CR spoke with author Michele Guinness

Michele Guinness

Five years from now, the Church of England is on its knees. Yet one woman is making a difference, and when she is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, anything could happen.

Vicky Burnham-Woods is a master of diplomacy, and deeply committed to bringing the Church back into the heart of community and cultural life - but not everyone wants a woman at the top, and behind the scenes dark forces are moving.

Can the first ever female Archbishop of Canterbury last long enough to achieve her mission?

Emily Graves spoke with author Michele Guinness to find out.

Emily: So first of all just tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Michele: Well, I come from a Jewish family and became a Christian when I was around 17 through reading the New Testament, which was a bit of experience in itself. I read it under the bedclothes by torchlight because it was a forbidden book. I had the New Testament, John's Gospel, on one side and Lady Chatterley on the other - and John's Gospel won. I was just so blown away by the person of Jesus - I didn't even know he was Jewish - and eventually realised that this man spoke all the truth that I ever wanted to hear and to know and that I'd been looking for. I ended up married to an Anglican clergyman, which was a bit of a shock to my family, on top of all the other shocks that they'd had. I became a writer slowly. I think I've written 13 books now, but I fell into it; I haven't even got an English A-level - so it just shows what God can do in somebody's life. I'm one of the least likely writers in the world, but I did end up earning my living working by my writing, in the NHS primarily and doing communications for the NHS.

Emily: And so you came out of the NHS and you became a full-time writer?

Michele: Yes I did that just a few years ago. I decided to bite the bullet and when there was yet another change - the Government was tinkering yet again with the system - I decided I didn't want to do yet another job in 12 years, I think I've done about four, and decided I would write full-time at home.

Emily: So this is your first novel isn't it, 'Archbishop'?

Michele: Yeah, it's been like pulling teeth.

Emily: Well, considering as you said, it was pulling teeth, it's a brilliant book and I've certainly enjoyed reading it - but what is 'Archbishop' about? Just to give people a bit of a synopsis.

Michele: Well I set off to write a kind of straightforward autobiography of the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury - and then it metamorphosed into something very different, because around her developed all kinds of intrigue and deceit and dark forces that wanted to pull her down, which I kind of think was inevitable because here was this very, well what the newspapers referred to as a "breath of fresh air", "very bright spark", "very charismatic figure", very visionary, who really had plans to change the Church and to make it a key focus in the life of the people and bring hope to the British nation again - and inevitably that engenders a lot of antagonism from a few in various key places.

Emily: So the main character is a lady called Vicky. What is it that you love about her as a character?

Michele: She's everything I ever wanted to be. People say: "Is she you?" and I think to myself: "No, no, no". For a start I could never have been ordained, I could never have been a church minister: I just haven't got the patience. I'm not good at decision-making either: I never know what to wear in the morning, let alone make huge decisions that impact the Church and the nation. I think she has enormous inner strength and yet she's incredibly honest and incredibly vulnerable and I tried to create a different leader.