Julia is, of course, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way’, that celebrated book on rediscovering your inner artist which I totally recommend to anyone (especially if your immediate response is ‘But I’m not an artist!’....you really need this book). And she’s written loads of other books on the creative life.

This one, however, is mainly about spirituality. It could be subtitled ‘God for the spiritually frightened’, because what it does is take and debunk a lot of the myths that put people off religion: the idea that you have to suffer to be ‘good’, that God’s old and stuffy and someone you really wouldn’t get on with if he (or she) were human, that sex and your body are not essential parts of the whole meshuggah (and delicious ones at that), that prayer and meditation and service are dreary things to add to your ‘must-do’ list. Not so. At all.

While we’re at it, Bad Julie, as they called her at convent school, also takes a long, hard, shrewd and very funny look at the New Age movement. I’m sure the people concerned know who they are, but there are useful eye-openers here for anyone confronted by come-hither gurus or the more dodgy type of wholefood nut (the ones who sneak out of ashrams at night to buy burgers! With meat in them!). Overall, she emphasizes trusting your own instincts and developing your own personal relationship with the Divine, rather than taking God ‘as told you by’ anyone else.

The book is made up of short mini-essay chapters on different subjects, each with a selection of exercises – stuff to write about, or think about, or do, just to shake you up and get you looking at stuff in different ways. There are also kooky little poems that give a wry sideways look at some of the topics. And there are great stories like the nun who had an unexpected revelation over the washing-up, and personal memories like Julia’s late dad and how his love of birds permeated his life. A friendly, irreverant little book that’s ideal for anyone who hasn’t considered things spiritual in a long time. Or thinks they haven’t – because as this book points out, far more of life is spiritual than you might have believed.