Fifth in the Starbridge series about ministers in the Church of England in the 20th century.

This book follows the early adulthood of Nick Darrow, an independent and confused young man, who is about to be ordained as an Anglican priest. Another book full of realistic and struggling people, set in the permissive 1960s. Powerful emotions, superb plotting, and satisfying conclusion.
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For some reason I thought I had read all of the books in this series until I picked up and realize I skipped over the fifth to the sixth. Going back to the fifth in the series has been refreshing. Mystical Paths covers more of Darrow's psychic powers with a twist of solving a mystery in both the physical as well as psychosocialspiritual realm as well. Howatch wonderfully integrates mystery, psychology, and spirituality. An interesting note is that a many characters that have lost their spirituality have fallen into addiction, many of whom are unaware of one or both. My only critique is she sometimes doesn't know when to end a novel as this one had the potential to end at least three different times.

top quotes:
you're living at odds with the man you have the potential to become.

The sad part was that everything I said was true but I was going about the healing in entirely the wrong way. As I was to be taught later, you can’t heal the sick by force-feeding them with ideas they’re not ready to accept; you can’t cure people by the simple imposition of your will. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that heals, not the power of a would-be wonder-worker trying to play God.

So many people fail to realise that the greatest journey one can ever take is the journey to the very centre of one’s being.”

Sin is when you turn away from God—or, in the other language, alienation occurs when the ego, that erratic, unreliable driver of the personality, temporarily turns aside from the great quest for integration with the inner self, the self that’s authentic, the self that contains the potential to be fully human, fully fulfilled and fully alive.

“No demon can withstand the power of Christ,” said my father, repeating the words he had used long ago, and what he meant was that no dissociated mind can withstand the integrating power of the Living God whose spark lies deep in the core of the unconscious mind and who can not only heal the shattered ego but unify the entire personality.

Sin/ alienation is psychological disease which if unhealed can lead to the living hell of lost hopes and blighted lives.

Science destroys only the false ideas about religion; the true ideas it complements and explores.)

Religion is about integration, about successfully bringing the selfish ego into line with the centre of the personality where God exists, as a divine spark, in every human being. Religion is about helping man to live in harmony with his true self and to become the person God’s designed him to be.”

That writer certainly realised that the quest for God is a quest for psychic integration, a wholeness which allows the ego to be subjugated, the true self to triumph and the entire personality, conscious and unconscious, to be open to and at one with God’s will and God’s love. ( )

The first line of Susan Howatch's 1992 novel "Mystical Paths" gives an inkling of what's in store: "I had just returned from an exorcism and was flinging some shirts into the washing-machine when my colleague entered the kitchen."

"Mystical Paths" is the fifth novel in her Church of England series, which explores 20th century issues confronting the church from the points of view of a small group of individuals. This novel is narrated by 25-year-old Nicholas Darrow, the son of Jonathan Darrow, the narrator of "Glamorous Powers." Nicholas looks into the mysterious death of Christian Aysgarth, the son of the man who is the focus of "Ultimate Prizes." In fact, the central figures from each of the other novels appears or is at least mentioned in this one. Each novel stands alone, yet each is connected with the others.

Christian had been acting very strangely before he drowned in a sailing accident. His widow wonders if he committed suicide, and Nicholas determines to look into the last months of Christian's life to determine if that is a possibility. Yet Nicholas' detective work is mostly a distraction from his own troubled life. He is about to be ordained as an Anglican priest and he is engaged to be married, yet his life is in turmoil.

The year is 1968, and Nicholas is very much member of his generation. That is to say, he is quite sexually active. He seems to have sex with every young woman he knows, except for the one he is engaged to marry. Like his father, Nicholas possesses psychic abilities, but he uses these gifts recklessly and gets into one mess after another. His investigation of Christian's death leads to still more disasters.

Nicholas Darrow may be the least likeable of all of the main characters in this series of novels. It is that "colleague" mentioned in that opening line who ultimately sets him straight. Meanwhile his investigation turns into quite an exciting mystery story.

"Mystical Paths" is a strange novel, and by no means the best in the series, but it makes rewarding reading just the same. ( )

This is perhaps my favorite of the series. Jon Darrow is too intimidating for me, but Nicholas is about right. He is, of course, off the rails (there is always on in every novel), and finds healing in a strange place. Good murder mystery as well. ( )

signed to Rolla Tryon with author's compliments