Before becoming the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, David Wilbourne was vicar of Helmsley, a market town nestling on the southern slopes of the North York Moors. For twelve years he wrote a regular diary column in the Church Times, delighting its readers with his quirky tales of ministry in Helmsley. The Helmsley Chronicles collects the best of David s diaries, substantially edited and bolstered with new material. Gently celebrating rural and church life, it is a wonderful foil to all the un...

‘Both vintage and fresh David Wilbourne . . . [His] gift is to enable us to see again the face of Jesus delightfully present with us through our Lent journey.’GRAHAM USHER, BISHOP OF NORWICHWhatever our church denomination, we all use the same Sunday Gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary. Year A focuses on Matthew, but during the first five Sundays of Lent, four of the Gospels are curiously from John. By basing each of the five sessions...

‘Both vintage and fresh David Wilbourne . . . [His] gift is to enable us to see again the face of Jesus delightfully present with us through our Lent journey.’GRAHAM USHER, BISHOP OF NORWICHWhatever our church denomination, we all use the same Sunday Gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary. Year A focuses on Matthew, but during the first five Sundays of Lent, four of the Gospels are curiously from John. By basing each of the five sessions...

‘An absolutely beautiful piece of work which well catches Archbishop Habgood, the last Anglican theologian I used to make the walk to the Lords’ chamber to hear speak. Lord Habgood would smile with pleasure and amusement to read it.’ MATTHEW PARRIS‘. . . all the sides of the astonishing man that was John Habgood are brought to life here with wit, poignancy, and affection.’ FERGUS BUTLER-GALLIE**, author of A Field Guide to Engl...

NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING DAME MAGGIE SMITH'The first book that ever made me laugh out loud' Adam Kay'Utter genius' Daily MailIn 1974, the homeless Miss Shepherd moved her broken down van into Alan Bennett's garden. Deeply eccentric and stubborn to her bones, Miss Shepherd was not an easy tenant. And Bennett, despite inviting her in the first place, was a reluctant landlord. And yet she lived there for fifte...

"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public RadioWhen Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and...

The prize-winning memoir: "an enlightening walk through a life that encompasses West Africa…rent strikes, the divided self and the question of grace" ( Scotland on Sunday, UK).An international bestseller and winner of the PEN/Ackerley Prize, Ricard Holloway's candid memoir "is many things. It is a compelling account of a journey through life, told with great frankness; it is a subtle reflection on what it means to live in an imperfect and puzzling world; an...

An English priest adrift in Scotland becomes the target of his own parish in this "nuanced, intense and complex [novel] . . . Read it twice" (Hilary Mantle, Guardian, UK)."Always trust a stranger," said David's mother when he returned from Rome. "It's the people you know who let you down."Half a life later, David is Father Anderton, a Catholic priest with a small parish in Scotland. He befriends Mark and Lisa, rebellious local teenagers who live in a...

A young man's future as a priest depends on facing his past in this novel about the Church of England from the New York Times –bestselling author.1968. Proud of his psychic powers, Nicholas Darrow wants to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming an Anglican priest in the Starbridge diocese, famed for its magnificent cathedral. But pride goes before a fall, and when he attempts to use his powers to heal a you...

This historical novel about the Church of England from the New York Times –bestselling author follows a religious leader's doubt and possible fall from grace.1965. Charles Ashworth is Bishop of Starbridge in the decade known as the Swinging Sixties, famed for its sexual excesses, and he considers it his duty to preach regularly on the evils of fornication and adultery. Backed up by his efficient subordinates and ...

'The best vicar ever' Caitlin Moran'Sex, drugs, death, religion, more sex... it has got it all' GuardianFATHOMLESS RICHES is the Reverend Richard Coles' warm, witty and wise memoir in which he divulges with searing honesty and intimacy his pilgrimage from a rock-and-roll life of sex and drugs in the Communards to one devoted to God and Christianity.'All the humour, quirky characters and incidents that life - and dea...

A devoted family man walks a self-destructive path in this historical novel about the Church of England from the New York Times –bestselling author.1942. Neville Aysgarth is a priest enjoying a successful career in the Church of England. As an archdeacon, he is the right-hand man of the Bishop of Starbridge. He returns to a comfortable home at the end of each day, greeted by his loving wife and family—rewards won...