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‘Nunc!’, which is being published by Constable, is a short, affectionate novel about the Prophet Simeon. Its chapters are lifted by cartoons from Jeremy Leasor.
For those of you who have not been to church for a while Simeon is the old chap in St Luke’s Gospel who waits and waits at the temple in Jerusalem on the instructions of an angel. The infant Jesus is brought to the temple by Joseph and Mary. Simeon takes the baby into his arms and breaks into the words of what we now call the Nunc Dimittis: ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ Having see Christ, Simeon knows he can die content. He is the first fatalist of the Christian age.
Jerusalem is ruled by rosemary-scented King Herod. By the bougainvillea in Deuteronomy Square, Reuben’s tea stall keeps customers sweet with lemon koloochehs. Onesimus the green-grocer piles his polished pears and pineapples in ziggurats, blind harpist Tabitha captivates bachelor Pharisees, Roman sentries doze; and the widower Simeon, beset by gout and befriended by a dog called Shlomo, watches the passing promenade. By day he dodges bossy superintendent Kedar. By starlit night he contemplates lost loves and the visits of a bad-tempered angel.
Quentin Letts’s delightful tales bring 1st century Jerusalem to quirky life and show how the prophet Simeon, whose Nunc Dimittis became one of the great canticles of Christendom, can help an ailing 21st century Englishman come to terms with his fate.Â
Reviews
‘An adorable book’
My novel ‘Nunc!’, illustrated by Jeremy Leasor, has received some ace reviews:
Ysenda Maxtone Graham in The Tablet called it ‘an enchanting short novel’, adding: ‘Letts’s imagining of Jerusalem in the reign of Herod is beguiling. The market stall-holders chat away merrily as they sell their almond drinks and peaches. Being Quentin Letts, he can’t resist nailing the annoyingness of bureaucrats and people in power. He can be as funny as P.G. Wodehouse, but there’s real poignancy running through this story set around the miracle of Christ’s birth.’
Lyle Dennen, in the Church Times:
‘Quentin Letts writes about character, not policy. In his new novel ‘Nunc!’ that skill is beautifully and charmingly employed. The central character is Simeon, who, we know from St Luke’s Gospel, held the Christ-child in his arms and sang the Nunc Dimittis. Simeon is surrounded by a group of kindly, eccentric characters who are more likely to be found in a Herefordshire pub than any historical, first-century Jerusalem square. That is the point of the novel. Beneath the warmth and amusing tales, Letts gives many profound insights into the nature of love, loss, and accepting death. He writes beautifully.’
A young reviewer in The Times spent more time reviewing my newspaper work than the novel but did consider the novel to be ‘heartfelt’. We’ll take that:
Max Davidson in the Daily Mail (home territory for me, admittedly):
‘Quirky doesn’t begin to describe Quentin Letts’s freewheeling novel. It opens in an English cathedral city then segues to the Jerusalem of King Herod, complete with potholes, stroppy donkeys, municipal improvement schemes pompous officials and faddish diets. You thought Westminster was a madhouse? Welcome to Deuteronomy Square! Centre-stage, bringing emotional depth to a rollicking satire that emits flashes of real brilliance, is the biblical figure of Simeon and the haunting Nunc Dimittis canticle.’
The Historical Novel Society: ‘The tone is not so much humorous as affectionate. The bits about Jesus are refreshingly devoid of the usual obligatory reverence (the magi following the star are ‘three blundering eejits’; the hiding of Joseph and Mary from Herod’s persecution is almost slapstick). Letts uses puns, emotive dialogue, juicy adjectives, colourful description, characterisation. The result is a flowering of creative expression. The characters are quirky and delicious. The settings are colourful, illuminated by almond blossoms, pistachio tress and bougainvillea. It would suit a young-adult readership. Non-Christians will love it, too. An adorable book, six stars; a real pleasure to read.’
And on Amazon, a reader called Corks83 (sounds convivial) headlined his or her review:
‘the best book I have read in a long, long time’ , saying: ‘I wish all books were as delightful as this. I have savoured every chapter and am very sad to have reached the end. It is the most beautifully written story with characters so vividly painted and some funny little nods to characters in our lives today… Moving and funny. One to be read again. And again. Balm for the soul.’
NUNC!: Amazon.co.uk: Letts, Quentin: 9781408722848: Books
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