Cross and Poppy

Cross and Poppy is the first novel in the Village Tales series.

Synopsis
The Woolfonts parishes are in want of a new Rector: which means, of course, that the Duke of Taunton is in want of a new Rector (they are his livings, after all). Unfortunately, when His Grace, not yet succeeding his father in the dukedom, had been away at the wars, and his father was incapable, Lord Crispin, the second son, allowed the Diocese to fold the parishes into a team; and the Bishop is not inclined to reverse that decision.

The Duke, as always, gets his way; and presents a young widower from the West Midlands to the benefice. The Revd Noel Campion, a very High Churchman indeed, manages in short order to reconcile the Bishop and the Duke; to charm the parishes; and, rather to his embarrassment, to attract the affections of local schoolmaster Sher Mirza, nephew of the Duke’s old Eton and Oxford First XIs Vice-Captain the Nawab of Hubli.

Sher Mirza was found a place in the Woolfonts, far from his native Leeds, by the Duke, who was aware that his old right-hander’s nephew was recovering from alcoholism: an addiction fuelled by Sher’s inability to reconcile – amongst other things – his bisexuality and his religion, which he devoutly follows. Sher, coming to the Woolfonts, thus joined some other incomers whom His Grace had helped over the stile: notably Edmond Huskisson, the ex-Premier Leaguer turned gay activist, and celebrity chef Teddy Gates, now Edmond’s civil partner. ‘The Lads’ – Sher, Teddy, and Edmond – are rounded out by the irrepressible Brian ‘The Breener’ Maguire, the former England wicketkeeper and current TMS summariser.

As Fr Paddick plays himself in as Rector – with the usual deaths, christenings, and weddings, and the village fête and village concert – Sher confronts his past, and dreads the arrival of his family, whose love he believes himself to have forfeited: so much so that he panics sufficiently to ask out the Hon. Gwen Evans, daughter of a racing peer and owner of the local Stud.

A punch-up with moneyed yobs at Teddy’s five-star gastropub ensues; Sher finds that his parents always accepted him; some of Sher’s students plot against him; Fr Paddick’s ecclesiastical mentor dies; and there is nearly murder done in Woolfont Parva before the Duke and Fr Paddick restore peace and happiness to the parishes, and Sher and the new Rector agree that they’ll restrict themselves to the three of the four loves which their faiths and positions and consciences allow them.

As Remembrance Sunday marches past, amidst its poppies, The Breener and the Hon. Gwen decide to marry; the Duke unveils three new pipe-organs for the parish; justice awaits Sher’s tormentors; and all things are reconciled in peace and dignity.

Main characters introduced
Charles, Duke of Taunton; the Revd Noel Paddick; the Revd Matthew Pryor, Fr Paddick’s mentor; his wife Elizabeth; Dr Tim Campion, who becomes the new organist; his brother Paul Campion, the future curate; in retrospect, the late Pauline (Stamford) Paddick, Fr Paddick’s late wife; Archdeacon Nigel Philips; Dean Blanchard; the Bishop; Mr Kellow the publican; Lady Crispin, the Duke’s sister-in-law; the Duke’s nephews, Rupert and James, and his niece, Hetty; His Grace the Duke of Trowbridge, Charles’ cousin; Lord Swaffham, the Duke of Trowbridge’s civil partner; their sons Lord Corsham and Lord Fenton, who are one another’s civil partners; the Nawab of Hubli and his wife the Begum, Sher’s aunt; the Begum’s brother, Alam Mirza, and his wife Emily Mirza, Sher’s parents; Sher Mirza; Brian Maguire; Teddy Gates; Edmond Huskisson; the Hon. Gwen Evans; Sir Thomas Douty Bt; Caroline, Lady Douty; Paul Viney, His Grace’ butler at Wolfdown House – and fellow churchwarden; Rose James, the Rectory housekeeper; Mrs Viney (Viney’s aunt), housekeeper to His Grace at Wolfdown; Mrs Woolley, the Cook at Wolfdown; Thomas Yeates, first footman at Wolfdown; Sanger, the Duke’s gamekeeper – and his eternal opponent, George Mould, poacher in residence to the District; Street, the Duke’s head gardener; Ponton, the Duke’s driver; George Larence, the Duke’s riding-master (and retired Chief Whip to the Duke of Taunton’s Hunt); Lucy Stevens, Lady Crispin’s lady’s maid at the Dower House; Gregory Snook, the laziest and least pleasant sexton in any Church of England parish church; Betty Snook, jobbing gardener, his niece; Jeremy Trulock, the Headmaster at the Beechbourne Free School; Giles Trulock, the Headmaster’s brother – and the local vet; Sgt Alice Fay, Wilts Police; Lachlan Duff-Black, Police & Crime Commissioner, Wilts; Tommy Labourde, Chief Constable, Wilts Police; Mgr Tim Folan, Fr Paddick’s RC counterpart; Patricia Mullin, the Methodist / URC Local Preacher; Sir Bennett Salmon RA, the painter; ‘Sapper’ Seymour, Maths master at the Beechbourne Free School; Dr Emily Witchard, the local GP; Emily Lane, sub-manageress at Teddy’s gastropub; Meg Leaver, Teddy’s sous-chef; Tamsin Targett, waitress at Teddy’s gastropub; George Mullins the butcher; Leonard Penny the greengrocer; Thomas Bungay the fruiterer; Stephen Whatley the fishmonger; Miss Hart, of the sweetshop; Tom Ford, Managing Director of Ford’s of Beechbourne, bakers, and mayor of Beechbourne.

Setting(s)
The Woolfonts, Wilts; S Peter Wolverhampton.