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Jubilate
Michael Arditti's passionate and passionate and provocative new novel combines tender romance with a unique and richly observed setting. A woman wakes in a Lourdes hotel room beside her lover of just two days. She has brought her brain-damaged husband on a pilgrimage to seek a miracle cure; her lover is making a TV documentary to mark the shrine's 150th anniversary year. Setting aside personal doubts, family ties and spiritual differences, they embark on a turbulent affair from which neither they nor those around them will emerge unchanged.
'Carries you through with humour, warmth and, above all, the urgency of a great romance.' - The Guardian
'Combines a moving story of love against the odds with a moral debate on the nature of faith. Despite its serious theme Jubilate is a highly readable novel, full of humour and warmth.' - Sunday Express
'Closing this novel after reading the last page, one briefly believes in miracles, at least of the human redemptive kind.' - Independent on Sunday
'The reader retains a quiet sense of celebration indeed, jubilation as people face the crosses they must bear with as much dignity as they can muster.' - Daily Telegraph
'Arditti does indeed take the reader on a very different kind of a literary journey, as enjoyable as it is unusual. Jubilate is something to celebrate indeed.' - Independent
'Arditti is a nimble, dry guide to the meandering streets and kitsch architectural delights of Lourdes and the extremes of emotions it elicits from its pilgrims.' - The Times
'I was amazed at how emotional this book is. What makes the book so poignant, and so urgent, is that the ethics of choice, and how we care for one another, are made to matter, not just to the characters but also to the readers.' - Literary Review
'Carries you through with humour, warmth and, above all, the urgency of a great romance.' - The Guardian
'Combines a moving story of love against the odds with a moral debate on the nature of faith. Despite its serious theme Jubilate is a highly readable novel, full of humour and warmth.' - Sunday Express
'Closing this novel after reading the last page, one briefly believes in miracles, at least of the human redemptive kind.' - Independent on Sunday
'The reader retains a quiet sense of celebration indeed, jubilation as people face the crosses they must bear with as much dignity as they can muster.' - Daily Telegraph
'Arditti does indeed take the reader on a very different kind of a literary journey, as enjoyable as it is unusual. Jubilate is something to celebrate indeed.' - Independent
'Arditti is a nimble, dry guide to the meandering streets and kitsch architectural delights of Lourdes and the extremes of emotions it elicits from its pilgrims.' - The Times
'I was amazed at how emotional this book is. What makes the book so poignant, and so urgent, is that the ethics of choice, and how we care for one another, are made to matter, not just to the characters but also to the readers.' - Literary Review
346 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
5 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Michael Arditti
18 books21 followersMichael Arditti FRSL is an English writer. He has written twelve novels, including Easter, The Enemy of the Good, Jubilate and The Breath of Night, and also a collection of short stories, Good Clean Fun. His most recent novel, The Anointed, was published in April 2020. He is a prolific literary critic and an occasional broadcaster for the BBC. Much of his work explores issues of spirituality and sexuality. He has been described by Philip Pullman as "our best chronicler of the rewards and pitfalls of present-day faith".
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 6, 2011
suprisingly engaging novel set in Lourdes. Having lived a pretty secular life I was riveted by the way it put faith into context. It is about both kinds of love , the sacred and the profane, definitely worth reading
March 17, 2026
A passion play, in two senses. Faith and morality are questioned, against the backdrop of a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
May 8, 2012
Over three decades ago, in another life, I visited Lourdes. I cannot remember the reason I went – perhaps it was at the behest of my wife or maybe because in a previous trip I’d been I’d been moved by the religious architecture of Chartres, the Vatican and Salisbury and expected something of the same. I have always been a fence-sitter when questions of the existence of gods came up; maybe more dis than believer, but with those three edifices I could visualise the spiritual awe their majesty would have induced in Middle Ages/Renaissance man, and cause them to believe in a greater being. I’ve no doubt felt the same at Uluru and Oyster Cove. Of Lourdes itself I remember little apart from some crutches hanging in the grotto and the awfulness of the mementos in the souvenir shops lining the streets. I know I came away unmoved.
