenseful scenes in this book, with a good creep factor to boot. But I did find that several opportunities for suspense were passed by, possibly to increase the pace of the book. The plot does move quickly, but occasionally feels like it’s stampeding along, sacrificing plot and character development in the process.I guess my overall impression is one of haste. The plot gallops along, leaving us with quick glimpses of something fascinating. Taking the time to give the reader a bit more to work with, to flesh out the characters, the world they live in, and the (really quite interesting) central mystery would have given this book real punch.In all, this is a fantastic idea, with a great amount of attention paid to historical detail. Gordonson is certainly able to craft a compelling story. But I feel that as written, we are seeing only the bare bones of a great story.An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

    Book preview

    The Atwelle Confession - Joel Gordonson

    '3^book_preview_excerpt.html\Ku cvNթVtT%0HIT4H5"4ux'Z/"'R5 D}w^}+|r?ݏߥ_~1ׯ|_׫_;ξowY5u}MN#VZ*~Sc]z:1-g)ߌk}xw;}tqmjp "GH;2=жUk5&EM˯Iɿ90Cb >]$)~tPyutqe)'J L'ZWuM3id*q>CCksC\7~v!hYw9xn> "a3=Urj]{qY?|m74 e33~F`nչ+E׉(<{|;KO(B~vy×쩧!!+dz|4^PnmPÑVѹSXЉʅpF[즻wxb'= t6wr!H;cJ;Z.׾~ K㲽h\޵#]Gdd|~W~IFi d1.nz1'j8>K;_t7,Cd!K?Je<ob5Gv:ӗHJZR |q;!7yЗtdsc9'6S_55z L#k}7!6zΰOs1tP))7V?[-S1(T`ZgWL٭*m{Dгz4;6v$?Sz:B~PF7Va8pT3hx{- Jj!IP\F@z ؇ $Q 1ħKH2#av32GP ,FTi}D[+֣ ,~L41"GY#OhGws0[)'w590^:> xx7:{~Bϋ?KKHh3p .(m [Ɏ-; umhѤO̤Bsܴ;)Z2)XrasqhpXf؅LρY#PtF]aF{`$۝CV^?naT R'/E*#6jf!"I_9J#n .[',sNPJA(i >{q%؃cD *Ej }B!2@;Vz'2'q?[,~ho ;nǃ*٬WG3*_3 ȴyޙܥɍ ex,ǀ8nJ^`I9ec"]`cg]80:;YDpщ=8~չx{Y~r1p]IonM턓q]$b` ` c@jv0jMKs-HtOI#zr`?\D@aoFM,!<)dbuH&j*!f}Bt,"C\V8w2k'awp7\{1(x;&4+ˣX6 b!b]. 5Duq&=ԅkƢN9H2yG6 ȋt֒P4z:'XQ?`m.oI,"7% (N#f,qjT,fa蜙 >Zc7(Dl,'DhUVÎq(ѳPEa8Oyh/*FPMS=(GIt3aT#QU6TOe:P .*_lz_{yǘ,>HSb8I[ן]'NS`2  g Dg+k&|[#ޫ#+U{/bc Xms A"/rFFG-HB"V_&a< бb:\A臙Cr94GSƦ̇'Y& l?{P<O6v 3 CĺV{&%yZb=0p48%~4UDhTnYXJ?