“Be who God meant you to be,
and you will set the world on fire."

- Saint Catherine of Siena -

First published in 1940, The Spark in the Reeds is a novel full of a keen awareness of the spiritual value of suffering and a heroic generosity in the desire for the salvation of souls,
it offers a vibrant window into what faith under pressure can be.

When five-year-old Gregory ‘Hirst’ Bocking witnesses the spectacular installation of the new Abbott of Baumgarten in 1794, his young imagination is instantly captivated by the grandeur of the monastic vocation. In a fit of enthusiasm, he implores his mother to bring the monks to their family seat at Carmadon in Devon. 

To realize his dream,
God will ask of him nothing less than everything.