The Sudan Medical Link

Book Reviews

The Crossway by Guy Stagg (Picador Books, 2018)

A wonderful account of a journey taken by Guy Stagg, who in 2013 walked 51,500 km from Canterbury to Jerusalem . When he was 23, Guy had a nervous breakdown. He says, ‘Afterwards, I was frightened of the city, of lunchtime crowds and rush hour trains and the angry anxious streets.’ A year later he decides to follow an earlier pilgrim, Benoit Joseph (later canonised) and of course countless others. The book is full of the most wonderful detail of the people he meets, the landscapes experienced, many hardships and joys. Each evening he relies on the charity of strangers to give him hospitality. The reader is given wonderful accounts of saints, pilgrims, crusaders and revolutionnaries. As he strides through Macedonia we are told of Christian heresies, including the Bogomils, Manichaeans and the Paulicians. The Crossway is an account of an exterior and interior journey to find peace and healing. A journey to read in lockdown and maybe a physical pilgrimage for the adventurous.

Patricia Orchard

Note from editors

The last book that Alison Francis (see right) recommended ‘The Uncrowned Queen’ has, just to our knowledge, resulted in at least 3 people buying it.