The Nebuly Coat

The tower of Cullerne Minster, a vast church dating from the twelfth century, serves as a landmark on the south English coast, even though the town of Cullerne is no longer a port. The oversized parish church has fallen into some disrepair, and its rector has managed to secure funds for renovations to begin. The young architect, Edward Westray, is dispatched by his firm to oversee the work.

As Westray settles to the task, he becomes embroiled in the small but dense web of social affairs in the town, and develops a deeper relationship with his fellow lodger, an embittered church organist. The history of the church, it transpires, is bound up with the local aristocracy—the lords Blandamer—with the Blandamer coat of arms featuring in the stained glass of the church: “barry nebuly of six, argent and vert.” Yet in recent times the Blandamers have not been much present around Cullerne. More strange still is the conviction that was held by the late brother of Westray’s landlady—that he was the rightful heir to the title.

The Nebuly Coat is the last novel John Meade Falkner published. It shares something of Moonfleet’s drama, but is altogether more ambitious. The settings evoked owe something to Thomas Hardy’s Wessex; Hardy and Falkner enjoyed a long friendship, and some have noted resonances between The Nebuly Coat and Hardy’s A Pair of Blue Eyes.

Falkner is a patient narrator, and weaves together the story of the Cullerne Minster’s repair—a more fraught undertaking than it first appears—with the backstories of the main characters as they come to bear on the present circumstances. There is even a mystery about whether there is a mystery!