Only Strange People Go to Church

by Laura Marney

Divine comedy...a joyous celebration of human imperfection (Louise Welsh). By the author of No Wonder I Take a Drink - voted one of the Top 20 Scottish books of all time. Maria's job is to support Blue Group, an unruly crew of service users. But she might just have bitten off more than she can chew when she suggests they put on a large-scale community show. The venue for the show is to be Ray's workshop, a deconsecrated church where she's constantly distracted by local oddballs and Dezzie, her handsome colleague. Maria soon faces moral dilemmas that would curl a bishop's hair. If she does 'the right thing' she'll wreck careers and break hearts - but what's 'the right thing' anyway? Who decides who's allowed to love who? And can Ray even be trusted?

Genres: Fiction

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 3, 2006

About the author

The author of four novels and numerous short stories, Laura Marney is a member of the Glasgow G7 group of writers (Alan Bissett, Nick Brookes, Rodge Glass, Laura Marney, Alison Miller, Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh).

Born and brought up in Glasgow, Marney co-founded a theatre group there. Since "nobody else could be bothered", she also began writing scripts for the company.

Marney is a graduate of the MLitt course in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, and now teaches there. Her writing has been described as both black humour and chick-lit. She also writes for radio.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite some adult content (mostly sexual references) I really enjoyed this book. It dealt with difficult issues such as discrimination, social cohesion, disability, religion and relationships in a humorous way. It gave me a lot to think about, as well as quite a few laughs.

[Sary Fairchild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I really really like this book. Were it not for the fact that there were TOO MANY unanswered questions at the end of the book, I'd have given it a 5. I absolutely love Ray. And the neds are great, too. And the Can Can Grans. But Dezzie is an idiot.

[Viv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, refreshing and Glaswegian!

[AmyStace]

Very silly, and the main characters made me angry too as I like to assume that no-one could be that stupid in real life! ;)

[Lucy Mccullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny & sad.A nice easy read.

[Gina Freeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read a bit but couldn't be bothered sorry... Life is too short and too many good books to read

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and well written.