Tom Dwyer – the ex-professional footballer, whom we got to know during his teacher training in The Little Village School series and is now newly qualified – turns out to be an immensely likeable, too-good-to-be-true addition to the tiny, old-fashioned school at the top of the Dales.
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The theme of this book is both original and thought-provoking: a clandestine evangelistic mission to a despotically ruled city – reminiscent of present-day North Korea. Neither talking about the past nor emotional behaviour, neither pets nor religion, is permitted.
Gax is living in the house in which his grandparents grew up in Elabi. He was thoroughly briefed before sneaking in. Yet he is overwhelmed by the rigid class structure, civil organization and social customs he encounters. To say nothing of the intolerable heat. He is alarmed to discover everything he says aloud is processed and acted upon by his automated servant. He personifies ‘her’ with the name Yulra.
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I’m sure readers of the Bible sometimes wonder what happened next. Was that prophecy fulfilled? Did that tax collector or that prostitute manage to start a new, upright life? What became of the healed cripple?
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Had trouble putting it down! Rev. Mitton takes us on an exciting adventure, as a burnt-out Vicar meets the not-so-angelic Dorchadas and his worldly and otherworldly friends!
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Philip de Braose dare not use his real name. He has too many enemies. In any case, as far as he is concerned, Philip de Braose is dead. That was public knowledge.
An agonizing betrayal in his youth had left him with no aim in life. Unless the desire to kill and be killed as a mercenary, hired by whichever of the various regional factions of France paid the most, can be called an aim. In that, he fails. A wandering monk, Hywel, is attracted by a magnificent warhorse. Next to it, in a ditch, he discovers the severely wounded and unconscious Philip. He carries him to the nearby abbey to be nurtured back to reasonable health.
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O Lord, my Lord, I see You as a Crystal,
Reflecting varied facets of Your light.
I marvel at Creation, then am dazzled
By seeming shifts between Your love and might.
One cannot repudiate Canon Andrew White’s frequent experiences of divine intervention, guidance and help in scenes of horrendous tragedy in the war zones of Baghdad and the religious tensions in other parts of the Middle East. His trust in the God who has revealed himself in Jesus and through the words of the Bible is unshakable. He shows tremendous courage, motivated by love, as he serves the innocent victims of war, whatever their religion or faction. And he steps in boldly to mediate in unimaginably stressful conflict situations.
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France, 1685. Louis XIV has brazenly revoked his grandfather Henry IV’s treaty, which had granted Protestants substantial residential and religious rights. Now the King is determined to unite the nation in one Church – by force, if necessary. A period of persecution of Huguenots commences.
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When an overworked vicar is posted to a remote island in the South Atlantic, his family faces an entirely new life. Tristan da Cunha’s rough but devout population – a couple of hundred lobster fishermen and their constantly knitting wives – live in simple houses, cultivate potatoes and herd cattle. Everyone shares what they have and cooperates, their daily activities dominated by the unpredictable and often fierce weather. Contact with the outside world is limited to intermittent radio messages and occasional ships from Cape Town bringing sacks of mail and supplies. This book gives the modern reader a fascinating insight into this unfamiliar world.
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Is she Marlene or Lena? For a fourteen-year-old English schoolgirl to discover ‘Mum’ is not her real mother and by birth she is a German Jewess is a life-shattering revelation. And who is the real ‘Mutti‘ is behind her glamorous but rather worldly façade; she’s quite a contrast to the Christian circles Marlene had grown up in. But how could Mum deceive her so cruelly?
Marlene decides on the spur of the moment to experiment with being Lena. She travels with Mutti by train and ship – how exciting! – to Haifa in Israel, and is introduced to the young Jewish nation’s struggle to survive in a hostile and rather neglected environment. On the way, a brief conversation with a sympathetic old man exposes her burning dilemma.
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