Shattered — Tom Wilson

For Paul, the death of his parents had shattered all his old certainties. There was a time when he could confidently fulfil his duties as an Anglican vicar, administering the last rites, officiating at cremations, burials, scattering of ashes and comforting the bereaved. But now he could barely control the weasel of doubt that was gnawing away at his self-belief, let alone engage in any public ministry. When a prominent member of his congregation died, her atheist husband John managed to set Paul on the first steps of a road towards possible recovery. A new member of the church, with her husband's ashes in a diamond around her neck, asked to form a small group to talk more about death. Would this be Paul's salvation or his destruction? Can lives shattered by death ever be rebuilt?