The Challenge of Bernadette, the author Hugh Ross Williamson proclaims, is not a biography of Saint Bernadette Soubirous. This book is also not an account of the events at Lourdes, where the Blessed Virgin appeared eighteen times—yet these apparitions are central to the book’s purpose. Thus, as a Catholic of faith invited to believe, he feels a sense of duty to take up the challenge and confront the situation. Setting out on this quest, he asks questions, knowing well he may not find answers. Only Heaven fully understands these matters. We have to struggle in faith. But of faith, it is clear, Hugh Ross Williamson has plenty. In this highly readable book, Hugh Ross Williamson helps us to explore St Bernadette's life and, becoming familiar with the time and place in which she lived, understand her Challenge - to those amongst whom she lived and to us today.