I confess, I often cast my own life in dramatic prose. I've put this review off long enough. The hum of my computer sounded like a long sigh as I tried to remember the name of that book by Virginia Woolf. Few characters in history have inspired novelists to take up their literary crosses.
Biographies abound, but biographies have rules of their own.
We don't demand dramatic movement from them, nor artful prose, only readable information. When a biographer writes well, we are surprised and grateful. T hat's why it is both moving and fascinating to see two recent novels based on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. On the one hand, no one ought to be surprised by the widespread interest in this German theologian and pastor. Last July, a bust of Dietrich Bonhoeffer took its place along with those of nine other modern martyrs in Westminster Cathedral.