Background
Simon Parke was born on July 29, 1957, in Sussex, England, United Kingdom. He is a son of Gordon and Eunice.
Oxford University, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Simon Parke holds a degree in history from Oxford University.
Oxford University, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Simon Parke holds a degree in history from Oxford University.
(Abbot Peter has enough on his plate frankly. His monaster...)
Abbot Peter has enough on his plate frankly. His monastery of St. James the Less is due for closure. Stuck amid the outer reaches of large desert nowhere, it wasn't deemed to be scoring very high on its performance indicators. And then there were the staff changes which really only increased the pressure on an abbot already wavering on the fundamentals of the faith and some hugely demanding pilgrims who had come to the desert because there was nowhere else to take their creaking lives. Amidst all this a mini family saga is lived out, there's some surprising sex and the issue of cradle songs becomes increasingly pressing, as does the search for a ladder; a ladder to God whoever He or She may be. All in all, it is a desert tale which adds up to an ascent of sorts and a strange epiphany. But should the truth really cost this much?
https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Ascent-Brief-History-Eternity/dp/0340693975/?tag=2022091-20
1997
(In this book, Jenny Jewel, a stand-up comic from Britain,...)
In this book, Jenny Jewel, a stand-up comic from Britain, goes on a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai and, in the words of a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "gets a heavier dose of religion than she bargained for."
https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Child-Just-Amusing-Nightmare/dp/B00A19WRAQ/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(Wake up your mind and soul with a mini-meditation! Need a...)
Wake up your mind and soul with a mini-meditation! Need a break from the mayhem of the modern world? Sometimes all you need is to give yourself permission to pause. You’re not looking for easy answers or quick fixes; but you haven’t given up on truth – truth that is deep enough to hold and transform the realities you live with every day. So why not try these simple steps? Simon Parke draws on his popular column in the Daily Mail to open you to wide doors of awareness and possibility. One-Minute Mystic gives meditations for those who like to pause, but who don't always know how to, or what to pause with. Just find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed, read through the meditation a few times, and allow its simple wisdom to inspire a shift within you.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Mystic-Simon-Parke-ebook/dp/B0058J5314/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(We all grow up somewhere. No two families are the same, b...)
We all grow up somewhere. No two families are the same, but everyone experiences them in some way. What everyone doesn't do, however, is consider the effect of these experiences on the person they become. This lack of awareness can have significant consequences in their future relationships in the world. Forsaking the family, full of story and illustration, starts by considering the surprising approach of Jesus to his own family – in turns, rude, dismissive and warm. His family values would hardly be applauded today. The book then reflects on how we perceive, understand and grow from our family experiences. In his search for freedom, Jesus sought always the truth – even in the family, and even at the expense of people's feelings. He celebrated the good in family, but would not collude in manipulative and negative behaviour from his nearest and dearest. To what extent are we able to live in honest relationships? How free can we be in relating? Perhaps sometimes, you have to leave the family to find it. This is a book for those who want to come home.
https://www.amazon.com/Forsaking-family-Simon-Parke-ebook/dp/B0061NVPBI/?tag=2022091-20
2005
(The idea for the book came to Simon Parke while on a trai...)
The idea for the book came to Simon Parke while on a train from Edinburgh to London. He had been leading a weekend on the Old Testament's Ten Commandments, and felt uneasy. What had struck him, was the fact that while the commandments demand that we be good, they don't tell us how to be good. 'They tell us what to do,' says Parke, 'but not how to be - and how to be is the more important of the two, as all our doing arises from our being. Much psychological discomfort stems from the unbridged chasm between the two."
https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Life-Commandments-Because-Better/dp/B0030V51IC/?tag=2022091-20
2007
(The Enneagram is a time-honoured way of understanding per...)
