Why Angels Fall

Compelling, powerful, magnificent' THE TIMES

In revealing encounters with monks, nuns, bishops and archbishops, in monasteries ancient and modern Victoria Clark measures the depth and width of the gulf now separating Europe's Orthodox East from the Catholic and Protestant West. Many of the differences in outlook, priorities and even values can be traced back to the 1054 schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople which created Europe's most durable fault-line. Travelling from Mount Athos to Istanbul and unravelling the tangled history, Victoria Clark demonstrates a rare sympathy with Eastern Orthodox Europe.

'I finished the book wanting to meet this intelligent, warm-hearted writer, and to follow her to some of the places she visited' LITERARY REVIEW

'A masterful synthesis of vivid and often humorous travel writing, a series of probing interviews and a pertinent historical context' THE TIMES

'Exhilarating . . . her book will be immensely helpful to anyone occasionally puzzled by events, especially politics, in Eastern Europe' FINANCIAL TIMES