Glamorous Powers by Susan Howatch

Glamorous Powers is the 2nd novel in the Starbridge series...It is set during World War II, and the narrator is Jon Darrow, an Anglo Catholic priest who has counselled Charles Ashworth during his breakdown. Jon has a mystical streak. He has had visions, and concentrates on the supernatural and paranormal side of religion. At the start of the novel, he is the Abbot of one of the houses of the Fordite monks. He was married as a young priest, and had 2 children, Ruth and Martin. He is now 60, and has just lost his mentor, the arrogant Fr Cuthbert Darcy. Soon after Darcy's death Jon has a vision which makes him believe that God wants him to give up his monk's life and become a priest in the world again. He has to go to London to discuss the vision. There he sees the head of the order, Fr Francis Ingram, who has been a rival of his for many years, with both of them vying for senior posts. Francis is upper class and Jon who comes from a humble background, (his father was a schoolteacher and his mother was a parlourmaid) has a chip on his shoulder about his fellow monk's superiority in class.. Francis talks to him about his past and his religious life. Jon admits, reluctantly, that his marriage was not a happy one. He married largely to have a permitted sex life. Not having much money, he had to settle for a girl from a humble background, whose father kept a small shop. Betty was a rather silly woman and she and Jon did not get on well. She died young. Jon waited until his children were grown up and then went into the Fordite monastery. He and his children don't get on well. Martin is homosexual and has a drink problem. He became an actor, and he and Jon rarely meet. After some in depth conversations Francis tells Jon that he thinks the vision is indeed a sign that he's meant to leave the order. Jon visits Ruth, his daughter, for a few weeks and it is not a happy visit. She gets annoyed by what she sees as his obsession with religion, and he is upset that she doesn't take the children to church. He then goes for a break to a country hotel, which caters to clerical people and students and tries to adjust to the world outside and the war. In the hotel, he meets a young woman, Anne, who is 20 years his junior. She is plain but interesting. She owns a small estate and manages it herself, and she and Jon fall in love.