The Enneagram is a time-honoured way of understanding personality types and human behavior. It is both ancient and modern. Developed over 1500 years by Sufi and Christian mystics, it was revised and extensively expanded in the 20th century by the disciplines and insights of Western psychology. It identifies nine types of personality, nine ways of being, describes how they interrelate and is widely used today as a perceptive guide to self-understanding. In this original and thought-provoking book 'Enneagram' unveils her insights in the form of letters to and from enquirers. These finely-drawn portraits of the nine faces of humanity will not only give you a deeper understanding of who you are but will also guide you through the complex inner world of others.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OWPC8M/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(A vicar for twenty years, Simon Parke trades in his dog c...)
A vicar for twenty years, Simon Parke trades in his dog collar for a job on the tills in his local supermarket. Among the vegetable aisles and dairy produce he unpacks the meaning of life with his fellow workers, a colourful bunch. Sonny the security guard hates conflict; shelf-filler Winston knows he is destined for something better; and voluptuous Faith is generous with her wares - but sadly not with Simon. You don't have to be off your trolley to work there, but it helps... From checkout charlies to banana rage, from short-changed lows to cold store highs, Shelf Life is a pick-n-mix of wit and wisdom for anyone who loves life and hopes for more - no matter where they find themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Life-Meaning-Stacking-Supermarket-ebook/dp/B0031RSB6O/?tag=2022091-20
2009
("Conversations with Van Gogh" is an imagined conversation...)
"Conversations with Van Gogh" is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Van Gogh’s words are not; they are all authentically his. ‘‘Speaking with Vincent – which he insists on being called – was a privilege,’ says Simon Parke. ‘He’s endlessly fascinating, contradictory, moving, funny, insightful and tragic. There’s a fury in him; but also a great kindness. He found harmony in human relationships elusive; his love life was a painful shambles. But with colour, he was a harmonic genius, and he has much to say about this. And here’s the thing: for a man who killed himself – he died in the arms of his brother on July 29th - spending time with him was never anything but life-affirming.’
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Van-Gogh-Vincent-ebook/dp/B003BIGGCE/?tag=2022091-20
2010
('Conversations with Meister Eckhart' is an imagined conve...)
'Conversations with Meister Eckhart' is an imagined conversation with this 13th century mystic, around such themes as detachment, which he famously placed above love; spirituality, God, the soul and suffering. But while the conversation is imagined, Eckhart’s words are not; they are authentically his own. One of his controversial claims was that God cannot be described. Indeed, in one sermon, he went so far as to say 'We must take leave of God.'
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Meister-Eckhart-Conversation-ebook/dp/B003A83EN4/?tag=2022091-20
2010
('Conversations with Mozart' is an imagined conversation w...)
'Conversations with Mozart' is an imagined conversation with the man behind the music who died largely unnoticed at the age of 35. But while the questions are imagined, Mozart’s words are not; they are all authentically his, taken from his many letters.
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Mozart-Wolfgang-Amadeus-ebook/dp/B0046H9III/?tag=2022091-20
2010
('Conversations with Conan Doyle' is an imagined conversat...)
'Conversations with Conan Doyle' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Doyle’s words are not; they are all authentically his. ‘For many, Conan Doyle’s commitment to spiritualism is an embarrassing aberration,’ says Simon Parke. ‘They want him to go back and just be the creator of Sherlock Holmes. But people don’t fit into boxes, and Doyle certainly doesn’t! So I want people to meet the man, hear him speak – and then make up their own minds. He’s often passionate; but never dull.'
https://www.amazon.com/Conversation-Arthur-Conan-Doyle-ebook/dp/B003A83EHA/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(In 'Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth', the questions ...)
In 'Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth', the questions are imagined, but the words of Jesus are not; they are authentically his, taken from the various records of his life in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Thomas. Jesus himself never wrote anything down, but in a culture of oral transmission, his words, deeds and stories were well-remembered, and it’s not hard to see why.
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Jesus-Nazareth-ebook/dp/B0041KL6XU/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(In 'Conversations with Leo Tolstoy', Simon Parke grants u...)
