Product Description

A stunning 30th anniversary edition of the best-selling Mister God This Is Anna, together with the sequels, Anna's Book, Anna and the Black Knight, with a new preface by Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. "I knew her on her own terms, the way she demanded to be known: from the inside first. 'Most of an angel is in the inside', and this is the way I learned to know her -- my first angel." Anna was four years old when Fynn, then only 16 himself, found her wandering round London's Docklands one foggy night in the 1930s. As she was badly neglected and virtually abandoned by her parents, he took her home to be cared for by his own family. The impact of this extraordinary child on Fynn, his friends and the people in their neighbourhood was to be immense. Nobody who met Anna could remain the same: this intelligent, lively, precocious chatterbox had an outlook on life which completely undercut adult pretensions and illusions. Anna's influence continues today. Anyone dipping into her thought-processes falls under the spell of her luminous innocence, wisdom and intimate relationship with 'Mister God'. Her artless and transparent conversations with the Almighty speak to the heart and are often recorded using her own unique and colourful spelling. With humour and insight, Fynn movingly recounts Anna's short life and abundantly rich philosophy in these three timeless books, bound together in this stunning, 30th Anniversary edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119721 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Format: Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'Here is a book which is a pearl of great price. It will mean everything. Truth, beauty, and goodness, to those who understand! a heavenly book, rooted in earth.' The Guardian 'Do not be deceived by the simplicity: these stories and insights were matured for decades through Fynn's own thinking, imagining and suffering to give us this superb, intoxicating spirit.' Professor David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge

About the Author
The identity of Fynn remains mysterious. Vernon Sproxton, in his foreword to Mister God, This Is Anna writes 'He is who he was. He is pretending to be nobody other than himself. But a very real and permanent part of his being is -- Anna.'

Customer Reviews

The true story of Anna and her love of Mister God
Anna and Mister God is the compilation of Fynn's three books rejoicing Anna's life and love of Mister God. Fynn begins Anna's story with Mister God, This is Anna, a true story of Fynn's education through the eyes and discoveries of a small child, a companion, friend, and personal helper of Mister God. The sequel (Anna, Mister God, and the Black Knight) to this much beloved account introduces the reader to Fynn's formal educator, the black knight, an elderly man seasoned in his knowledge. He, too, falls under Anna's charm and discovers learning is not simply a matter of the mind. The third book, Anna's Book, is a compilation of Anna's own workings. The prose is childish as it should be, but do not mistake childish sentece structures and phonetic spelling for crippled thoughts and ideas. Anna's workings were a time spent "talking to God." Though brief was Anna's life, hers was a life lived completely. Thanks to Fynn for sharing her life with the rest of us.

Meet Anna
In 1973, when I was twelve years old, I once entered the kitchen while my mother was cooking and my little sister of four years was playing on the kitchen floor. Just when I entered the room my sister suddenly stopped playing with her toys and looked up to my mother and said: "Mum, God can not think, can he? My mother looked at my sister with surprise and said with some confusion in her voice: "Well... I don't know. Why can God not think?" And my little sister answered: "God never has to. He knows eveything!" And that said it all, according to the fact that she continued playing with her toys on the kitchen floor. My mother and I smiled to each other. Later I realized the remark of my sister was bulls eye. Of course God can not think because he knows everything!
This moment, when I entered the kitchen and heard my sister's opinion of God's unability to think I'll never forget and I remembered it even more vividly when reading about Anna.

Anna is the true story about a little girl of five years who still seem to remember her spiritual home. Like a little, precious chatterbox she makes observations about life, God and things as they are in a very touching and striking way. For me - as a practisioner having a Buddhist background - some of Anna's remarks are pure Buddhism. "God is empty" she says and does "not reflect anything".

Many reviewed the book "Mister God, This is Anna" (ISBN 0345327225) and there is not much more to add. Only this: some people who read the book do not believe a little girl like Anna could exist. In that case they really never met my little sister.
Fortunelately via this book you have the chance to meet Anna, in all her openess and honesty and with all her insights. Don't miss this beautiful opportunity.

Beautiful
A book to read and reread. Sometimes not so easy to understand but it requires some thinking to catch the amazing views of Anna on her environment , the people and the world. I enjoyed it very much after reading "Anna's book" years ago.