Description
Book Synopsis‘We are all on a journey. None of us knows where ours will take us, and when we do, and it is over, we will not be able to tell anyone what it all meant, or where it took us. This is the goal of our pilgrimage, a journey of unknowing, where what we thought we knew turns out to have been a shadow of a something leading us ever forward, ever deeper. ‘Crossroad is a story that cannot be finished yet; a story of journeys, mostly on foot, through places that in this present resonate with the lives lived in them in their long past: a shingle beach in Norfolk, a river in Cambridgeshire, a hill in what was Westmorland and an island in present Cumbria, a cave on an island in ancient Dalriata, in Iona, and Lindisfarne.’ ~ In this beautifully-written book, Charles Moseley invites you to share with him many journeys, each in their way a kind of pilgrim quest. You can read them as a guide for you to follow, literally, in his footsteps – to Iona, Lindisfarne, Walsingham, Aran. Or you can walk alongside him in the spirit of faltering honesty, wry humour, spiritual questing, and the ever-present appreciation of landscape, ancient resonances, a tasty sandwich, a pair of good boots and a trusty stick.
Trade Review'Crossroad is an extended meditation on the meaning of journeying, illuminated by a lifetime of wide and varied reading, and centred round a vividly recorded walk from the Cambridgeshire Fens to the ancient shrine of the Virgin at Walsingham. Charles Moseley’s evocative reflections on significant places and memorable personal encounters invite the reader to their own inner pilgrimage, in the company of a wise, witty and deliciously garrulous guide.' -- Eamon Duffy
‘It is a delight. I love the way the worlds ‘bleed’ into each other – the physical world, the worlds of Charles Moseley’s memory and of his knowledge. No one else would see what he sees as he walks, because no one else would have those same connections; and yet he can share them, and help us see them, and then add our own world in as well. I found all of this a deeply helpful reflection.’ -- Jane Williams
‘Charley Moseley has written a tale that could have only been lived and walked. To give us access to his sense-making journey towards understanding life and the deeper mysteries, Moseley deftly employs the practice and metaphor of pilgrimage. This book is an erudite exploration of history, landscape and personal meaning. The various strands of chapters of pilgrimages to islands, shrines, rivers and hills each provide their different wisdom.’ -- Guy Hayward, Director and Co-Founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust
