Book of the Month May 2024

Steeple Chasing

Here at Stone Club we love a book about travel, about stones and sacred spaces, about places and the people that make them. Steeple Chasing is a pilgrimage of sorts, with all of the adventure and discoveries along the way that a pilgrimage might suggest Through Steeple Chasing Peter Ross takes us to some fascinating churches as the title suggests but Peter also explores what came before them, what lies within them and in some cases what those places have become after the church was ruined. Peeling back the layers of time. There is plenty of interest here for lovers of the ancient and for all of us who love visiting these places as we make our way through life.

“Award-winning writer Peter Ross sets out to tell their stories, and through them a story of Britain. Join him as he visits the unassuming Norfolk church which contains a disturbing secret, and London's mighty cathedrals with their histories of fire and love. Meet cats and bats, monks and druids, angels of oak and steel.

Steeple Chasing, though it sometimes strikes an elegiac note, is a song of praise. It celebrates churches for their beauty and meaning, and for the tales they tell. It is about people as much as place, flesh and bone not just flint and stone. From the painted hells of Surrey to the holy wells of Wales, consider this a travel book . . .with bells on.”