The Dog In The Chapel Paperback – 20 Feb. 2017

The Dog in the Chapel is full of curious incident, a good page turner with Anthony McDonald’s trademark facility for treating serious subjects with a light touch. Set in 1962, post-Wolfenden but pre-decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, this is in outline a fairly conventional Catholic prep school story, set in an environment seemingly designed to encourage homosexuality while at the same time preaching its repression. Most of the quirky staff turn out to be not quite what they seem, and their pupils endowed with a lot more sense than their mentors assume; each chapter ends with a diary entry from one of them, neatly giving us a view of the action from the pupil’s point of view. Into this slightly weird but all-to-believable scenario come our two youthful heroes, Tom and Christopher, as new teachers. They are scarcely older than their charges, with one just out of university and the other about to begin. Unsurprisingly their need for mutual support soon develops into a necessarily clandestine relationship, in which they discover friendly support outside the walls of school. So far, so fairly predictable. But this is 1962, and the boys are not just risking dismissal from their immediate, short-term employment but arrest. Things, they find on a half-term cross-Channel break, are different in France. The contrast is made tellingly but without commentary, while the difficulty of maintaining relationships, and working out where your heart really lies, are shown to be much the same whatever your native language.Needless to say, just when our heroes think that both their relationship and their situation are under control, they turn out not to be. The headmaster’s apocalyptic visions of the imminent triumph of the Church lead to unexpected consequences. The denouement hinges around the unveiling of a painting of Tom and Christopher as David and Jonathan, unveiling rather too clearly that love ‘more wonderful than the love of women’. Card houses start falling uncontrollably, in ways that are frequently hilarious but also desperately sad, with characters forced into places they do not wish to be by conventions, laws and doctrines they do not really believe in. But as in all Anthony’s work, they are not left in dark places; he writes of reconciliation, not retribution. And this is illustrated by extensive Catholic liturgical and biblical quotation throughout the story. This certainly provides verisimilitude, but also, subtly, a commentary on the action, and the characters’ development. And it is very unexpected, and thought-provoking, in what is on the surface a simple love story – if love can ever be simple… The ending could allow for a sequel: it would be good to learn more about these engaging and thoroughly believable characters.Suffused with hope, humour and understanding, Anthony McDonald’s writing is remarkable – witty, sexy, thoughtful, deeply human and often very moving. Long may it continue!

It's regrettable that this and the companion work are available only on Kindle so far. Its setting, the deeply hostile and homophobic 1960s in the still sadly hostile atmosphere of a Catholic school (the protagonists are both teachers). Their affair attracts not just disapproval, but in its day, possible prosecution and the loss of a career. This was Turing's fate only shortly before. Deceit and secrecy are essential. Otherwise, it's a natural romantic story (the term 'natural is used deliberately), well told and familiar in some respects to perhaps older readers in particular. It brings back those times, when all depended on secrecy, and in a now largely lost society. I look forward to more of the same from the author, whose seemingly personal experience perhaps adds a touch of realism.

I have just finished re-reading Anthony McDonald's 'The Dog in the Chapel', and as usual with a good book, I got a lot more from it on a second reading. 'The Dog in the Chapel' is the first of the Tom and Christopher trilogy and is set in the late Spring of 1962. This was five years before the Wolfenden Report of 1967 and a subsequent act of parliament which legalised gay sex between consenting adults over the age of 21, providing it was done in private. So - no 'cottaging' or cruising the local park !!!Like the younger principal character in 'The Dog in the Chapel' I was 18 in 1962 and I had just left school and was coming to terms with the fact that I wanted sex with other men, definitely not with women. It became apparent to me that I just had to get away from home where life with my parents would be impossible. I considered emigrating, but settled for the Merchant Navy as I had always loved the sea. And so I joined the Cunard Line as an assistant purser and where a fair proportion of my colleagues were gay.Anthony McDonald is one of the most accomplished writers I have come across in recent times. He has the capacity to describe his characters and you know what they look like by the end of the first chapter. 'The Dog in the Chapel' is set in a Roman Catholic boys' boarding prep. school in the south of England and the sometimes 'quirky' plot develops at a cracking pace with literally never a dull moment. How I wish someone, somewhere would actually paint Molly O'Deere's 'David and Jonathan'. (If you want to understand the reference - read the book !!!!)Anthony McDonald is also to be congratulated on his 100% accuracy when it comes to technical jargon. Parts of 'The Dog in the Chapel' take place on a yacht ( a 'sloop' ) in the English Channel. As someone who spent his working life at sea, and has done considerable small-boat sailing, I know that the parts of the boat and the weather conditions etc are described with total accuracy. I am fully aware that the freak wave encountered by the ORCA off Cap Gris Nez can easily occur with a wind over tide situation.'The Dog in the Chapel' is a great read, and will be all the more appreciated by people like me who remember those dark days of the early 1960s when it was illegal to be gay in England.Michael Tolliver

Quite a pleasant read though the characters are irritatingly thin. Only the 'Fathers' come alive off the page perhaps because they are based on experience. The leaden hand of Catholic intolerance and guilt oozes from every page, and is something from which one suspects the author has never fully escaped.A spade is never called a spade. Erections, for example, which will inevitably happen in a boarding school for boys, are coyly glossed over with what often seems like an apology. True eroticism, apart from one very brief and guilt-ridden scene, is banished to the side-lines. On the other hand, the lengthy and minutely detailed digressions into Catholic hymns and rituals are unnecessary and tedious. At one point we get almost a complete sermon verbatim. I confess that I skipped quite a bit. The boat trip towards the end is unique in being vivid.Even so, curiosity as to what the author imagines to happen next may lead me to read the next book in the series.

I read the three books in reverse but it seemed to make the reading even more enjoyable when I read the full accounts of what was referred to in the past. I have now read about 8 of A McDonald's books and I think he is a wonderful writer of gay fiction. The two protagonists, Tom and Christopher are very engaging and honorable guys and their life together, lived in England and France is fascinating and endlessly entertaining. I loved the details of Boulogne and looked up the places referred to in Google maps and realised that A.M has an intimate knowledge and love of the town. I now want to go to Boulogne and the South East of France since reading these books. The English and French guys are so well depicted I found myself wanting to meet them all. This is delightful light reading. I couldn't put the books down, they will appeal to gay guys of all ages.

like reading it and I bought the last one of the series.

This story and its two subsequent volumes were fascinating reading. It may have been a work of fiction but it was real enough in those days, in that era, of discrimination on the basis of religious dogma and secular practice. The story moved through numerous facets of male relationships, and I was happy to read a good ending for all. The current generation is seeing much relaxation of orthodox views yet in spite of laws engendered to ease and dispel discrimination, attitudes remain in many of the backgrounds of society and can be expressed most subtly, but they become visible nevertheless. I doubt, however, that we will ever see a full reconciliation on the subject of sex and religion because attitude does not always change with the law. It was a good read and enlightening even to an oldie as myself.

I've read lots of books, but never one quite like The Dog in the Chapel. It is very well written in third person, looking back from present day to a time fifty years earlier. The characters are nicely developed and I found the story intriguing.The plot takes the reader from England to France more than once, and it revolves around what I assume are Catholic teachings and doctrines. (I'm not Catholic.) McDonald uses many French phrases without translations. Because of the Catholic boarding school setting, Latin is also used without translation. While I'm sure it would have added to my reading enjoyment, to know exactly what was being said at those times, I still enjoyed the book.If the story synopsis interests you, I definitely recommend The Dog in the Chapel. I have downloaded book two in the series to see what comes next for Tom and Christopher, et al.

It could have been an episode in any one's life. It was believable.