In 'Conversations with Leo Tolstoy', Simon Parke grants us the honour of sitting with the great man, towards the end of his life; and gives us the chance to chat with him. The conversation is imagined, but not Tolstoy’s answers. This is Tolstoy is his own words, drawn from his extensive books, essays and letters; and the military, vegetarianism, marriage, non-violence, death, God and sex are all on the agenda.
https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Leo-Tolstoy-Simon-Parke-ebook/dp/B003A83EQG/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Sometimes we can lose touch with ourselves so much that w...)
Sometimes we can lose touch with ourselves so much that we don't even know we have done so, until suddenly we realize with a start that we have just been going through the motions, without really experiencing our lives. The simple fact is that in today's world, we spend so much time looking forward, rushing on to the next thing, or looking backwards, stressing and worrying about our perceived mistakes, that we rarely still ourselves and our minds enough to be truly in the present moment. In One-Minute Mindfulness, Simon Parke uses stories and simple thoughts to help us see through clear eyes how we can return to the present moment and remain there.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Minute-Mindfulness-How-Live-Moment/dp/1781804966/?tag=prabook0b-20
2011
(This book offers ten new commandments for coping with the...)
This book offers ten new commandments for coping with the stresses, strains, and pressures of modern life. These ten new commandments are ten skilful attitudes for the attainment of your true self.
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Home-Commandments-Discovering-Your-ebook/dp/B004V3ZQI8/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(Times have changed since John Bunyan wrote his classic Pi...)
Times have changed since John Bunyan wrote his classic Pilgrim’s Progress, telling of Pilgrim’s journey up Hill Difficult and through the Slough of Despond to the Celestial City. Yet people in their millions still seek meaning in their lives and speak of journeying towards a goal. Everyone on earth seeks a heaven. This is the story of the journey of Pippa, a 21st-century Pilgrim. Simon Parke’s witty and insightful modern-day re-telling of Pilgrim’s Progress follows the original’s premise of a pilgrim’s journey to heaven, but this time through the trials and temptations of our secularised, multi-cultural society. Pippa’s challenges along the way include the Rock of Subconscious, the Cliff of Hopelessness, the Fabulous Fame Game, the Sea of Identity and, of course, Heaven.
https://www.amazon.com/Pippas-Progress-Simon-Parke-ebook/dp/B073BRDL4Y/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(Henry House, an Elizabethan manor, is now occupied by Min...)
Henry House, an Elizabethan manor, is now occupied by Mind Gains, a new therapy centre in Stormhaven. But a Halloween party for staff and clients ends in gruesome and bloody murder. Once again, retired monk Abbot Peter and his niece Detective Inspector Tamsin Shah are called upon to solve the mystery.
https://www.amazon.com/Psychiatrist-Screams-Abbot-Peter-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0736PNLPT/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Abbot Peter has recently swapped his failing leadership o...)
Abbot Peter has recently swapped his failing leadership of a remote monastery in the Sinai desert for retirement in the bleak and stormy English seaside town of Stormhaven. When the charismatic local vicar is discovered dead – crucified, naked, to a cross on the vestry wall – Abbot Peter is invited to act as a Special Witness investigator. He is assigned to work alongside Detective Inspector Tamsin Shah – young, pretty, brash, unsentimental and, by a peculiar quirk of fate, a niece that Abbot Peter never knew he had. A cast of suspects to the murder of Rev. Adam Fontaine is quickly revealed from within the church’s own community – including the formidable flower-arranger, the egotistical bishop, the compassionate curate, the irascible youth worker, and the frustrated treasurer. Nine people were at the meeting that immediately preceded the vicar’s shocking death. Could the mystical nine-point Enneagram revered by the father he never knew help Abbot Peter uncover the murderer? More deaths will follow before he discovers the answer.
https://www.amazon.com/Vicar-Crucified-Abbot-Peter-Mystery-ebook/dp/B073BRMB14/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(When the curtains of the Bell Theatre open for the second...)
