Grenfell Hope

Gaby and her husband Sean and their four children live in a flat across from Grenfell Tower, and Sean (a Church of England minister) was the first clergy person on the scene. This book stems from personal experience of the impact of the fire. It features the testimony of and commentary on the community that experienced it, and the amazing stories of hope that followed in its wake. 

Grenfell Hope will help readers understand what it was like living in North Kensington before and after the fire. It will help engage the reader with poverty issues, to examine attitudes to the poor and to consider how even small gestures in everyday life can change local communities.

In the desperate situation of the fire, God was at work in people’s hearts bringing hope in tiny gestures that mounted up to something enormous. Hope that couldn’t be ignored or even contained. Hope sprang out all over the country.

·  This book does not gloss over the tragedy, the bitterness and the hard political questions that surround the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower. But by telling the stories of individuals, allowing them their voice, Gaby Doherty shows us that there is always hope. Hope challenges the past and the present, demanding change; hope energises, enables and refuses to be silent. This is a powerful, challenging and hopeful book, but only if we are prepared to take our part, not to stand by as onlookers. - Dr Jane Williams, Assistant Dean, St Mellitus College

·  No one can forget the images of 14th June 2017, nor the sense of shock, incredulity, pain and helplessness at the scale of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. This book is a fitting testament to a wonderfully diverse and powerfully resilient community caught up in and seeking to overcome the effects of that catastrophe. Gaby weaves her family’s own story of loss into a wider narrative which describes the events from many perspectives and points to the ways in which ordinary people responded to promptings to ‘do something’ with remarkable and life changing effects. The pain and sorrow are palpable but Gaby also infuses the pages with warmth, humour, realism and, above all, hope. - Caroline Welby

·  Ordinary people lost their lives and homes in the horrendous Grenfell Tower disaster. Ordinary people also have picked up the task of support and survival, working for a more hopeful future for others caught up in the system of unfairness and neglect. Gaby Doherty sees herself as an ordinary person, but, like many of those she writes about, has a vision for justice rooted in powerful faith and hope. The multiple personal narratives in this compassionate book are woven skillfully together to produce a challenging reminder of the significance of people’s lives and communities, and to make us resolved to work for a future which is more just and loving. - Dr Elaine Storkey, author of Scars Across Humanity

·  Gaby Doherty writes movingly from first-hand experience of the Grenfell Tower fire and its aftermath. Without minimising the horror of what happens she tells stories of hope in the midst of tragedy. - Revd Nicky Gumbel, vicar, Holy Trinity Brompton

·  This is an inspirational story which combines the vividness of eye witness reporting with deep spiritual insights and perceptive social commentary. One brilliant chapter, The cavalry wore dog collars, shows how effectively the faith community served the North Kensington community when local and national government failed it. This book is a page turner of hope rising from tragedy. - Jonathan Aitken, author, broadcaster and former Cabinet Minister