Listen to a sample
Touching Cloth
- Author
- Fergus Butler-Gallie
- Narrator
- Fergus Butler-Gallie
- Publisher
- Transworld
- Publish Date
- 23 March 2023
- Run Time
- 5 hours 6 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
A laugh-out-loud memoir of becoming a 21st-century priest, Touching Cloth is also a love letter to the Prayer Book, Liverpool, lager, funerals, homemade lemon curd, and, above all, to what the Church of England can be at its best.
The very word 'reverend' inspires solemnity. To be a priest is to dedicate one's life to quiet prayer and spiritual contemplation. Isn't it?
Fergus Butler-Gallie reveals what it's like to become a priest in the twenty-first century. Find out why black really is slimming, how to keep a straight face when someone is inadvertently hot-boxing a funeral, and which royal-themed biscuit tin can best contain a very loud personal alarm that no one knows how to switch off. Spot a sweet old lady trying to pay for a taxi with coinage from fascist Spain? Congratulations, shepherd, she's your problem now.
Behind the daily scrapes is an all-too-human love letter to the Church of England, and the amazing variety of people who manage to keep it going, providing a listening ear, company and community at a time when so many people desperately need it, as well as a reflection on what it means to follow a spiritual path amid the chaos of the modern world.
©2023 Fergus Butler-Gallie (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
-
A witty and adept guide to the foibles of the well-intentioned and all too human figures who follow holy orders... Touching Cloth can be compared to Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt and the writings of the Secret Barrister... there is a warmth and wit here that recalls everyone from Wodehouse to that other godly humorist GK Chesterton.
Observer
-
I may be a non-believer, but I laughed my way through this warm and witty book, which made me admire the irreverent reverend Fergus Butler-Gaillie even more than I already did. It is so engagingly written, and could sit deservingly in the tradition of Monica Dickens's tales of muddling amusingly through in unusual jobs where one might not be considered "a natural" (very high praise!). It's funny, fascinating, and gorgeously humane.
Marina Hyde, columnist and author of What Just Happened?
-
Funny and touching in equal measure, the diary of a priest that ranges from slapstick to the hauntingly profound.
Tom Holland, author of Dominion
-
Touching Cloth is a delight - a masterclass in the way pleasure, laughter and even God can be found in the most mundane moments of daily life.
Edward Stourton, author of Confessions
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
A warm-hearted and frequently hilarious insight into the daily life of the clergy that won over this inveterate atheist.
Nick Pettigrew, author of Anti-Social
-
Irreverent and hilarious... The pitfalls of human physicality form the essence of the book's comedy... What he wants to remind us, I think, is how far from being perfect all who might aspire to being saints are.
The Times
-
If Butler-Gallie's entertaining book is anything to go by, [clerical life is summed up by] moments of great solemnity very often punctuated by uproarious mirth.
Daily Mail
-
A rich store of anecdotes, both sacred and profane... Whatever his failure to progress up the hierarchy of the Church, he has an established place as one of its most acute and amusing chroniclers.
Spectator
-
Searingly honest.. Butler-Gallie is the priest you want in your parish.
i newspaper
-
Butler-Gallie loves the Church of England, even with its foibles, loves being a priest, and especially loves the ordinary people there. It is a book of humour, but also of deep humanity.... Great clowns give us amusement, but also have a quality of sadness and great depth. This book has that great duality.
Church Times
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Fergus Butler-Gallie
- Narrator
- Fergus Butler-Gallie
- Duration
- 5 hours 6 minutes
- Release Date
- 23 March 2023
- ISBN
- 9781529194807
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Transworld
- Genre
- Autobiography: religious and spiritual, Memoirs, Anglican and Episcopalian Churches, Humour, Religious social and pastoral thought and activity, Worship, rites, ceremonies and rituals
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin.A laugh-out-loud memoir of becoming a 21st-century priest, Touching Cloth is also a love letter to the Prayer Book, Liverpool, lager, funerals, homemade lemon curd, and, above all, to what the Church of England can be at its best.The very word 'reverend' inspires solemnity. To be a priest is to dedicate one's life to quiet prayer and spiritual contemplation. Isn't it?Fergus Butler-Gallie reveals what it's like to become a priest in the twenty-first century. Find out why black really is slimming, how to keep a straight face when someone is inadvertently hot-boxing a funeral, and which royal-themed biscuit tin can best contain a very loud personal alarm that no one knows how to switch off. Spot a sweet old lady trying to pay for a taxi with coinage from fascist Spain? Congratulations, shepherd, she's your problem now.Behind the daily scrapes is an all-too-human love letter to the Church of England, and the amazing variety of people who manage to keep it going, providing a listening ear, company and community at a time when so many people desperately need it, as well as a reflection on what it means to follow a spiritual path amid the chaos of the modern world.©2023 Fergus Butler-Gallie (P)2023 Penguin Audio
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.