 A description in the book cover flap reads , " In this tender , sensitive and blackly comic novel , Sebastian Shaw , the distinguished Shakespearean actor , explores areas of sexual and emotional encounter that are rarely seen and , unfortunately , too rarely understood . " Shaw originally planned to call the novel The Godfather , but later said he was glad he did not due to the popularity of Mario Puzo 's book of that name . He was said to have been working on another novel shortly after The Christening was completed , but no others were ever published . 
