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Peter Francis has been the Warden of Gladstone’s Library at Hawarden in Flintshire for twenty-five years. Built in memory of the great Victorian prime minister, today it’s Britain’s only residential library. With over 200, 000 books, reading rooms and ‘Writer-in-Residence’ schemes, in the present day it’s a place for retreat, reflection and a home for the intellectually curious.

Peter Francis is also an Anglican Priest. Throughout his career, from his ministry as a chaplain in the East End of London to Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, he’s pursued a vision of an inclusive church. He’s a person who has always questioned orthodoxy, and has been closely involved with the movement for the ordination of women. This questioning has led him to great soul searching, and today he holds an understanding of Christianity without supernatural elements. He tells his story in a new book called ‘The Widening Circle of Us: a Theological Memoir.’