And this southern French location is the setting of Arditti’s novel ‘Jubilate’. Two people set out to spend a few days in this Pyrenean town that is noted for the appearance of the Virgin Mary before a poverty struck young lass, Bernadette. Both the protagonists have burdens to bear. In Gillian’s case it is the responsibility of caring for her man/child husband, in Vincent’s the guilt he feels over a shattering marriage break up. The former is a novice participant in an annual pilgrimage – the Jubilate – whilst the latter is there to film it for a UK television reality show. Inevitably their paths cross. This is a novel of guilt, lust and love. It argues Catholic belief opposed to atheistic logic. It sets out to prove whether these can co-exist, perhaps with a little nudging to middle ground.
Now Arditti is regarded as a British author not afraid to take risks with such potentially inflammatory material, if reviews and blurb are to be believed. The novel did not resonate to anything out of the ordinary to this reader. It was interesting to see how the disparate views of the two leading figures were going to pan out as far as their ongoing relationship was concerned after the couple of frenzied couplings during their few days in Lourdes. This interest was dampened by the way the author chose to structure his narrative. To tell the tale from the alternating view points of both participants is fair enough, but to have one working forward in time, and the other backwards made for clunkiness and became a barrier to the enjoyment of the book. This was made especially so by the fact that passages seem to repeated virtually word for word to no purpose. No doubt this was a wonderful mental exercise for Arditti and is presumably very clever, but it left me with a recurring sense of déjà vu throughout.
The affair between the two protagonists was volatile due to constraints of time, the need to be discreet and due to their opposing religious inclinations, or lack of them. The dialogue between the two seemed still to be overly fraught and forced. The farce introduced by a frenetic search for a condom in a town of pilgrimage seemed to be out of kilter with the novel’s tone. I will give Arditti his dues in that the ending was to a degree worth the journey, and his back stories on some of the lesser jubilants were quite intriguing. This tome was neither ‘invigorating’ nor did it ‘shake me out of my complacency’. With a less ardor and cleverness it could have done/been so.
And this southern French location is the setting of Arditti’s novel ‘Jubilate’. Two people set out to spend a few days in this Pyrenean town that is noted for the appearance of the Virgin Mary before a poverty struck young lass, Bernadette. Both the protagonists have burdens to bear. In Gillian’s case it is the responsibility of caring for her man/child husband, in Vincent’s the guilt he feels over a shattering marriage break up. The former is a novice participant in an annual pilgrimage – the Jubilate – whilst the latter is there to film it for a UK television reality show. Inevitably their paths cross. This is a novel of guilt, lust and love. It argues Catholic belief opposed to atheistic logic. It sets out to prove whether these can co-exist, perhaps with a little nudging to middle ground.
Now Arditti is regarded as a British author not afraid to take risks with such potentially inflammatory material, if reviews and blurb are to be believed. The novel did not resonate to anything out of the ordinary to this reader. It was interesting to see how the disparate views of the two leading figures were going to pan out as far as their ongoing relationship was concerned after the couple of frenzied couplings during their few days in Lourdes. This interest was dampened by the way the author chose to structure his narrative. To tell the tale from the alternating view points of both participants is fair enough, but to have one working forward in time, and the other backwards made for clunkiness and became a barrier to the enjoyment of the book. This was made especially so by the fact that passages seem to repeated virtually word for word to no purpose. No doubt this was a wonderful mental exercise for Arditti and is presumably very clever, but it left me with a recurring sense of déjà vu throughout.
The affair between the two protagonists was volatile due to constraints of time, the need to be discreet and due to their opposing religious inclinations, or lack of them. The dialogue between the two seemed still to be overly fraught and forced. The farce introduced by a frenetic search for a condom in a town of pilgrimage seemed to be out of kilter with the novel’s tone. I will give Arditti his dues in that the ending was to a degree worth the journey, and his back stories on some of the lesser jubilants were quite intriguing. This tome was neither ‘invigorating’ nor did it ‘shake me out of my complacency’. With a less ardor and cleverness it could have done/been so.