`%lvP`*XLh%egF hZ>l2[,<,[hZkZpW'h6REFobD1=n.K5$FX*0\-5sac}tjWN:F%gb#1'v7ӫEDbJH/UB|dmP1Y7YUxSsp]i&â"1f&*mSP݊UPOZhO̎FQgtKT.l>1̓EuyƂSԱ:6Y.YM=Uٴ)Hw{NEA. 7YBCSk'|ߚz)Z(抌, sESnm`w)a˞Vy+D5DRe0pE%}klNԐ"1uA$KY^0e~)"'MPX_"V$孠,:;ߏKAOaF$X܉4ͥ]mzA5_/o{P8 G6\B6q(3u Ia 烚y耖'o3ō 0!27'f闲>z/ڃ-2ou.sCD-Ҧ_M b)Xn )7%yj#Nb\)lRb4V@بzNn+<%UHdBoR|m) }!Ƃ36p:}*,yY [ԩ۴z3) XP {.^AS`Huz{ WO\<`UݛuGHЀo`FKg69j˩K??f7wh\]/6- ,l7eOFMe\ N szf5}6CbF 1%/gg]/7*zζ1BfϝS93\󸴕<v$21.XJyoFS+ 6LS R1fzCD)6 ~a 8CXW'M 0-|)|dOʨM rKp<6c4#/qpUًD=CjZ8yd3߄%ݒBnuj6n ܩV[gxC˘lSJ4U&-K#G!6$91_8M'Gţ,}\Z\6)\|:ldHtue"H~A"ug`sy!st"Du K{5gXraDɇLdԒ㑌{1< ՙ1<KT)b1cv"%[y,w'6А|~/B^x G2Vo^ft͇SQNEz2 CoJ:yT(bUQ-@-"؎(tvs$GR1Rf9I+#D1h\/cŹ(Rәj/|32 #Pל'Rc&xV9 GmN|X['Z՜k2w֭ۜ1V]oG+j+(kRYyFиHE`N8xoMg3ؾjuX*SZ8>Pش(YSwʗ+cj>94ט<dUkCMW)*?fjUd8QOe`,f*ӁM/i5bƻË:l55i5;WI47 ؐފ~ZrK+@z$s+"ZQת`eF= x BzWA އEeaeCPL [H#r!pl5k p֨| 6}A *c!v*g.sHWC$XI2txFF9IMycs貽QAeZ >)]kd0/ qn9?Σ|G@ vrm~H&җhxn]dpʵI, mrWu$uRo&Nf'oVIVLzGlwKmun]"6:c$LqI~TO6eM(0Ww'i4 fKf4#KSuLExNpu #-1IL1ɠ\PȓCX45g<@ &9.vFTփ9܎I67BBw77E}Ffo^-+.cyꑍUژr|K]qrKvHssRC#߇7jFZybyxj@/ !+" " ]utiy'xQRU`NsF k.+ 蒙GUQ ±賑YOtI&Nm٦Q_w6? #kE9X"MEpԚ}t}[C`"K *oY9@b)RU#i>R8%ۭ! ZZ?);e6Tڰ9izDvCoXZ759vvB%6% w. $*Q?- }-\_^Kvلe\K(~VpEBGW<>5mb7;K7{ߜJ8#TCw 8>ob 6i֥{"D: &5ү5\͉˜14fjjAto]`^^.qgև7=M羿Z_o.٬Tq>ߋ>jj ׺ xZIbVSCjU*aӀ2P*`#GObRnwX WއZh˔\~p͆Խxiۉ&eN3-ꋷyXItZ2ɎSQ'2.Jo:ݪ[5tcJpF5ahrcB`&U\i"=jxٸzWM8M/dH[Z/q Y cSʨ#= ɌPhz&Two)7SʤE4ə"b 9+QE<׽WTp.('JÖΣ>lV.{`1oǠ)ӕ%Q){wՐ~f*x?"e{#f}y!˕IZ{=3$u0V h`\8ed:b0/cT}kb5^Mo:wڔʓ>|7Li\NjԵlƑًt;/_>E2^ڰ|fjL^ͫrq[fG8C%x"/nmps|Uϡ}>&0i25-'f%a ~Ъ!BB=m/9N (fsxz:UQnk)+Ffx*47 e=, ͠4ɤHR-o]c )M`N5csҜ &ZSp4Gu&I$|1tA!I=w˳0T.ݪǂ' jl߾b3&1버pbs:ןY\\,Erz0.lk CI)N?%g[ n3_;[:>7HN.EE;a^F$/%׽lbCzu+NY ACr^K9pρC7T_(cˤy7 5^8J[h_m] s!qs]nw7Y7`5˖(ێ[ChG3[ :05dԍ-T5~K_sV(O<ƀ9Dy1sY'?9͕Dn?NQGԛR3}}O|i4?ͽ!2$CMuUGv#$Fsy1 Jr;p>g] gfM6sgw/^[|4DДg/6pLXQ6PۙkŽޒu$][M"j@tۚ(ַX.+5=rGwI5,ГFeŻ)R=!3#*_u!Wq [8?Ns[Bγ^$~S?QN>Pn3R*j0}uERX+y^+/Hb~=)98X:'i"Le&1aZWa !St-X<.TB򥈇٧~GkXzH@N/Y
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1