Sunday Best: Travels through the day of rest

(Hardback)

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Description

An evocative celebration of the seventh day in all its rich variety

Closed shops and roast dinners. Bulky newspapers and the hum of lawnmowers. Strolls to nowhere in particular and visiting snoozing grandparents. Television theme tunes cueing bath time and a sudden dread of the looming week ahead

Through an assortment of rituals and activities, Sundays came to be the unique day in our week whether tedious, pleasant or somewhere in-between. But how did they change over time Has anything interesting ever happened on a Sunday Have we forgotten how to do Sunday And, in our rushed modern lives, should we now try to recapture that distinctive, unhurried Sunday feel

Offering answers to those questions and more through a mix of travelogue and social history, Sunday Best entertainingly charts the story of what author Daniel Gray argues is the Peoples Day. Told through Sundays whiled away in places from the Hebrides to Hyde Park via Sunderland, Scarborough, The Peak District and beyond Grays latest book is a charming journey in time and place. Sunday Best offers nostalgia, peoples history and affectionate, absorbing writing a book drenched in the scent of gravy and summoning the faint sound of church bells.

Reviews

Praise for Daniel Grays work

'Lyrical, amiable and educational.' Stuart Maconie

'Daniel Gray writes with great humour and takes tender delight in the people he meets.' Peter Ross

Delightfully written. Countless little gems of recognition and satisfaction, many of them very funny. A lovely little thing. Daily Telegraph

'Engaging Sprinkled with a digestible amount of social history and commentary.' Daily Mail

Gray is a master of observing and amplifying the things we love but wonder if anyone else even notices. The Times

Gray writes like Lowry paints. Superb BBC Lancashire

A damn good read. Val McDermid

Gray is a master at finding the universal in the local and the profound in the so-called everyday.' Ian McMillan

Author Bio

Daniel Gray is a writer, broadcaster and magazine editor from York. He has published a host of critically acclaimed books on football and social history, edits Nutmeg magazine and presents the When Saturday Comes podcast. Daniel has presented history programmes on television and written for the BBC. The Silence of the Stands was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year at the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023 and Food of the Cods was shortlisted for Debut Food Book of the Year at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards 2024 and was a Guild of Food Writers 2024 Finalist, Food Book of the Year. @d_gray_writer