When the curtains of the Bell Theatre open for the second half of Mother’s Day, a new play commissioned for the venue’s thirtieth anniversary, the lifeless body of theatre director Hermione Bysshe-Urquhart MBE is revealed. Within the startled audience sit retired monk Abbot Peter and his guest for the evening, Detective Inspector Tamsin Shah. Tamsin and Peter undertake a new murder investigation among the cast and crew of the theatre, a struggling pro-am business operating from a converted church on the cliffs of the derelict seaside town of Stormhaven. Dark secrets from the past will be unearthed, some lying deeper than others. A Director's, Cut is the third Abbot Peter Mystery, the first being A Vicar, Crucified, the second A Psychiatrist, Screams - all authored by award-winning script-writer, Simon Parke.
https://www.amazon.com/Directors-Cut-Abbot-Peter-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01AV0CM5O/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(A book of short meditations for use wherever you find you...)
A book of short meditations for use wherever you find yourself - on the bus, at the doctors, in your bedroom or by the pool. The third in Simon's One Minute trilogy, it's an invitation, in your busy life, to Pause. Read. Live. For truth-seekers who value awareness in their life... but don't have all day.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Meditation-Simon-Parke/dp/1910121037/?tag=2022091-20
2014
('Excellence by the Sea' is the strap line in Stormhaven T...)
'Excellence by the Sea' is the strap line in Stormhaven Towers school’s publicity, but when, at the end of the summer term, the hard-drinking, hard-smoking new Headmaster, Jamie King, is found dead at the bottom of the town’s famous white cliffs, this excellence comes under savage scrutiny. Suicide is assumed at first - King wouldn’t be the first tormented soul to hit those unforgiving rocks. But unanswered questions remain. Forensics find no phone by the body and the head always had his mobile with him: ‘I wouldn’t want to be out when Eton ring!’ he used to joke. Then there is a second death at the school. With the pursuit of excellence exchanged for the pursuit of a killer who is both clever and efficient, the long dark corridors of Stormhaven Towers become an education in fear. Who will be next?
https://www.amazon.com/Very-Public-School-Murder-ebook/dp/B01D5MP4UK/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(The Stormhaven Etiquette Society, a secretive affair, una...)
The Stormhaven Etiquette Society, a secretive affair, unafraid to name and shame those who transgress; Model Services, the town’s only brothel, a discreet but busy presence in Church Street; Bybuckle Asylum, a desolate shell on the seafront that housed over seven hundred mental patients prior to ‘care in the community’. What brings these three together is a cold-blooded execution that both shocks and confounds. For lying dead in the empty asylum, tied to an old metal bed frame, is a pillar of the establishment. Or is she? Sleuthing couple DI Tamsin Shah and her remarkable cleric uncle join forces once again to solve a murder mystery that reveals dark secrets from Abbot Peter’s tempestuous student years.
https://www.amazon.com/Indecent-Death-Madam-Abbot-Mystery-ebook/dp/B074X6CM1D/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(January 30th, 1649. England is not a country that wishes ...)
January 30th, 1649. England is not a country that wishes to execute its divinely-appointed king. Yet Charles 1 finds himself shivering on a scaffold in Whitehall, with the axeman by his side... In this brilliantly atmospheric novel, Simon Parke explores one of the most gripping tales in English history. He weaves together the four coinciding stories of Charles, including his extraordinary year-long imprisonment on the Isle of Wight... Robert Hammond, the poor man who found himself the king’s gaoler... Charles’ remarkable mistress (written out of the records), the super-spy Jane Whorwood... and of course, the brilliant and depressed Oliver Cromwell, who is working through his own demons of religion, politics, love, and death.
https://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Gaoler-Spy-her-Lover-ebook/dp/B06XSHC8KH/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(In the first of the acclaimed Abbot Peter mysteries – a p...)
In the first of the acclaimed Abbot Peter mysteries – a prequel to his Stormhaven adventures – Peter takes us back to the monastery of St James-the-Less. It’s a fragile community in the hot sands of Middle Egypt, peopled by those with nowhere else to take their creaking lives. And there in the shadows of Mt Sinai, Peter faces a discomforting cocktail of deception, delusion, and death. The monastery is already threatened with closure, due to rationalisation. But when a harsh and unpredictable maniac comes to call, peoples’ very lives are under threat. Suddenly, ordered religious practice is disordered, leaving no one unaffected. As events come to a traumatic climax, all have to question their beliefs and make decisions about their lives… including Abbot Peter.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797TLFSZ/?tag=2022091-20
2018
(Julian of Norwich was the first woman in the world to wri...)
