It is rare to know before reading an author’s first book that you will certainly enjoy it. But having read the insightful reflections of Melanie McDonagh throughout her prolific journalistic career, writing for the Spectator, The Telegraph, The Times and, of course, the Catholic Herald, it was a near certainty – the kind of certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow – that her first book, Converts, would be enjoyable.
Conversion to Catholicism is not a uniquely British phenomenon. From St Josephine Bakhita to Takashi Nagai, the rest of the world has its examples and, during the 20th century, the number of Catholics in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 6,708 per cent.
