The Black Madonna | The Black Madonna

At a glance:

Author: Muriel Spark
First Published: 1967
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: The 1960's
Setting: Whitney Clay, a fictitious English town
Principal Characters: Lou Parker, Raymond Parker, Elizabeth, Tina, Oxford St. John, Henry Pierce
Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
Subjects: 1960’s, Children, Religion, Friendship, Class consciousness, Poverty or poor people, Pregnancy, England or English people, Miracles, Catholics or Catholic Church, Jamaica or Jamaicans, Fertility, Prayers
Locales: England

The Story

A Madonna figure carved from bog oak is placed in the Church of the Sacred Heart. Its black composition and angular lines make it an object of attention as well as worship in the growing English town of Whitney Clay.

Lou Parker and her husband Raymond are an apparently happily married—though childless—couple who live comfortably in their Whitney Clay apartment. They have cultivated their tastes in an aristocratic manner that they feel sets them apart from their middle-class acquaintances. As Roman Catholics, they are troubled about their lack of offspring,...

The Black Madonna | The Black Madonna

At a glance:

The Story

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