The Knox Brothers

From the best-selling author of The Blue Flower, a biography of her father and his brothers, four extraordinary Englishmen who, despite their many differences, seemed to share one heart and soul. "When I was young," writes Penelope Fitzgerald, "I took my father and my three uncles for granted, and it never occurred to me that everyone else wasn't like them. Later on, I found that this was a mistake, but I've never quite managed to adapt myself to it. I suppose they were unusual, but I still think that they were right, and insofar as the world disagrees with them, I disagree with the world." Her father was E.V. "Eddie" Knox, known to the literate public as "Evoe," a witty contributor to Punch and, from 1932 to 1945, its tireless editor. Eddie was the eldest son of the Bishop of Manchester, and he and his brothers grew up in a hard-working Evangelical household where comfort counted for little and money for even less. In their adulthood, the boys remained faithful to their father's values of humility, humor, and courage. Above all else, they remained faithful to one another. Eddie's brothers were Dillwyn, a mathematical genius and a chief code-breaker in both world wars; Wilfred, an Anglo-Catholic apologist and an alarmingly shabby saint; and Ronnie-Monsignor Ronald Knox-the most famous Roman Catholic priest in England. The bond between the four is beautifully evoked here, as is the tension between their family loyalties and their wildly divergent careers and religious beliefs. Here is a biography not only of four remarkable individuals but also of a fascinating family mind, a mind shared by the book's remarkable author, Penelope Fitzgerald.