Charles Williams’ The Greater Trumps – Love Conquers All

Book Number 38 of 2024

Continuing my exploration of Charles Williams’ series of fantasy novels, The Greater Trumps is the fourth of his I have read. (You can read my reviews of War In Heaven here, Many Dimensions here, and The Place of the Lion here.) Williams was an Inkling, that marvelous group of writers and thinkers that included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. HIs tales are set in contemporary England (or rather England of the 1930s, when he wrote them), and they are darker than Lewis’ and Tolkien’s work. Each one is suffused with Christian values, but without any obvious or superficial references. Williams must have been an incredibly well educated man, as he refers to ancient and medieval philosophers and myths while expecting the reader to understand them.

So far, The Greater Trumps is my second favorite novel of Charles Williams, just a little behind his first, War In Heaven. The story is centered on a small cast of characters: Nancy Coningsby – a young woman engaged to Henry Lee; her father, Lothair Coningsby – “Warden of Lunacy”, which I take to mean warden of an insane asylum; Lothair’s sister, Sybil; his son, Ralph; Henry’s grandfather, Aaron; and Aaron’s sister, Joanna.

Lothair, Sybil, Nancy, and Ralph all live together, and, like any family, they get on each other’s nerves. Lothair doesn’t particularly like Henry, even though he is a barrister. He has gipsy blood and thus Lothair doesn’t really trust him. Nancy is consumed with passion for Henry and only dreams of their life together. Ralph is somewhat self-centered as most young men naturally are. Sybil, the unmarried sister of Lothair, is one of Williams’ most interesting and charming characters ever. She is imperturbable, simply enjoying life in all its wondrous beauty. Of course, Sybil’s sheer joy and love of others annoys the pragmatic and practical Lothair.

The story begins when Henry discovers that Lothair has been bequeathed an ancient set of Tarot cards. When Lothair shows them to Henry, he realizes that they are the original deck of Tarots, which possess incredible power. These include the twenty Greater Trumps: The Juggler, The Empress, The High Priestess, The Hierophant, The Emperor, The Chariot, The Lovers, The Hermit, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man, Death, The Devil, The Falling Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, The Last Judgment, The Universe, and the unique and mysterious Fool. I don’t know anything about Tarots, but apparently there are four suits: scepters, swords, cups, and coins. The Greater Trumps are like the standard Jack, Queen, and King, but with an extra member in each suit. The Fool stands alone, having no number.

It turns out Henry’s grandfather, Aaron, is the keeper of an ancient set of golden “images”, figures which carry out a mysterious dance on a golden base and are connected to the original set of Tarots that Lothair now owns. If Henry can get Nancy to join him in manipulating the Tarots, he will be able to foretell the future and gain enormous power. Unfortunately, Lothair has no intention of giving up the gift his late friend left him. So, Henry arranges it so that everyone travels to Aaron’s isolated house in the country to spend Christmas in the hopes that he can do away with Lothair and gain possession of the deck of Tarots.

Throughout all of this scheming and jockeying, Sybil blithely observes and delights in everything she sees. For example, when Aaron shows the Coningsbys the golden figures, they appear to be moving in a complex dance, while The Fool is stationary in the center. However, Sybil perceives The Fool to be moving with incredible speed and grace amongst the other figures. She is the essence of humility, and, as a result ends up being the one person with the most power:

‘She’s got some sort of a calm, some equanimity in her heart. She — the only eyes that can read the future exactly, and she doesn’t want to know the future. Everything’s complete for her in the moment.’

Charles Williams. The Greater Trumps (Kindle Locations 1398-1399). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

Henry attempts to use the Tarots to kill Lothair when he goes for a walk. Henry invokes a deadly snowstorm with hurricane force winds. Sybil puts on her coat and goes outside to rescue her brother. When she brings him safely back, the storm’s fury is concentrated on Aaron’s house, because that is where Lothair, its target, is now. All hell breaks loose in the house, and Henry gives in to despair.

Meanwhile, Joanna, Aaron’s sister, is a madwoman who has been searching for the son she lost in childbirth. She is convinced he was destined to be a messiah, and when he was taken from her she went mad and reverted to Egyptian paganism. Only Sybil’s otherworldly peace and understanding is able to break through Joanna’s rage.

There is a wonderful passage when Nancy is able to tap into Sybil’s overpowering love of creation and rescue Henry. Nancy becomes self-aware of her failings and realizes that her own attitude has had a lot to do with her difficult relationship with her father.

The Greater Trumps continues a common theme of Williams: what would happen if an ancient talisman of power was loosed upon our modern world? The various characters’ reactions to all the metaphysical chaos that Henry and Aaron unleash are telling. Sybil accepts what is happening with faith that “all is well, all is most well.” Nancy grows in wisdom and sees that love encompasses everything. Joanna loses what little sanity she has and lashes out in violence. Aaron and Henry retreat into hopelessness. Lothair and Ralph, God bless ’em, insist that everything must have a logical explanation:

‘Whereabouts are we?’ Mr. Coningsby asked. ‘
Where we were, I suppose,’ Ralph said. ‘By that doorway into the study or whatever it was. I’ve not done much moving since, I can tell you. Funny business this.’
‘It’s a wicked and dangerous business,’ Mr. Coningsby cried out. ‘I’m looking for Nancy. That fiend’s left her alone, after trying to kill me.’
‘What fiend?’ Ralph asked, even more bewildered. ‘Who’s been trying to kill you?’
‘That devil’s bastard Henry,’ Mr. Coningsby said, unwontedly moved as he came to speak of it. ‘He said so. He said he raised the storm so as to kill me.’
‘Henry!’ Ralph exclaimed. ‘Raised a storm. But I mean — O, come, a storm!’
‘He said so,’ Mr. Coningsby repeated. ‘And he’s left Nancy in that room there with that gibbering hag of an aunt of his. Come on with me; we’ve got to get her out.’
‘I see,’ said Ralph. ‘Yes; O, well, let’s. I don’t mind anything so long as it’s firm. But raised a storm, you know! He must be a bit touched. I always thought he was a trifle gibbery himself.’
‘O, everyone’s mad in this damned house,’ Mr. Coningsby said.

Charles Williams. The Greater Trumps (Kindle Locations 3193-3203). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

The Greater Trumps is one of Charles Williams’ best works (of the four I’ve read so far), and in the character Sybil he has given us an extraordinarily beautiful model of what true Christian faith and humility can accomplish. It’s really a shame he is not as well known as his fellow Inklings Lewis and Tolkien. I hope my review piques others’ curiosity enough for them to give him a try.

The Weird Christianity of Charles Williams’ War In Heaven

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are two of my favorite authors, and when I read Joel Miller’s essay about fellow Inkling Charles Williams, my curiosity was piqued. His first of seven novels was War In Heaven, and it almost wasn’t published. His 1926 manuscript was rejected, but his secretary found it in a box of papers he had told her to throw away. She sent it to another publisher, who stayed up all night reading it and eventually publishing it.

Thank goodness for Mr. Williams’ secretary! War In Heaven is a fantastic story that, while I didn’t stay up all night reading it, kept me riveted from beginning to end. It has one of the best opening sentences ever: “The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.” What starts out sounding like an Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers whodunit, very quickly veers into supernatural territory. As a matter of fact, the corpse in question doesn’t even return to the story until late in the book.

The story centers on an unassuming Anglican Archdeacon, Julian Davenant, some employees at a small publishing house that specializes in occult titles, and a quartet of spectacularly evil persons. Archdeacon Davenant reminds me a lot of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown. Everyone around him underestimates him, including the primary villain, Gregory Persimmons, retired owner of the aforementioned publishing house. Davenant’s small country church at the village of Fardles just happens to house the Graal, more familiarly known as The Holy Grail.

The Graal is desired by Persimmons for some literally Satanic purposes, and he thinks he can easily obtain it from the seemingly weak and ignorant Archdeacon. His allies are Sir Giles Tumulty, an expert in antiquities and a thoroughly repellent person; Manasseh, another Satanist, devoted to destruction; and Dmitri Lavrodopoulos, a chemist (pharmacist) and Satanist devoted to the utter negation of all things.

Against these forces of evil are Archdeacon Davenant, Kenneth Mornington, an employee at the publishing house, Lord Ridings, a devout Roman Catholic, and a mysterious stranger who might be the mythical “Prester John”. Together, they battle Persimmons’ attempts to gain control of the Graal.

Williams’ does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere of creepy weirdness. Early in the story, Lavrodopoulos gives Persimmons some ointment that he intends to use to enter a metaphysical realm and connect with other practitioners of black magic.

Slowly, very slowly, he undressed, looking forward to he knew not what, and then — being entirely naked — he took from a table the small greasy box of ointment and opened it. It was a pinkish ointment, very much the colour of the skin, and at first he thought it had no smell. But in a few minutes, as it lay exposed to the air, there arose from it a faint odour which grew stronger, and presently filled the whole room, not overpoweringly, but with a convenient and irresistible assurance. He paused for a moment, inhaling it, and finding in it the promise of some complete decay.

Charles Williams. War in Heaven (Kindle Locations 1032-1036). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

Gregory Persimmons is a monstrous character, maintaining a façade of polite gentility while sadistically delighting in tormenting innocent people, including his own adult son who now runs the publishing house. Needless to say, the odds of defeating him and his companions in evil do not look good. However, the humble Julian Davenant has hidden reserves of strength. His favorite thing to do is to recite Psalms under his breath:

“Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious; for His mercy endureth for ever.”

“I beg your pardon?” Gregory asked at the same moment that Sir Giles said, “Eh?”

“Nothing, nothing,” the Archdeacon said hastily. “Merely an improvisation. The fine weather, I suppose.”

Charles Williams. War in Heaven (Kindle Locations 1176-1179). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

There is much pain and loss before the tale is concluded, but the ending is quite beautiful and uplifting. The closest thing to War In Heaven is probably C. S. Lewis’ wonderful novel, That Hideous Strength, where truth, goodness, and beauty overcome a “scientific” think-tank that is trying to promote evil in a bucolic English community.

As I mentioned before, Williams was an Inkling along with Lewis and Tolkien. Unfortunately, he died relatively young in 1945, having published seven novels, some plays, and some poetry. War In Heaven is definitely one of the creepiest and weird books I’ve read – no “cozy mystery” here! I highly recommend it though, and I’m looking forward to reading his other novels. You can get all of his works in electronic form for $2.99 at Delphi Classics. War In Heaven is worth that price alone.