Snow (St. John Strafford, #2)

by John Banville

‘humankind cannot bear very much reality.’ The social contract is a fragile document. Do you take my point, at all?” Strafford shrugged. “Yes, I suppose I do. But all the same, the truth—” “Ah, the truth”—the Archbishop lifted both his hands before him, the palms turned outward, as if to ward something off—“such a difficult concept.

Once more he lay down, and switched off the lamp. If only, he thought, if only there were a switch with which to turn off one’s mind.