November 1, 2011
Another excellent book by Michael Arditti. It’s a finely balanced tale set during a pilgrimage to Lourdes with a wonderful love affair at its heart. It makes you view relationships in a new light and it is also very uplifting and surprisingly funny in places. The structure of the book is challenging but offers new insights into events you thought you already had read about and understood. Michael Arditti uses wonderful prose to describe the love affair between Vincent and Gillian. I recommend Jubilate, and I very much enjoyed reading it.
June 10, 2011
Good read (as it were) especially if you've been on a pilgramage to Lourdes.
We were lucky enough to interview Michael Arditti about the book. He's absolutely charming.
http://www.theinterviewonline.co.uk/l...
We were lucky enough to interview Michael Arditti about the book. He's absolutely charming.
http://www.theinterviewonline.co.uk/l...
September 5, 2021
Now this has been quite a challenging book to rate.
Set in Lourdes, where miracles are believed to happen... I don't think this book will be for everyone.
Not a great action packed novel, instead, has a plodding, slightly intense storyline.
Maybe I was a little disappointed in the ending. 🤔
Set in Lourdes, where miracles are believed to happen... I don't think this book will be for everyone.
Not a great action packed novel, instead, has a plodding, slightly intense storyline.
Maybe I was a little disappointed in the ending. 🤔
October 7, 2019
This rather wonderful book is about the classic tensions between love and duty, sin and faith. A TV film director making a documentary of a group on pilgrimage to Lourdes has an affair and falls in love with the wife of a brain-damaged man. Therein lie the conflicts. The story is told alternately by the two principals, and the time-line hops around a bit, so you have to pay attention. But it is a thoughtful exposition of the difficulties of faith and the frailties of humanity. Arditti also explores the subtleties of what is a miracle. In spite of the philosophical and metaphysical aspects, this is still very much a story. It is a wonderful, life-affirming read.
(Conflict of interest: I am atheist.)
(Conflict of interest: I am atheist.)
February 17, 2025
Just too much on Lourdes and the grind of process and ‘experience’ that a pilgrim undertakes. Seemed like a lot of repetition of character to character encounters. The time jumping across a few days and between the 2 main characters didn’t add any depth. At the core good characters, good moralising, good discussion around some issues of belief and religion - but often just too much of it and too many peripheral noise.
July 1, 2025
I did not finish this book. I loved the writing and the story sounded so interesting. I just found the content and the pull between the religious and not religious very annoying. There are some people that will love this book. I truly have no real idea why the characters and their religious back and forward took all the pleasure out of this book for me.
October 28, 2019
Brideshead revisited this is not. I couldn't get invested in any of the characters, and the disabled husband was completely unreal. A very unconvincing lovestory with a predictable ending.
January 4, 2025
Cleverly structured to ensure investment in the narrative with detailed engagement in the challenges of a Lourdes pilgrimage.
July 23, 2014
This is a good book written in an annoying way!
The novel is written in alternating points of view - one chapter Gillian's, the next Vincent's. That works, and I particularly enjoyed seeing a man's point of view on falling in love.
The first chapter starts in the middle of the story, just after Gillian and Vincent have slept together. That works too - lots of novels are told in flashback. The thing is, though, that normally Chapter 2 would go back to the beginning and tell the story leading up to that point.
This book doesn't. After that first chapter, it jumps around in time. In fact, we don't get the very beginning of the story till the penultimate chapter. True, the author dates each chapter so we know where we are, but I found it confusing. Some chapters seemed a bit pointless, as we'd already got beyond that part of the story and it didn't add any additional insight. And I was really, really annoyed to get to that second-last chapter, and find myself finally being introduced to all those characters that I'd struggled to keep track of up till then!
Although the structure irritated, I did enjoy the writing and I'll certainly look for more of Michael Arditti's books.
The novel is written in alternating points of view - one chapter Gillian's, the next Vincent's. That works, and I particularly enjoyed seeing a man's point of view on falling in love.
The first chapter starts in the middle of the story, just after Gillian and Vincent have slept together. That works too - lots of novels are told in flashback. The thing is, though, that normally Chapter 2 would go back to the beginning and tell the story leading up to that point.
