The World According to Bertie - Alexander McCall Smith (2007)

Hilarious for reasons he probably didn't mean.

"Anyway," she said, "I've learned my lesson. From now on I shall look for a very different sort of man."

"One to whom you can talk?" Dominica regretted saying this the moment she spoke, but Antonia appeared not to have taken offense.

"You know that I'm writing a novel about the early Scottish saints," she said. "Well, I shall look for a man who is the modern equivalent of the hero of my book."

Dominica picked up her glass of green ginger wine and glanced at Antonia over the rim. "Are we being practical?" she asked. "Are there any saints out there?"

Antonia met her gaze. "I'm sure there are. It's only a question of finding them."

"And, it will have to be an unmarried saint."

Antonia nodded. "Naturally."

"But where exactly will you find a contemporary saint?" said Dominica. "It's hard enough to meet any half-decent man these days, let alone somebody saintly."

Antonia thought for a moment. Then she said, "Saintly men presumably go to church. I shall find one at St. Giles, perhaps. Or at the Episcopal cathedral over at Palmerston Place. I find episcopalian men rather interesting, don't you?"

Dominica stared at her neighbor. She wondered if she was perhaps not quite feeling herself, if she needed to see somebody. First, there had been the ridiculous affair with Marcus. And now there was this absurd notion that she would meet a man in church. It really was ridiculous, she thought, quite unrealistic. Risible, really.

-The World According to Bertie, Chapter 72