Book reviews: He Taught in Parables, and A Rabbit for Half a Rupee

I am catching up with writing reviews of books I read during March and April. The two books in this post are ones I heard about through the local writers’ group, which meets in Carlisle. I recommend them both.

He Taught in Parables

My photo of the book

He taught in parables: Musing and Reflections for Lent by Julian Frost and Margaret Ives contains an introduction and seven studies suitable for individual or group use. I used this booklet on Wednesdays during Lent 2023. The late Reverend Canon Julian Frost wrote the musings, which are described as poems, although some of them seem more poetical than others to me. They all paint a picture in words. Margaret Ives has edited the poems, which he was still working on, and added the reflections, based on Julian Frost’s notes and conversations with him. Bible references are given so that the passage may be read ahead of the musings and reflections.

I found He taught in Parables thought-provoking. There is some information about words and possible translations, clarifying what Jesus’ hearers might have understood, which were new to me. Mark 4:2 appears on the cover, which is printed on white card. It is really intended for group study and would provide very good discussion points.

The booklet is well-produced. It is available from Margaret Ives at £3.50 per copy plus postage. If you’d like to order any copies, please contact me so that I can pass your email address and details to Margaret. Any proceeds from the sale of the book will go to support Christ Church, Over Wyresdale and St Paul’s Church, Scotforth.

I am hoping that a small collection of my own poems will be available in a few months’ time in a similar booklet to He Taught in Parables and Margaret Ives’ more recent publication: The Orchard of God’s Garden, which I have not yet read. The Orchard of God’s Garden is about the Fruit of the Spirit.

A Rabbit for Half a Rupee

A Rabbit for Half a Rupee by Barbara Collier was compiled from letters written in the early 1970s. Barbara, Philip and their young family were living in Nepal, where Philip worked as an accountant for the Leprosy Mission. Both Barbara’s and Philip’s letters were well-written and informative, debunking myths about leprosy and giving details about their daily lives, surroundings and people they met. Philip’s work took him on a long journey, which is also described. Barbara has provided background information to the letters, making this a seamless story. The layout is good, with the extracts from letters easily distinguishable from the rest of the text. There are black and white photographs of some of the scenery and people mentioned in the book.

This book transported me to an earlier time in another continent. The ‘Look inside’ on Amazon and this quote from a letter in the introduction give a flavour of what follows:

In reality, of course, missionary life is no more romantic than any other kind of existence, even if it is full of unexpected things (not always pleasant.) I have not changed a lot of lives, but simply carried on being a housewife and mother in different circumstances, learning a lot in the process.

A Rabbit for Half a Rupee was published in 2013 and is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition. A paperback copy is also available at a high price on the UK Amazon site! By buying a copy from the author, I was able to support The Leprosy Mission. In the US it is available for Kindle and as a hardback or paperback.

Book review: Wild Fell by Lee Schofield

I borrowed a brand new copy of Wild Fell by Lee Schofield from the library. This book had been very much in demand since its publication in 2022 – so much so that extra copies must have been bought. It was Highly Commended in the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Conservation, 2022 and won the Richard Jefferies Award, 2022.

The subtitle is Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm. The area around Haweswater reservoir is the main focus of Wild Fell, but Lee Schofield also went on trips to Scotland and mainland Europe, where he learned about how nature and farming relate to each other in those places.

There is a map at the beginning to help readers appreciate the places described in the Lake District. Other writers, whose books I have read (or who I follow on Twitter) are mentioned as people with whom Schofield has had constructive conversations. There is an endorsement by Isabella Tree, the author of Wilding: The return of Nature to a British Farm.

The tensions between large charitable organisations, such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and individual farmers in the Lake District are described with an emphasis on the common values that they hold.

The text ended sooner than I expected, being followed by several pages of bibliography and a comprehensive index.

The paperback book is illustrated with pictures of plants for which there is a contents page.

An article about some of the work done by Lee Schofield’s team at RSPB Haweswater recently appeared on the BBC news website.

