Gaudi

'This biography restores Gaudí to life as one of the most original architects of all time...Stanford shows how the Catalan genius put his soul into everything he did.' Blake Morrison 'This riveting portrait brings together as a compelling whole the triumphs and the tragedies of Gaudí's life.' Antonia Fraser 'In daring to trace the complex connections between Gaudí's religious faith and his famous buildings, this is an enriching, nuanced book.' Tobias Jones Antoni Gaudí's architecture is among the world's most instantly recognisable sights. His still unfinished basilica, La Sagrada Família welcomes five million visitors annually. Yet in this the centenary year of his death, knocked down in the street by a tram, mistaken for a tramp and spending his last hours in a paupers' hospital, much about this unworldly genius remains a mystery, not least the source of inspiration to create extraordinary buildings that stand in a place of honour of their own in the canon of architecture. His explanation - that the fount of his imagination was God - sits uncomfortably alongside his modern-day fame in a secular world that nonetheless celebrates him. In reconnecting Gaudí's peerless architecture with the highs and lows of his faith, Peter Stanford walks in his footsteps through Barcelona, retracing his life through the buildings, parks and landscapes he admired and those that he created. Join him on Gaudí's journey from the Catalan countryside, where his love affair with nature began, to becoming a celebrated figure in the booming industrial city of Barcelona, with its extremes of rich and poor - and its undercurrent of violence and anti-clericalism that almost left La Sagrada Família an unfinished folly. Tragedy, loss and depression stalked his life, but reinforced his belief that his work was a religious vocation, prompting contemporary moves by the Vatican towards declaring him a saint.

Peter Stanford is a writer, journalist, broadcaster and prison reform campaigner. His biography subjects include the Cabinet minister and penal reformer, Lord Longford (made into a BAFTA-winning film), the Poet Laureate, C Day-Lewis, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther and the Devil (televised by the BBC), while his writings on the history, theology and cultural significance of religious ideas include Heaven: A Traveller's Guide, Pilgrimage: Journeys of Meaning, Judas: The Troubling History of the Renegade Apostle and Angels: A Visible and Invisible History. His books have been translated into twelve languages. A former editor of the Catholic Herald (1988-1992), he writes features for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles, has an interview column in the Tablet and has presented television documentaries including the award-winning Channel 4 series, Catholics and Sex. Raised in Birkenhead, he has been director of the Longford Trust for penal reform since 2002.