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Reviews

“This is a sprightly and learned study of a modern British cultural phenomenon which over seventy years or so helped to restore Catholicism to a central place in national life after four centuries. Melanie McDonagh presents her formidably varied cast of characters to us with imaginative sympathy for the emotional strengths and interesting array of weaknesses that ushered them into a new home in the Catholic Church.”—Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity “This is a wonderful book, beautifully written and chock-full of fascinating people. McDonagh brings a totally new perspective on these well-trodden biographies.”—Stephen Bullivant, author of Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America “A lively treatment of a rich topic, vigorously and trenchantly written. McDonagh has put her finger on a strong current within British intellectual and artistic life, not previously identified or explored.”—Eamon Duffy, author of The Stripping of the Altars

“This is a sprightly and learned study of a modern British cultural phenomenon which over seventy years or so helped to restore Catholicism to a central place in national life after four centuries. Melanie McDonagh presents her formidably varied cast of characters to us with imaginative sympathy for the emotional strengths and interesting array of weaknesses that ushered them into a new home in the Catholic Church.”—Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity “This is a wonderful book, beautifully written and chock-full of fascinating people. McDonagh brings a totally new perspective on these well-trodden biographies.”—Stephen Bullivant, author of Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America “A lively treatment of a rich topic, vigorously and trenchantly written. McDonagh has put her finger on a strong current within British intellectual and artistic life, not previously identified or explored.”—Eamon Duffy, author of The Stripping of the Altars

“McDonagh writes scintillating, witty, probing intellectual history that is also extremely moving.”—Jackie Wullschläger, Financial Times A Financial Times Book of the Year 2025 “It is absorbing to read the vividly described cultural setting of the lives that Melanie McDonagh explores.”—Christopher Howse, Telegraph A Tablet Book of the Year 2025 “[The book] does justice to its cast of characters [and] demonstrates not only why the floodgates opened for a few decades, but also why the stream has never quite dried up.”—Dan Hitchens, New Statesman “Absorbing.”—Francis Wilson, Spectator “This is a sprightly and learned study of a modern British cultural phenomenon which over seventy years or so helped to restore Catholicism to a central place in national life after four centuries. Melanie McDonagh presents her formidably varied cast of characters to us with imaginative sympathy for the emotional strengths and interesting array of weaknesses that ushered them into a new home in the Catholic Church.”—Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity “This is a wonderful book, beautifully written and chock-full of fascinating people. McDonagh brings a totally new perspective on these well-trodden biographies.”—Stephen Bullivant, author of Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America “A lively treatment of a rich topic, vigorously and trenchantly written. McDonagh has put her finger on a strong current within British intellectual and artistic life, not previously identified or explored.”—Eamon Duffy, author of The Stripping of the Altars

Author Information

Melanie McDonagh is a journalist who has written extensively about religion and ideas for the Spectator, The Times, and the Daily Telegraph. She is writer at large for the Evening Standard and leader writer for the Catholic Herald. She has a doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge.

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