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'What was it like in the desert, abbot?' asks Rosemary.

And, in a way, this book is his answer.

In the first of the acclaimed Abbot Peter mysteries, Peter takes us to St James, a fragile community in the hot sands of Middle Egypt, peopled by those with nowhere else to take their creaking lives. There in the shadows of Mt Sinai Peter faces deception, delusion and death.

The monastery is already threatened with closure, due to rationalisation. But when a harsh and unpredictable maniac comes to call, people's lives are under threat.

Suddenly, ordered religious practice is disordered, leaving no one unaffected. As events come to a traumatic climax, all have to question their beliefs and make decisions about their lives ... including Abbot Peter.

'It was interesting, ' replies the abbot to Rosemary. 'A slightly bloody retreat.'

I think the book should be banned before it does the image of religion some serious damage.

Ian Hislop, 'Private Eye', 'Have I Got News for You'.

Genuinely funny, tenderly serious - a delightful small novel.

Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence

If you're after a surprising, disturbing, profound, witty magical mystery tour, then this book is for you.

Simon Mayo, Radio Presenter, author.