THE GIRL FROM MONTEGO BAY

The Autobiography of Britain’s First Black Woman Bishop

Written by: Rose Hudson-Wilkin Published by: SPCK Price: £19.99 (eBook £12.99)

This hardback tells the inspiring story of Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Britain’s first black woman bishop, charting her battle to serve from the humblest of upbringings in Jamaica to taking part in the coronation of King Charles III (with an MBE for services to young people and the Church in 2020).

Her sense of call led her to train as an evangelist at the Church Army College in London, where she met her husband Ken.

In her own words she eloquently marries faith with challenge and does not shirk from outlining the issues presented by discrimination, gender and ethnicity. A lesser person might have been downhearted or walked away from the role that she was called to, but instead she faced all the challenges with positive energy and good humour – which shine through in her own personal story.

The book offers an inspiring story of a life well lived – shaped by call and service, leading her most recently to become Bishop of Dover.

The foreword to the book is written by the Most Rev Michael B Curry (who conducted the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex), who writes: ‘The late South African president Nelson Mandela once famously declared: “It always seems impossible until it is done.” His words could easily have been applied to the life of Rose Hudson-Wilkin…. There is a genuine exuberance in her narration that is both contagious and inspiring.’

But although elevated to the role of Britain’s first black woman bishop, the author has a purpose in telling her story as she expresses the hope that similar achievements to her own stop being ‘firsts’ and become run of the mill.

Lynne McNeil