Well written, heart-warming, encouraging and challenging. - Chris, South West of England

I was given this book by a relative of the author, so felt obliged to read it! I generally dislike all ‘self-help’ type books and finding that this title dealt with grief only compounded my dislike. However, it’s much more a (deeply) personal account, well and comfortably written by a very smart bloke who resists what I think of as a ‘self-help’ style. God of the Valley is Steve Griffiths story of how he lost both his wife and sister to cancer in the same year – his wife, Clare, having spent some years fighting a brain tumour. The subtitle describes the book succinctly: A Journey Through Grief. It describes Steve Griffiths’ grieving, how he coped with it – or not – and how it affected his life and faith (as well as that of his young daughter). It was of poignant interest to me because my mum died because of a “cerebral glioma” (brain tumour to you and me) in 2002. Steve Griffiths says that several people counselled him not to write this book until he was completely over the grieving process. He notes that ‘even now, a year after Clare’s death, I still have regular episodes of confusion. My mind cannot focus. I feel tearful.’ But he also notes that writing God of the Valley was a cleansing and purifying process in itself, and that the power comes from bearing witness to the struggle from within the battle – not from celebrating the victory afterwards. (Which is where, I believe, many ‘self-help’ books fail miserably.) In describing his journey through grief, Steve Griffiths uses many biblical stories to illustrate and explain his own feelings, and his faith during this time. Like many, perhaps, he seems to make the point that during these times, one does not suddenly say ‘I don’t believe in God anymore’, one says, ‘I hate you, God’. The gent who gave me his copy of this book describes himself as “not religious at all”, and said he just skipped all the Bible bits. Commendable! But there is still some heart-warming encouragement and much very useful explanation of the whole grieving process without the ‘Bible bits’. Grief is surprisingly complicated – and the ‘Bible bits’ really do help – but Steve Griffiths honest and powerful description of his own grieving is well explained. We are all exposed to grief at some point and the effects are profound, even if we’re not aware of it. This little book really helped me start to address my own issues which resulted from (or were compounded by) grief. A great, great little book!