I think AF's characters represent a wide spectrum of relationships to religion, as someone said above, and that that's partly because she is such a *realistic* writer -- if not in all things, certainly in her portrayal of peopleand relationships -- and partly because she was probably actively interested in exploring/modelling/representing different ways of relating to the questions that preoccupied her, and the characters may indeed reflect not only what she encountered in others but also the different stages of thinking about religion that she herself sent through, at different times, or even just as the mood took her.

I also have to say that I LOVE Patrick -- for all his flaws, he's near the top of the list of fictional boys I'd totally say yes to if they asked me -- so, you know ;). What I mean is -- I think that because AF's characters are so fully drawn, different readers actually have different favorites, much as they would gravitate to different people if they met everyone from the Marlowverse in real life. I'm a fairly biddable/obedient reader on the whole, so I tend to identify my own point of view pretty closely with Nicola's (even though if I were to be honest, I'm probably more like one of her less admirable, more self-centred sisters, Ginty or Lawrie....), and I tend to like whom she likes: Patrick, Giles, Rowan, Miranda. I think it's totally plausible, though, to dislike that set of characters (as I know many AF readers do) and prefer the more "difficult" ones: Lawrie, Tim, Ginty, Esther. Or to have a sneaking regard for Ann, or (at the other end of the spectrum) Lois -- especially if rebelling actively against the Nicola-centric/Marlow-centric perspective in which both Ann's conscientiousness and Lois's anti-Marlow sentiments are suspect.