Michel Quoist does once again what he did with such effect in Prayers of Life. Comprising a series of homilies delivered on French television in recent years, Living Words has all the immediacy and relevance to which millions of Michel Quoist's readers have responded in his previous books. Readers will readily identify with many of the situations he describes: children growing up and growing away from their parents; people trapped by the consumerism of modern society; the 'masks' people assume in order to hide from one another; the tendency to get submerged by the endless and often futile activities of living. All of these and many others are sensitively handled, treated as a jumping-off point for a reflection on the Gospel that brings it into the heart of modern living. Abbe Quoist's pastoral experience has given him a depth of understanding of the difficulties that confront those who genuinely seek to live by the Gospel today. He makes no compromises with dubious modern standards of behaviour but shows how the standard to be found in the Gospels takes account of man's frailty while offering him strength and inspiration in Christ. He shows, compellingly, that the Christian life must have Christ at its centre at all times.