Books & Music

Most of us think that theology is what you do if you haven't got a life. At best, we think it needs to be practical to be of any use. But theology is in fact all about life and how we live it as God's people. No matter how theology-phobic you feel, David...

Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor), Peter Holder (organ) Throughout its history the Church of England has performed the conspicuous role of musical patron, and while this role may have changed in emphasis across the generations, it has...

Who made modern Britain the country it is today? How do we sum up the kind of people we are? What does it mean to be the new Elizabethans? In this wonderfully told history, spanning back to when Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1953, Andrew Marr traces...

A place of plague, pestilence and fire, plus the brutal Blitz and the eye-watering Great Stink. It’s loathsome London as the tourists never see it – with all the hidden horrible bits! Gruesome London takes readers on a gore-tastic tour of the streets of...

A beautiful first introduction to the Bible. Contains 64 tales from the Old and New Testaments, alongside maps of the ancient lands and a comprehensive guide to Biblical characters in order to bring the stories to life. Stunningly illustrated by Elena...

Hyperion CD offer: buy 3 Hyperion CDs for £30. This ambitious recording from Westminster Abbey tells the story of the religious and political turmoil that engulfed England in the sixteenth century, and from which composers of liturgical music could find...

This latest album from Westminster Abbey is a programme of memorial music composed in England and France in the shadow of two World Wars.The main feature is Duruflé’s Requiem, given an astoundingly beautiful performance here, enhanced by distinguished...

Tudor monarchs have consistently attracted more popular and scholarly attention than any other royal dynasty in British history. The peculiar origins of the Tudor family and the improbable saga of their rise and fall and rise again in the centuries...

This brilliant new book explores the lives of eight generations of the greatest kings and queens that this country has ever seen, and the worst. The Plantagenets  – their story is the story of Britain. England’s greatest royal...

Hyperion CD offer: buy 3 Hyperion CDs for £30. It is not known when or for whom William Byrd wrote his monumental ‘Great Service’, but we can be sure that he would approve of this new recording from Westminster Abbey.The ‘Great’ Service is here presented...

A captivating and wildly entertaining tour of London, unearthing the capital's secrets and commemorating its rich, colourful and unusual history. Brimming with tales of London's forgotten past, its strangest traditions and its most eccentric...

In April 1956, C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, married Joy Davidman, an American poet with two small children. After four intensely happy years, Davidman died of cancer and Lewis found himself alone again, and inconsolable. In response,...