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A Place of Refuge

On sale

2nd July 2015

Price: £20

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Selected: Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781848662483

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Reviews

Alice O'Keefe, Guardian
This is no Hollywood-style tale of redemption and transformation. It is something much more honest: a warts-and-all account of what it is like to try a radically different way of living, and to not only survive, but have real triumphs . . . Thanks to Jones's sense of humour the book rarely feels "worthy", in the pejorative sense, despite the subject matter . . . Admirably erudite, charming and reflective . . . To read this book is to imagine, even if only briefly, that a different way of living might be possible.
Sunday Times
Fascinating and remarkable . . . a study of compassion in action
Mail on Sunday
This is an enjoyable book
The Times
[I was] Amused and moved by this book . . . The Joneses' desire to rescue lost people is both magnificent and astonishing
Observer
Chosen as a summer read by Julian Baggini
Independent
Extremely gripping and moving . . . Often very funny . . . Jones writes beautifully about the changing seasons . . . Each night I looked forward to reading this book. Clearly there is something in our psychological make-up that longs to be part of an 'extended household', breaking bread with strangers. Or - at least - to experience it voyeuristically through the pages of a captivating memoir
Daily Telegraph
There is much beauty in the story of Windsor Hill Wood, the rural idyll that Jones and Fra create together. He manages to take us with him into it . . . Jones is a sublime writer, who has the ability to bring tears to the eye
Press Association
It's a gentle meditation on a brave venture that leaves the reader uplifted and even a little enlightened
Financial Times
It is Jones's humanity and gift for characterisation that make his book so captivating . . . His account rings with universal truths . . . A Place of Refuge asks difficult questions about how often mental illness is connected with the fact that 'community', as it's currently understood, is delivered through a screen
Kate Kellaway, Observer
A wonderful book describing the bosky - sometimes bolshie - community he and his wife set up for allcomers: recovering alcoholics, addicts and anoxerics. It is written with the keenest eye for nature - human and leafy - and a wisdom learned the hard way (perhaps there is no other way)