Although Haweswater is not a part of the Lake District I have visited, I found the book very readable, informative and interesting. It was announced on Monday (22 May 2023) that Wild Fell has won the Richard Jefferies Award for the best nominated nature writing published in 2022.

For more of my reviews of books about or with connections to the English Lake District please click here.

A list of books about nature and climate change I have read and reviewed appears here.

I have recently updated the index to all my reviews so that they can be accessed from a single page here.

Book review: The Company of Heaven by Catherine Fox

The fifth book in the Lindchester Chronicles – The Company of Heaven is published today (18^th May 2023) by Marylebone House an imprint of SPCK. I was privileged to receive an advance review copy (ARC) in both digital and paperback editions. I have read both!

My regular readers will know that reading digital copies is not my favourite. I received the book in the middle of March, glanced at the list of characters, thought, ‘I’m going to enjoy this,’ and left it until sometime in April.

By a happy coincidence the story begins in April 2021, the week before ‘non-essential’ shops would open after a Corona virus lockdown. I was in the zone with the descriptions of the countryside bursting into new life.

Reading on I looked forward to the other months of the year, while looking back on the shared experience of living through a pandemic.

I have not yet read the first four books in the series by Catherine Fox.

1.        Acts and omissions

2.        Unseen things above

3.        Realms of Glory

4.        Tales from Lindford

As soon as Acts and omissions becomes available in Cumberland and Westmorland libraries, I’ll request it. I’d hate to cause someone to have to return it unfinished instead of being able to renew it.

The Company of Heaven is dedicated to the choristers of the steel city (Sheffield). As a chorister myself for more years than I care to mention, I am sure they’ll enjoy spotting the allusions to hymns, carols and other music. At one point, reading the book gave me an earworm. The choice of words evokes music, without using titles of songs and hymns.

Each chapter has a flower and a gemstone (birthstone) in the title as we are taken through the year from April 2021 to the end of March 2022. There is a wealth of information about gemstones and flowers, including alternative names I had not previously known. Three bonus stories at the end were written for Christmases 2018 and 2019, and Easter 2019.

I have been struggling for years to understand the writing advice, ‘Show, don’t tell’. Reading about the ‘ice cream’ van showed me how this works. In a couple of sentences I knew not only that the van was playing a jingle, but also what the tune was.

There are many threads woven together to make this a truly wonderful novel. Along with music, there is literature, current affairs, the preoccupations of the Anglican church, and the ongoing projects and lives of the various well-drawn characters.

There are also themes. One is both/and. The Company of Heaven is both sacred and profane. Anyone who avoids this book because they are too sensitive to read certain words will be missing a treat! There are also quotations from the Bible.

It is both fictional and based in the recent past, which readers will recognise.

Reading the paperback edition, I picked up more details and understood the book better than when I read it on my phone sideways, scrolling endlessly.

The characters all have struggles to face. Some are dealing with grief and other past events, but that doesn’t make this a miserable book. There is suspense as issues take a few months to be resolved. Modern-day obsessions and problems of family life and relationships are woven in. All the characters are flawed human beings ‘doing their best’. They span all age groups.

I particularly enjoyed the passage where a neurodiverse character was trying to anticipate the reactions of neurotypical children.

Catherine Fox sometimes addresses her readers to draw us into the story. Flapping my heron’s wings I moved with her from place to place.

Prolepsis, anticipating something before it exists, was a new word to me and a literary device used to good effect.

How the world and the Church of England have changed since Susan Howatch wrote her Starbridge Cathedral series of novels in the 1980s and 90s! English usage has changed as well. Catherine Fox uses many words and abbreviations which would not have been recognised a few decades ago.

The characters and events in The Company of Heaven are likely to remain with me for a long time. Last year the novel I enjoyed most was Brisbane by Eugene Vodolazkin. We are not halfway through the year yet, but The Company of Heaven is a strong contender!

Other reviews of The Company of Heaven

Christian Bookaholic

Quite Irregular

Patrick Comerford

Compulsive Overreader

Clementine Rose

Short Book and Scribes

Staircase Wit