The Road to Grantchester

Bloomsbury presents The Road to Grantchester by James Runcie, read by Joe Jameson.


The captivating prequel to the treasured Grantchester series follows the life, loves, and losses of young Sidney Chambers in postwar London.


It is 1938, and eighteen-year-old Sidney Chambers is dancing the quickstep with Amanda Kendall at her brother Robert's birthday party at the Caledonian Club. No one can believe, on this golden evening, that there could ever be another war.


Returning to London seven years later, Sidney has gained a Military Cross and lost his best friend on the battlefields of Italy. The carefree youth that he and his friends were promised has been blown apart, just like the rest of the world—and Sidney, carrying a terrible, secret guilt, must decide what to do with the rest of his life. But he has heard a call: constant, though quiet, and growing ever more persistent. To the incredulity of his family and the derision of his friends—the irrepressible actor Freddie and the beautiful, vivacious Amanda—Sidney must now negotiate his path to God: the course of which, much like true love, never runs smooth.


The Road to Grantchester will delight new and old fans alike and finally tell the touching, engaging, and surprising origin story of the Grantchester Mysteries' beloved archdeacon.