A Field Guide to the English Clergy

‘One of the best Christmas books of the past few years... both hilarious and unusually elegant in conception and execution.’

* Marcus Berkmann, Spectator *

‘Eye-popping tales of lunacy, debauchery and depravity…Butler-Gallie has done a splendid job presenting a smorgasbord of most peculiar parsons.’

* Sebastian Shakespeare, Daily Mail *

‘We have…always kept a special haven for oddballs in the Church of England, as Fergus Butler-Gallie demonstrates in this entertaining compendium…Their foibles cover all bases from absentmindedness to epic drunkenness…I’m glad I read this one. It’s a lot of fun.’

* The Times *

‘Entertainingly erudite…But it is also a surprisingly profound work…For all its mischief, Butler-Gallie’s work of lightly worn erudition is a paean to a great English institution, finely tuned to the temper of its representatives, good, bad and indifferent. We should treasure it more.’

* Literary Review *

‘A humorous compendium of some of the oddball clergy who have served the Church over the centuries...These thumbnail portraits reveal a very broad church indeed.’

* New Statesman *

‘The Church of England has produced some real oddballs in its time, and this is an entertaining gallop through several centuries’ worth of them…Butler-Gallie has done his homework, digging out some rare gems…This is the story not just of eccentrics, but also of a leisured age that is no more.’

* Harry Mount, Spectator *

‘Wonderfully entertaining…A hilarious yet thoughtful reminder that the Christian faith wasn’t always thought incompatible with a sense of humour or a healthy bolshiness.’

* Sunday Times *

‘It may have the makings of a modern classic…Butler-Gallie chronicles not just Anglican follies, but also human weaknesses which we all share and with which we can perhaps sympathise.’

* The Catholic Herald *

‘This is a ridiculously enjoyable book: funny, compassionate, and wonderfully well-written.’

-- Tom Holland

‘A delightful, sympathetic, humorous and earthed cocktail of quirky English clergy.’

-- The Rt Revd David Wilbourne

‘Fabulously enjoyable compendium of the Anglican Church’s most eccentric ministers – who prove to be very eccentric indeed.’

-- Reader’s Digest

‘Some of the most riotous misbehaviour in Church of England history is chronicled in this sprightly book.’

* Daily Mail