Read more
From country vicar and author of Indie Bookshop bestseller Tales of a Country Parish This is a book that champions the merits of being a misfit. Drawing on his own experience of feeling like an outsider, from a lonely and troubled schoolboy to a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, to an ''awkward'' priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging... We all begin with a map. Itineraries, routes and prospects are laid out for us from birth. We read these maps in our family trees, CVs and institutions. They''re the grid references we lay over our lives, providing frameworks for where we fit in and what''s expected of us. And woe betide anyone who steps off the map... there be dragons. There''s reassurance and safety in knowing where we are and where we belong. A sense of belonging is important to us all, of course - but in this beautiful, quietly electrifying book, Colin investigates the possibility that there''s profound and creative value in feeling lost, in knowing ourselves to be strangers in a strange land. And there''s nowhere stranger, it turns out, than a rural Church of England parish in the first half of the twenty-first century. Combining vignettes and anecdotes from parish life, with mythology, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an often overlooked richness and a power to being the odd one out. Lost in the Forest is a gentle, funny, and life-affirming exploration of how we lose and find ourselves. Maps are useful. But there''s wisdom in getting lost.
About the author
Rev Dr Colin Heber Percy is the parish priest for Pewsey, Wiltshire, as well as a screenwriter and author. His screenwriting work has won many awards and been shown all over the world. He has a PhD in medieval metaphysics and has lectured on spirituality, faith, film, and fiction. He lives in Wiltshire with his wife and three children.
