The Spire

by William Golding

First published 1964

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3.7(372)

Dean Jocelin believes that God has commanded him to raise an immense spire above his medieval cathedral. He drives the project forward despite warnings from the master mason Roger that the foundations cannot bear the weight. Workmen occupy and disrupt the church, money and materials are consumed, and every sign of structural failure is reinterpreted by Jocelin as a test of faith.

Jocelin’s spiritual certainty conceals ambition, physical illness and desire for Goody Pangall, the wife of the cathedral’s disabled servant. As the building site becomes more dangerous, Roger’s marriage collapses, Pangall disappears and Goody’s fate reveals the human cost of the dean’s obsession. The spire rises through engineering risk, exploitation and self-deception, forcing Jocelin to confront whether his vision came from God or from the pride he named as faith.