![]() ![]() Gideon's sly unreliability is cloaked by Robertson's mastery of language and command of the elements of fiction the combination is addictive and captivating. For another interview with James Robertson and notes on The Testament of Gideon Mack for reading groups visit The VP Book Club. Gideon's struggle to find meaning in his experience leads to his undoing. The Testament of Gideon Mack published by Hamish Hamilton, is available from all good bookstores in the real world and online. His survival is miraculous, but his account of what happened is scandalous: he was saved by the devil. ![]() But he appears downstream, only slightly injured, three days later. ![]() A conflicted Gideon, while walking with another minister, falls into a gorge and is presumed dead. After his wife dies in a traffic accident, Gideon consummates a long-held obsession with old friend Elsie, whose husband, John, is also a longtime friend. Raised by a harsh minister father, Gideon abandons faith at an early age, but later discovers it's possible to "be a Christian without involving Christ very much" and secures the pulpit at a small coastal church where he proves to be a gifted preacher. ![]() A brief foreword claims the book is an autobiography penned by Gideon Mack, a Church of Scotland minister who, after allegedly encountering the devil, becomes a pariah and madman before disappearing. Robertson offers in his absorbing American debut (two novels have been published in the U.K.) the cleverly framed autobiography of a Scottish minister who confronts the devil. ![]()
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