Mission Shaped Evangelism by Steve Hollinghurst

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The usefulness of this book is as a reminder that the dynamics of contemporary culture are far more complex that is mostly allowed for.

Too often it is stated that society is becoming more “secular” - however the decline in Church-going and awareness of the Christian message is not the same as secularisation. People exist in, and with, an increasing mix of beliefs, self-made, borrowed, at times contradictory, but never to be underestimated.

Those beyond the life of the Church are not a blank canvas waiting for us, it is one failing of courses such as, but not only, Alpha – they forget to begin by asking what people already believe and instead launch into a pre-packaged download of “Christianity”.

The challenge is that, accepting Hollinghurst presentation, the future of the Church will be wholly unlike the institutions we have today, and in particular the “generalist” parochial approach of the Church of England will be unsustainable. It is a hard message for those of us whose Christian being and identity has been nurtured and continues within the parochial. But of course I don't remember Jesus says it was going to be easy – somehow it reminds me of the encounter, in Luke 9, Jesus said ‘Follow me.’ The man said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus replied, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’

Eyrie by Tim Winton

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This is a novel that deals with life shaped by emotional breakdown and addiction.

The encounter with the central character, Tom Keely, is painful – he is trapped in a cycle of, in many ways self-inflicted, failure. But I also found it somehow hypnotic, a character that I did not wish to turn my back on.

Through the friendship that forms between him and the boy, Kia, is a source of hope. Kia gives Tom a reason to live – even if his struggles mean that life remains chaotic.

Events become darker – the writer, Tim Winton, powerfully invokes a sense of menace and of powerlessness – and so Tom's actions, which are clearly irrational, begin to take on a twisted logic.

The novel ends quite suddenly, in a kind of flash of lightening. I have read the last few pages a couple of times – and I am not exactly sure what happens – but the immediate menace is, I think, overcome.

But for the fragile and broken, for Tom and Kia, it seems hard to imagine and kind of straightforward “happy ever after” - we are not given any, and I am glad, it would have been an insult to the reader if Winton had even hinted one.

Ghost Hunter by Michelle Paver

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This is the concluding part of the “Chronicles of Ancient Darkness” and there is a worry about the approach of the end of a 6 novel tale – endings are often the most difficult part of the story to get right.

The emotion that has run through the earlier books is maintained, as is the concluding willingness to place death as a key part of the narrative. Even as an adult reader there is a shock value to some of the moments when violence breaks into a domestic scene and I think that is great merit to allowing children to encounter such content and explore the implications.

The need to make choices between two imperfect futures, or two equally uncomfortable actions, is also a good lesson – we should have no expectation that doing what is “right” will involve doing what is easy.

I hope these comments do not make it seem that this is a “worthy” moral tale – as to me such a tale is likely to sound rather dull. I have been captivated and drawn on through these books by the drama and sense of authenticity in the characterisation. Read these books because they are great stories everything else is an incidental bonus.

The Final Cut by Michael Dobbs

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This is the concluding part of the Francis Urquhart trilogy and once again that is an interesting mix of insight into the moment of its writing alongside a contemporary mirror to our current politics.

For example part of the plot relies on events, past and present, in Cyprus which is portrayed as a far away “Banana Republic” - a very dated picture of what is now a fellow EU Member State.

One thing I found intriguing was the similarity of the cross country march of Makepeace, this novel's rival to Urquhart, and the tour of the King in the last book. This displays a believe on the part of Dobbs in the divide between the Westminster bubble and the “real world” - but also the belief that it is possible to escape the bubble and quite readily establish “authentic” encounters with “real” people. I think we accept the existence of the Westminster bubble but I wonder if the idea of a senior politician being able to step out of the bubble is so plausible today.

And even if they could – is there anyone out there to respond anymore? In part the dynamics of social media are corrosive to authenticity. In a week where some have transitioned from hashtaging protests at events in Gaza to protests at events in the bake-off tent and back again – seemingly without a change of tone or the bat of an eye-lid - it is hard to maintain too much faith in “real” people.

While this is another gripping read it is a fairly depressing one, the negatives are all too believable while its glimmers of hope seem fanciful.