Conclave: The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club thriller

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It shows in the lovely details he gives of the process, the location, the traditions, day-to-day life and dedication involved. Adeyemi the African with strong views on the role of women and gay marriage, a man who believes that “homosexuals should be sent to prison in this world and to hell in the next” may well enter the history books as the first black pope and the first from the dark continent.

High” describes churches use of a number of liturgical, ceremonial, and traditional practices, often referred to by both High and Low adherents as “the bells and smells” associated with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. He worries more that the church will fall out of favour with the modern world surrounding it, if those with more traditional notions were to take charge.

The elevator lurched to an abrupt halt but his stomach seemed to go on rising and he had to grip the metal handrail to steady himself. I then put off reading it – partly busy reading other stuff and partly from a slight sense of nervousness that not even Harris could pull off an interesting thriller about a papal election.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the procedure, the layout of the Vatican and its surroundings, and it helped that the POV character – Cardinal Lomelli - was very sympathetic.There are a few Father Ted moments, such as when the cardinals make their way to their accommodation for the conclave, dressed in their full regalia, pulling their wheelie suitcases behind them. This is one of those books that is a slow but effective burner, the writing is good and the plot entertaining. Robert Harris is more well-known for his other novels, such as Fatherland and Pompeii, but Conclave is the first book I've read from this author because the subject matter intrigued me a bit more than the others at this point. But my money makes it both of these with distinct overtones of political satire and commentary directed firmly against religion in general and, more particularly, of course, against Roman Catholicism and its bleak history of misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism, greed, its attachment to the notions of patriarchal power retention, and (what else?