This book is not 'easy reading' but it totally gripped and absorbed me from beginning to end. I remembered two things about Thomas Cranmer from my study of church history many years ago: that he was Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and that he was burnt to death as a heretic at Oxford. Jonathan Dean skilfully uses Cranmer's writings to help us get to know this remarkable man. These writings include not just the liturgy which was the foundation of the two books of Common Prayer of 1549 and 1552 but also some of his homilies, letters and official doctrinal statements. With the help of Jonathan's introduction and his comments throughout the text, I came to understand Cranmer's key role as a reformer and founder of the Church of England, and his influence on Anglican theology and spirituality which continues to this day. His sermons and writings reveal the gradual evolution of his own theology and understanding of the Scriptures and his attempts to bring the basic reformation truths to the 'ordinary ' people throughout the land. Cranmer's last weeks and days were memorably recorded by the martyrologist John Foxe, and quoted in full in the penultimate chapter of the book. Reading about Cranmer's 'degradation' from his archiepiscopal status, his suffering in confinement and then his dramatic renunciation of his recantations, moved me deeply. A book well worth reading.