‘One of the best Christmas books of the past few years... both hilarious and unusually elegant in conception and execution.’

– Marcus Berkmann, Spectator

‘Eye-popping tales of lunacy, debauchery and depravity…Butler-Gallie has done a splendid job presenting a smorgasbord of most peculiar parsons.’

– Sebastian Shakespeare, Daily Mail

‘We have…always kept a special haven for oddballs in the Church of England, as Fergus Butler-Gallie demonstrates in this entertaining compendium…Their foibles cover all bases from absentmindedness to epic drunkenness…I’m glad I read this one. It’s a lot of fun.’

– The Times

‘Entertainingly erudite…But it is also a surprisingly profound work…For all its mischief, Butler-Gallie’s work of lightly worn erudition is a paean to a great English institution, finely tuned to the temper of its representatives, good, bad and indifferent. We should treasure it more.’

– Literary Review

‘A humorous compendium of some of the oddball clergy who have served the Church over the centuries...These thumbnail portraits reveal a very broad church indeed.’

– New Statesman

‘The Church of England has produced some real oddballs in its time, and this is an entertaining gallop through several centuries’ worth of them…Butler-Gallie has done his homework, digging out some rare gems…This is the story not just of eccentrics, but also of a leisured age that is no more.’

– Harry Mount, Spectator

‘Wonderfully entertaining…A hilarious yet thoughtful reminder that the Christian faith wasn’t always thought incompatible with a sense of humour or a healthy bolshiness.’

– Sunday Times

‘It may have the makings of a modern classic…Butler-Gallie chronicles not just Anglican follies, but also human weaknesses which we all share and with which we can perhaps sympathise.’

– The Catholic Herald

‘This is a ridiculously enjoyable book: funny, compassionate, and wonderfully well-written.’

– Tom Holland

‘A delightful, sympathetic, humorous and earthed cocktail of quirky English clergy.’

– The Rt Revd David Wilbourne

‘Fabulously enjoyable compendium of the Anglican Church’s most eccentric ministers – who prove to be very eccentric indeed.’

– Reader’s Digest

‘Some of the most riotous misbehaviour in Church of England history is chronicled in this sprightly book.’

– Daily Mail