Finding Beauty Behind Bars

'Can God really be in this place? It's beginning to seem so.'

In late 2022 Tim Hewes, a retired dentist and priest in his seventies, was accused of conspiring to bring the M25 motorway to a standstill. On a quiet Sunday afternoon his home in rural Oxfordshire was raided by eight officers from the territorial unit of the Metropolitan Police. Tim was handcuffed and taken to court, from where he was imprisoned on remand for six weeks.

Finding Beauty Behind Bars is the diary kept by Tim through this period. It describes the challenges of life in prison, and unexpected moments of beauty and humanity he encountered. He explains the environmental catastrophe facing us all, why he has chosen to take part in peaceful, non-violent climate protests, and how each of us can harness our own potential to act on behalf of humanity and the natural world.

The book is beautifully illustrated with paintings by Tim's wife, Andrea Hewes. It represents a coming together of their separate cathartic processing of his imprisonment.

A Foreword has been written by Gavin Collins, Bishop of Dorchester. Tim Hewes has chosen not to receive any profits from the sale of Finding Beauty Behind Bars.