Aelred's Sin [Paperback]

Lawrence Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Robert de la Borde comes from the Caribbean to England in the 1980's after hearing that his brother, Jean Marc, has died. In Bristol, his brother's journals prompt Robert to visit the Ashton Park Monastery, which Jean Marc entered in the 1960's as Brother Aelred. There Robert pieces together Jean Marc's life; his exuberance, his mental suffering, and his struggle to balance his sexual impulses with his love of God. As Robert is forced to question his inherited prejudices, what unfolds is a story about the triumph of compassion over brutality. Moving from present to past, from cruelty to sympathy, Aelred's Sin is a powerful new novel of erotic love, spiritual awakening and above all, reconciliation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The writing here is rich in detail...with myth and hypnotic description." San Francisco Review of Books

"A vividly original work." USA Today
"Lawrence Scott takes the reader behind monastery walls into the struggle of young men with the meaning of love and writes with passion about faith and homoeroticism --suffused with perfumed memories of the tropics and the heat of broken desires." Marina Warner

About the Author

Lawrence Scott was born in Trinidad and now lives in London, where he combines writing with teaching English.

Product Details

• Paperback: 445 pages
• Publisher: Allison & Busby LTD; 2nd edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074900374X
• ISBN-13: 978-0749003746
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,286,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Build An Altar to the Erotic, July 4, 2001

By 

IsolaBlue (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Aelred's Sin (Paperback)

An air of sadness permeates this novel about a young man from the Caribbean who joins a monastery in England. After Aelred's death, his brother makes the same journey in order to piece together clues about the life of a sibling he's barely known. Whether the author is writing about Aelred's life or the brother's search, there is a poignancy that bubbles through to the surface, a painful poignancy about human beings and the connections they try to make in life. It is these connections - and the varying degrees of depth in them - that really drive the novel. The lives of these men hinge on the clues of intimacy and how much knowledge - mental and physical - is allowed them.

Lawrence Scott's novel is a fine piece of homoeroticism of a kind that appeals to the human desire to KNOW another. His fine attention to the religious world and his well-done descriptions of monastic life in rural England ring with such truth that one immediately feels let in on a secret. As we read, we become voyeurs at the monastery. We feel as though we are watching invisibly in a place we shouldn't be, yet we can't tear ourselves away from it. This voyeurism on the part of the reader adds to the heightened eroticism of Scott's writing.

The downside of AELRED'S SIN might be its predictability. There are many scenes that we see coming too far in advance, but, considering the routine and ritual of religious orders, this predicatability may be forgiven. The other fine line that the author walks is the one between a literary love story and a soap opera. Since most love stories can move into the latter category quite quickly, we are sensitive to the ways in which the author tries to prevent this. Still, there are moments where we wish to be lifted above the maudlin. Gratefully, these moments are not many.

AELRED'S SIN will appeal to readers of any sexuality who appreciate the true erotic in literatue. It will appeal to those drawn and/or intrigued by cloistered religious orders, and also to those who enjoy reading about individuals living outside their native-born culture. It will leave us all with questions in regards to sexual vs. spiritual love.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense, disturbing, and soothing...a jewel, January 31, 2000

By 

Remy Lemoine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aelred's Sin (Paperback)

One of the best books I have read for a long time...intense, and soothing at the same time.

I could associate so much with Aelred/Jean-Marc's multiple struggles for authenticity, and his progession towards contentment that I found the book extremely intense, almost disturbing. I could also associate with his brother's struggles for comprehension, and acceptance; the other side of the coin or basically the same quest ?

I also found the book very soothing. The descriptions of the nature surrounding Jean-Marc's life are exquisite and balance very well the descriptions of the main character's wounds, leaving you personnaly touched, almost heeled.

Transcendent throughout this book, love forces the characters to evolve, to change, to see. It allowed them to accept, to breath, to forgive, to live, and to eventually die, in peace with themselves and with the others.

Aelred's Sin left me in peace with myself as well.

Enjoy !

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and intriguing, January 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Aelred's Sin (Paperback)

An excellent setting. It explores the love between 2 men who have chosen a celibate life in a monastery. But it slowly reveals the past life of Jean-Marc (Brother Alered), his conflict and his adoration of Brother Dominic. There are 2 time settings: Aelred's arrival at the abbey, and 20 years later, his brother trying to find out why he died. There are some great emotive descriptions, you feel for Aelred, and you are constantly dismayed to know that he has died an unfair death. The author drip feeds the story, and you always want to know more. Compulsive reading. The author manages to convey feelings very well - he obviously has a passion about the subject matter but, at times, I found his description of some of the more intense emotions a little difficult to decipher.