Herbert (James) Shrine

London, New English Library, 1983.

First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

Inscribed intriguingly by the author, ‘To David / See you on the day! / Jim Herbert’, indicative perhaps of a close connection with the recipient. The inscription is also dated by the author, ’27 Jan ’83 [?]8:40′, suggesting close to point of publication, marking it out from the more often found examples with later signatures or inscriptions.

In this work, Herbert takes on Catholicism: Alice Pagett, a deaf-mute child, is suddenly cured beneath an oak tree behind her village church, claims visions of the Virgin, and begins performing miracle cures — whereupon the village becomes an English Lourdes, complete with pilgrims, press circus, and the slowly dawning realisation that whatever is working through Alice is neither immaculate nor benign.