Sunday Best

What if every day was like Sunday?

Closed shops and roast dinners. Bulky newspapers and the hum of lawnmowers. Strolls to nowhere in particular and visiting snoozing grandparents. Television theme tunes cueing bath time and a sudden dread of the looming week ahead...

Through an assortment of rituals and activities, Sundays came to be the unique day in our week - whether tedious, pleasant or somewhere in-between. But how did they change over time? Has anything interesting ever happened on a Sunday? Have we forgotten how to do Sunday? And, in our rushed modern lives, should we now try to recapture that distinctive, unhurried Sunday feel?

Offering answers to those questions and more through a mix of travelogue and social history, Sunday Best entertainingly charts the story of what author Daniel Gray argues is the People's Day. Told through Sundays whiled away in places from the Hebrides to Hyde Park - via Sunderland, Scarborough, The Peak District and beyond - Gray's latest book is a charming journey in time and place. Sunday Best offers nostalgia, people's history and affectionate, absorbing writing - a book drenched in the scent of gravy and summoning the faint sound of church bells.

In Sunday Best, Daniel Gray takes us on a nostalgic journey, exploring the essence of Sundays through a blend of memoirs, essays, and humour. This literary non-fiction is a top pick for those seeking to recapture the unhurried feel of the People's Day.

For fans of Giles Tremlett (The International Brigades), Nige Tassell (Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids?), Jonathan Wilson (Kick and Run), Jon Spurling (Get It On), and Benjamin Zephaniah (The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah).

HarperCollins 2025