Hello, I’m Sarah.
I write about suffering and beauty, theodicy and theology, imagination and the luminous grace of real, disciplined wonder. I love good books and spacious days. I bear a mental illness that dogs me every day and forces me to wrestle hard for my faith. Writing is my journey and craft, my prayer, and my exultation.
I’ve written a number of books (This Beautiful Truth, Reclaiming Quiet), I’ve studied theology (B.Th and MSt from Oxford), I’m a hungry reader, mother to four lively souls, and wife to a handsome Dutchman who also happens to be a priest in the Church of England.
After many years of wandering both in body and soul, I’ve found myself startled and grateful to be settled in a drafty queen of an English Victorian vicarage, with paned glass windows and a willow tree in the wild garden. The church towers benevolently over our home and the bells chime our days into a certain cadence. I am wondrously ‘placed’ in this season, my world ordered by liturgy, bordered by garden fences and old windows, my work a daily immersion in words and cherry trees and the making of young souls. (I also love that Oxford is my slightly larger oyster, with it’s many libraries and excellent flat whites.) This is, as Wendell Berry would say, my ‘place on earth’, and my writing emerges from the countless novels and tomes of theology I read and the liturgies I pray and the quiet (as often as I can make it) life I lead here in the vicarage with my family.
My posts are all free to all readers. However, a number of people asked how they could support my writing, so I have enabled subscriptions as a way of making that possible. Subscribers are more like patrons, supporting my work, but there is no exclusive content with a subscription. I am deeply grateful in this season of stretched resources and local ministry for any support that comes our way, but also just thankful for the sheer, happy grace of having readers at all.
Regular posts include:
From the Vicarage newsletter
BBT, or Books/Beauty/Theology, a feature in which I share my most recent and favourite finds in each listed category. Mini reviews and shared discoveries, really.
Longer, stand-alone essays on topics that move me, usually themed around questions of narrative and beauty, suffering and theodicy, the fight for quiet and the grace of ordinary splendour. Subscribe here to receive all my posts, news of any online events I plan to host, and announcements regarding my latest books.
You can also find me on:
Patreon: The Book Girl Fellowship (a literary fellowship where I host regular talks about great books)
Crowdcast: Sarah Clarkson (my event platform where I host occasional retreats and lectures)
These are my books:
