Leaving Alexandria

The prize-winning memoir: “an enlightening walk through a life that encompasses West Africa…rent strikes, the divided self and the question of grace” (Scotland on Sunday, UK).

An international bestseller and winner of the PEN/Ackerley Prize, Ricard Holloway’s candid memoir “is many things. It is a compelling account of a journey through life, told with great frankness; it is a subtle reflection on what it means to live in an imperfect and puzzling world; and it is a highly readable insight into one of the most humane and engaged minds of our times. It is, quite simply, a wonderful book” (Alexander McCall Smith).

At the tender age of fourteen, Richard Holloway left his hometown of Alexandria, north of Glasgow, and travelled hundreds of miles to be educated and trained for the priesthood at an English monastery. By the age of twenty-five he had been ordained and was working in the slums of Glasgow. Through the forty years that followed, Richard touched the lives of many people as he rose to one of the highest positions in the Anglican Church. But behind his confident public faith lay a restless heart and an inquisitive mind.
“Richard Holloway’s memoir is endlessly vivid and fascinating. It’s the record of a mind too large, too curious and far too generous to be confined within any single religious denomination…a delight and inspiration to believers, non-believers, and ex-believers alike.”—Philip Pullman