Plot
Set near Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, St Die in Vosges (department), Vosges in France, the main protagonist - rich Harvey Gotham, lives in a small cottage on the grounds of an empty Chateau where he is writing a book about Job (biblical figure), Job. Periodically Harvey travels to Musée départemental d'Art ancien et contemporain, Epinal Museum to view ''Job Taunted by his Wife'' by Georges de La Tour, Job's wife looking like Effie. Harvey left his with Effie a year ago and disappeared. His brother-in-law, actor Edward Jansen has discovered him and visits him, hoping that Harvey will divorce Effie, to give her a generous alimony. Effie has had an illegitimate baby Clara which is now being looked after by her sister Ruth (Edward's wife). Ruth and Clara then also arrive and have persuaded Harvey to buy the chateau. The police then believe that Effie has now joined a terrorist organisation called the FLE (Fronte de la Liberation de l'Europe) as they suspect Harvey's involvement...Reception
* Kirkus Reviews remains unconvinced and concludes that the novel has "inconsistent characters and oddly static treatment of the Job theme: a slight, opaque morality play, only very occasionally brightened by Sparkian wit or style." *Anita Brookner in ''The New York Times'' praises the novel: "Mrs. Spark's characters, although frequently mad, are never dishonest. Indeed, they deliver many stunning truths with an impassive eye or a careless smile; fine literary manners are observed in the precision of their speech. Mrs. Spark, whose point of view is frequently inscrutable, shares with these characters a certain freedom from convention that sanctions their excursions into anarchy...a disturbing and exhilarating experience." *Jade Kettles writing in the ''Dundee University Review of the Arts'' says "Spark's concision and wit throughout her writing are shown prominently through the character of Harvey, whose dry sense of humour while being interrogated by the police and media makes for an amusing read. After Effie's death during a police raid, Harvey can finally finish his work on Job, as the existential crisis in his life has come to an end.'References
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