Tell Me Good Things: On love, death and marriage by James Runcie (Bloomsbury, £12.99 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £10.99); 978-1-5266-5544-8).

“James Runcie’s wife Marilyn Imrie died in August 2020. Their 35-year marriage had been miraculously happy, until, in the last two years of Marilyn’s life, she descended into the pain and humiliation of motor neurone disease. In Tell Me Good Things, Runcie tells the story of Marilyn’s illness and death - in all its moments of tragedy, rage, farce and surrealness - while painting a vivid portrait of her life and their marriage.”

Listen to an interview with James Runcie on the Church Times podcast

Liturgies for Hope: Sixty prayers for the highs, the lows and everything in between by Audrey Elledge and Elizabeth Moore (Form, £14.39 (£13.49); 978-0-281-08765-5).

“Liturgies for Hope expresses eloquently the collective ache felt by many in modern society today — burnout, anxiety, daily stresses — and reminds us how important it is to turn our focus outwards, to each other and importantly, to our ever-loving God.”


The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A new history by James G. Clark (Yale, £14.99 (£13.49); 978-0-300-26995-6). New in paperback

“The first account of the dissolution of the monasteries for 50 years, exploring its profound impact on the people of Tudor England.”


Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.