The first book of what became a trilogy under the same name. Th story takes place at two historical times. Most of the story is about the lives of a cluster of monks living in a 14th century monastery in Yorkshire. Alongside this we see something of the life of the modern-ish English family where a mother is telling stories of the monks to her daughter.

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The whole book has an idyllic feel about it. It is an experience like sitting by the fireplace reminiscing what is best and essential about human history and profiting from the life of the people before us. We see the monks lives over a period of decades, during which they mature to become a grace-filled monastic community. We follow various fathers as they learn the lessons of humility, forgiveness and love which enable them in the end to live in harmony.

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This book offers a look into what was positive about the monastic communities in Britain’s past. The book does not go into any dogmatic controversies between Catholics and Protestants. It is a simple depiction of humans making their best effort to live a God-pleasing life. Thus the book is appropriate for non-catholic readers. In fact the author is Methodist. The themes of this book are Christians but it is a book for everyone.

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Anyone who is interested in historical personalities and historic ways of thinking will learn a lot from this book; and anyone interested in the human attempt to better ourselves will benefit from the book. A gentle book that does its best to bring wisdom into its stories.