This book doesn't. After that first chapter, it jumps around in time. In fact, we don't get the very beginning of the story till the penultimate chapter. True, the author dates each chapter so we know where we are, but I found it confusing. Some chapters seemed a bit pointless, as we'd already got beyond that part of the story and it didn't add any additional insight. And I was really, really annoyed to get to that second-last chapter, and find myself finally being introduced to all those characters that I'd struggled to keep track of up till then!
Although the structure irritated, I did enjoy the writing and I'll certainly look for more of Michael Arditti's books.
August 19, 2016
I had never even heard of Michael Arditti before, so I had no expectations of the novel. But boy, did it blow me away! Jubilate is a cleverly written passionate love story, and it's also a funny and touching story of faith. It's set in France and follows of a group of British Catholics on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. As it happens, this particular trip is also being filmed for a BBC documentary. Enter a handsome TV director. But there is no slapstick humour, or run-of-the-mill romance here, the novel is beautifully and skilfully written from two points of view - both running in opposite time-lines. The tragic story between a married Catholic, Gillian, who's husband has been left brain-damaged following an accident, and the wordly-wise, intensely sceptical TV film director, Vincent, is portrayed against a backdrop of a tourist trap with a difference; the promise of a miracle cure. Since reading Jubilate, I've found myself thinking back to the story several times. This remarkable novel is well worth a read, whether you're interested in religion or not.
November 25, 2015
I enjoyed this book. The plot is fairly slender but there is plenty of dialogue and several interesting characters who move the story along.
The story is related alternately by Vincent and Gillian, who meet on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and develop a relationship. Vincent's account covers each day in sequence, whereas Gillian narrates the final day first and then bsckwards in sequence, Vincent is a non-believer whereas Gillian is a reasonably good Catholic and of course there are a fair number of priests around so there is some religious debate among both the major and minor characters.
There is quite a lot of repitition in the narratives with some scenes being related twice word for word, which I found a bit odd as summary narrative would be adequate the second time round.
I would read more books by this writer.
The story is related alternately by Vincent and Gillian, who meet on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and develop a relationship. Vincent's account covers each day in sequence, whereas Gillian narrates the final day first and then bsckwards in sequence, Vincent is a non-believer whereas Gillian is a reasonably good Catholic and of course there are a fair number of priests around so there is some religious debate among both the major and minor characters.
There is quite a lot of repitition in the narratives with some scenes being related twice word for word, which I found a bit odd as summary narrative would be adequate the second time round.
I would read more books by this writer.
December 13, 2023
I really enjoyed Arditti's Jubilate. It is his first book that is quite romantic and portraits love between a woman and a man. All characters are believable and in a search of something that can elevate their various problems and aches. It is a journey, not only through spiritual experiences (pilgrims to the Lourdes), but through their relations towards each other. I loved the book therefore I do recommend it warmly.
August 14, 2011
Overall idea 5 stars, great plot. Very ornate descriptive writing I really liked it. My only complaint is that it was a little repetitive, arguably necessary but sometimes I felt like I was re-reading something when I wasn't. Controversial idea, steamy sex scenes, and very true to life situations.
October 21, 2013
I enjoyed the book, interesting characters easy plot. Having one character going forward and the other backwards I though was a bit of a gimmick and detracted from the novel, but that aside, good read.
August 10, 2011
Well, I finally finished it. Found it far too put-downable. At the end things finally picked up. I enjoyed the writer's style in general, but I found the reverse order of story telling tedious.
October 28, 2011
i've really liked the previous novel of the same author and this one disappointed me. i think it's oversentimental and full of easy solutions just to keep the story going.
June 16, 2012
I didn't know what to expect when I read this book, the blurb sounds a little grim, but it was in fact a wonderfully warm story, and unexpectedly romantic too. Loved it.
June 2, 2014
Frustrated by the structure of this book I eventually lost interest in the storyline.
May 3, 2015
Beautifully written novel which raises (as usual) a lot of difficult questions. Not sure about the ending, however - possibly rather facile.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews