Sue Ryder: A Life Lived for Others by Joanna Bogle (Gracewing 2022: £12.99)

England’s most recent saint, John Henry Newman, canonised by Pope Francis in 2019 reflected on the need for charity and service to all peoples in his words I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between all peoples. This thought is epitomised in the life of Sue Ryder (1924-2000) by her support of the sick and the disabled in many countries after the Second World War. Joanna Bogle skilfully recounts the achievements of this remarkable woman who cared from her heart for those in need. Great individuals are often modest at what they have completed in their lives. This humility combined with vision of a kinder and more loving world where, as Elizabeth Cheshire, writes of her mother in the foreword to this book she had an unshakeable belief that great things could be achieved for the common good, and this together with her strong Christian faith, guided her life and all she did.