UNIVERSAL FATHER: JOHN PAUL II

`This is the last biography of John Paul II to have been finished while he was still alive. It is also the best. Universal Father is the only life of the late Pope that is an artistic achievement in its own right. None of Garry O`Connor`s predecessors has matched his exposition of the literary, philosophical and dramatic sources of John Paul`s pontificate, or his nimble untangling of the strands of theological argument` Daily Telegraph `A fine, enduring biography ... O`Connor`s triumph is to make the search for the soul of a papacy an enjoyable, edifying and occasionally emotional journey` Glasgow Herald `Garry O`Connor, whose previous books include superb biographies of Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson and Paul Scofield, is very much at home in this warm portrait of the greatest actor-manager of them all ... O`Connor has painted a loving portrait` Mail on Sunday `A distinctive, insightful and enjoyable book ... conveys a freshness and reverent iconoclasm in his portrait of John Paul` Independent