“I enjoyed it enormously. The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read.” PHILIP PULLMAN

“A novel that probes any number of aggressive varieties of moralism, while testing the reader’s own moral alertness for rigour, realism and generosity. An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative.” ROWAN WILLIAMS

“An irresistibly readable, thoughtful and characteristically witty examination of the quandaries and compromises faced by the Church of England in an era of decline . . . I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers.” MIRANDA SEYMOUR

As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins the BBC, where she is sent to interview the artist Seward Wemlock about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church.

“A serious and important writer” ROSE TREMAIN

Thirty years on, now rector of that same church, she chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. David claims they are in love, but Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her duty of care?

The fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on past concerns over Wemlock’s relationship with his teenage models. Had she heeded the whispers at the time, how many lives – her own included – would have turned out differently?

The Choice is a rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, questioning whether it’s possible, let alone prudent, to separate the art from the artist, which reaches to the heart of the contemporary culture wars. Richly comic and deeply compassionate, it is a remarkable synthesis of the sacred and profane.

“At a time when British fiction has never been more timorous about tackling novels of ideas, Michael Arditti has produced one worthy of Iris Murdoch and Graham Greene. Brilliantly ambiguous, waspishly witty and thoroughly enjoyable, this is Michael Arditti’s own masterpiece to date” AMANDA CRAIG

Hello there, come on in.

Firstly, I know what you’re thinking, ‘I’m not religious so I’m not sure if this is for me’ but, the truth is, we can all benefit from having a little faith and it will look different to each of us. Granted, some of the stories about a man who can walk on water and come back from the dead are anything but normal, but the point isn’t about what we believe in, it’s about believing in something. It’s what humans have always done, it’s in our DNA, because having faith in something makes us feel connected. It makes us feel like we matter. Faith means we are in it together, that we believe we will be OK.

So, yes, this book is about faith, but it’s also about being human, because believing in things is just part of our existence. Wherever you sit on the faith spectrum, I’m here to tell you it’s okay. You don’t have to sign up to all of something to get something out of some of it. You don’t have to like every song on the album.

My belief has guided me through life’s ups and downs, and I hope that sharing what I’ve learned will help you face your own challenges armed with hope, and plenty of lasagne.

Love,
Kate x

‘A gorgeous read, it made me cry in a joyous way’ Zoe Ball

‘You can always rely on Kate to bring humour, warmth and cracking anecdotes. This book, unsurprisingly, has shed loads’ Steph McGovern

CANON DANIEL CLEMENT IS BACK…

‘Champton joins St Mary Mead and Midsomer in the great atlas of fictional English villages where the crimes are as dastardly as the residents delightful’ – DAMIAN BARR

It’s been a few months since murder tore apart the community of Champton apart. As Canon Daniel Clement tries to steady his flock, the parish is joined with Upper and Lower Badsaddle, bringing a new tide of unwanted change. But church politics soon become the least of Daniel’s problems. His mother – headstrong, fearless Audrey – is obviously up to something, something she is determined to keep from him. And she is not the only one. And then all hell breaks loose when murder returns to Champton in the form of a shocking ritualistic killing…

“I enjoyed it enormously. The story is so interesting, the theme so important and pertinent, and the fluency and lightness of touch so engaging to read” PHILIP PULLMAN

“[Arditti] has given us a novel very much for our time, good enough to be for all time, too” The Scotsman

“An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative” ROWAN WILLIAMS

“The perfect combination of matters ecclesiastical and artistic” Financial Times

“Bursting with intellectual richness and joyously acidic dialogue” The Spectator

“A compelling read” Observer

” I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers” MIRANDA SEYMOUR

“An intelligent and entertaining novel that handles lightly problems of great moral weight” Guardian

As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her priestly vocation. Instead, she joins the BBC, where she is sent to interview the artist Seward Wemlock about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church.

“A serious and important writer” ROSE TREMAIN

“Arditti has delivered a complex moral fable with skill and aplomb” Mail on Sunday

Thirty years on, now rector of that same church, she chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. David claims they are in love, but Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her duty of care?

The fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on past concerns over Wemlock’s relationship with his teenage models. Had she heeded the whispers at the time, how many lives – her own included – would have turned out differently?

The Choice is a rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, questioning whether it’s possible, let alone prudent, to separate the art from the artist, which reaches to the heart of the contemporary culture wars. Richly comic and deeply compassionate, it is a remarkable synthesis of the sacred and profane.

“At a time when British fiction has never been more timorous about tackling novels of ideas, Michael Arditti has produced one worthy of Iris Murdoch and Graham Greene. Brilliantly ambiguous, waspishly witty and thoroughly enjoyable, this is Michael Arditti’s own masterpiece to date” AMANDA CRAIG

‘A treasure of a collection’ Amber Butchart, of BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee

‘I think I may already have discovered the best non fiction book of 2023′ Reverend Richard Coles, author of A Murder Before Evensong

Kneelers is a celebration of the most widely practised – but often overlooked – folk art in England and Wales over the past ninety years: the design and craft of church kneelers. Featuring charming stories and enchanting designs from churches across the country, the book traces the history of kneelers; from their spectacular beginnings at Winchester in the 1930s to their booming popularity after Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and the present-day congregations who are keeping the tradition alive.

In their range and diversity, the kneelers collected here form a fascinating social record of the concerns and interests that occupied their makers – including local fauna and flora, cricket, dragons, post-war tributes and the thrills of high-speed travel.

Filled to the brim with beautiful full-colour images, Kneelers displays the quirky artistry and widely varied (and often surprising) motifs which have characterised church kneelers in the twentieth century. It rejoices in the personal stories of some of the people who have practised and advanced the art form, and is a wonderful commemoration of what happens when communities come together to celebrate their history and their environment.

‘A glorious and delightful salute’ Tracy Chevalier, author of A Single Thread

‘This book is a Godsend!’ Alan Titchmarsh, author of The Gardener’s Almanac

‘I laughed my way through this… Funny, fascinating, and gorgeously humane’ Marina Hyde

‘Funny and touching in equal measure’ Tom Holland

A laugh-out-loud memoir of becoming a 21st-century priest, Touching Cloth is also a love letter to the Prayer Book, Liverpool, funerals, cake tins, lager and, above all, to what the Church of England can be at its best.

The very word ‘reverend’ inspires solemnity. To be a priest is to dedicate one’s life to quiet prayer and spiritual contemplation. Isn’t it?

Fergus Butler-Gallie reveals what it’s like to become a priest in the twenty-first century. Find out why black really is slimming, how to keep a straight face when someone is inadvertently hot-boxing a funeral, and which royal-themed biscuit tin can best contain a very loud personal alarm that no one knows how to switch off. Spot a sweet old lady trying to pay for a taxi with coinage from fascist Spain? Congratulations, shepherd, she’s your problem now.

Behind the daily scrapes is an all-too-human love letter to the Church of England, and the amazing variety of people who manage to keep it going, providing a listening ear, company and community at a time when so many people desperately need it, as well as a reflection on what it means to follow a spiritual path amid the chaos of the modern world.

‘Champton joins St Mary Mead and Midsomer in the great atlas of fictional English villages where the crimes are as dastardly as the residents delightful’
DAMIAN BARR

Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda.

When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.

And then Anthony Bowness – cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton – is found dead at the back of the church, stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs.

As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his fractured community together… and catch a killer.