GRANDMOTHER, wife, Roman Catholic, ecumenist and daydreamer - all words that describe Mary Brown, the central character in a new novella by Whitby author, Anthea Dove.

Anthea describes what life is like for an ordinary lay Catholic faced with the difficulty of staying loyal to her church, which is swimming against the tide of today's secular culture.

For Mary "the Mass is about her relationship to God and, bound up with that, it is about her relationship with those whose lives touch hers".

Her husband, Vincent, is depressed, rotting in a dole queue after being made redundant. Her daughter, Jenny, has had an abortion and Mary fears her youngest son, Johnny, is on drugs.

This book is a moving story about an ordinary woman who, thanks to her faith, is able to cope with all that life throws at her.