Earthly Powers traces eighty- one years in the life of a Somerset Maugham- type writer and lapsed Catholic called Kenneth Toomey. A popular, second- rate novelist/playwright, he spends a lifetime unsuccessfully trying to reconcile his homosexuality with his faith. This is also the story of Carlo Campanati, an earthy Italian priest linked with Toomey through family ties. With dazzlingly inventive narrative spanning six decades, Burgess draws in major events and characters of the century while exploring themes of universal significance.