James Harpur: The Gospel of Gargoyle

A poet residing at the Irish College in Paris has a series of dreams in which he flies to the rooftop of Notre-Dame cathedral and encounters a gargoyle. But not any old gargoyle: this one can speak, and he claims to be a lost spirit seeking salvation through a series of incarnations. Gargoyle and Poet become unlikely companions, bound by a pact: in return for the poet’s visits and conversations on the great questions of life, Gargoyle promises to reveal the answer to the question obsessing Poet: who or what caused the great fire of Notre Dame in 2019.

‘Quite simply wonderful… different, exciting, thought-provoking, great dialogues, lovely language, deep meaning. I love it.’ John F. Deane

‘I galloped through as if pulled by a silver thread. I love the journey, the conversations, Gargoyle and his grumpiness and those storms over Paris.’ Alyson Hallett

‘I had to race through the last twenty pages just to see what happened between Poet and Gargoyle.’ Penelope Buckley