Julian of Norwich was the first woman in the world to write a book in English, and yet had largely disappeared from view until her rediscovery during the twentieth century. A fourteenth century anchoress in Norwich, she lived in a cell for forty years, surrounded by savage plague, political inequality and religious bigotry. Yet Julian gave the world one of its most famous calls to hope: ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.’ Who was she? Why did she pray for a near-death experience and then choose containment in a cell? And how did she come to speak with such optimism? In The Secret Testament of Julian, she tells her own story, full of difficulty and joy. No plaster saint, but a flesh and blood woman who from the silence of her cell speaks with a strength that few today can equal. Let Julian tell her story.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Testament-Julian-Simon-Parke/dp/1786770679
2018
Simon Parke was born on July 29, 1957, in Sussex, England, United Kingdom. He is a son of Gordon and Eunice.
Simon Parke holds a degree in history from Oxford University.
While at university, Simon Parke became involved in the dismantling business of satire, producing scripts for TV and radio, including Spitting Image. Simon was a priest in the Church of England for twenty years, serving in three London parishes, which was "an enormous privilege". It was an uncomfortable surprise when Simon felt that adventure to be over. He’d expected to be a priest all his life and finding work was difficult. He ended up working for three years in a supermarket, where he stacked shelves, worked on the tills and on the bakery.
Since then, he has been a freelance writer, therapist and retreat giver for eleven years. He wrote a weekly column in the Daily Mail for four years, and was a columnist for the Church Times for eleven years.
(The Stormhaven Etiquette Society, a secretive affair, una...)
2017('Excellence by the Sea' is the strap line in Stormhaven T...)
2016(In 'Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth', the questions ...)
2010(When the curtains of the Bell Theatre open for the second...)
2014(Sometimes we can lose touch with ourselves so much that w...)
2011('Conversations with Meister Eckhart' is an imagined conve...)
2010(In this book, Jenny Jewel, a stand-up comic from Britain,...)
1998(Times have changed since John Bunyan wrote his classic Pi...)
2012(Abbot Peter has recently swapped his failing leadership o...)
2013(Julian of Norwich was the first woman in the world to wri...)
2018(In 'Conversations with Leo Tolstoy', Simon Parke grants u...)
2010(Wake up your mind and soul with a mini-meditation! Need a...)
1999(In the first of the acclaimed Abbot Peter mysteries – a p...)
2018('Conversations with Mozart' is an imagined conversation w...)
2010(A book of short meditations for use wherever you find you...)
2014(A vicar for twenty years, Simon Parke trades in his dog c...)
2009(This book offers ten new commandments for coping with the...)
2011(Henry House, an Elizabethan manor, is now occupied by Min...)
2013(The Enneagram is a time-honoured way of understanding per...)
2008('Conversations with Conan Doyle' is an imagined conversat...)
2010("Conversations with Van Gogh" is an imagined conversation...)
2010(The idea for the book came to Simon Parke while on a trai...)
2007(Abbot Peter has enough on his plate frankly. His monaster...)
1997(We all grow up somewhere. No two families are the same, b...)
2005(January 30th, 1649. England is not a country that wishes ...)
2017Simon Parke is a member of the Church of England.
Simon Parke enjoys running long distances, the changing seasons, the white cliffs, the island of Rhodes, Christmas trees, reading, football, frost on leaves, roses, a fire in the hearth. His favourite author is Hilary Mantel; favourite TV detective, Foyle; favourite TV comedy, The Office; favourite musical, Les Miserables – he has seen it six times; favourite painters, J.M.W. Turner, Caspar Friedrich and Van Gogh. He now likes to sit at the piano and sing a bit himself.
In December 1981 Simon Parke was to married Joy. They have two children: Chloe and Harry. Currently, he is married the second time.
