The Honey Locust Tree
Can You Find Goodness in Everyone, Even When They Behave Badly?
When James English first hears about Quaker meetings inside Rhode Island’s prison system in 1994, he is not looking for a ministry. He is searching for something harder to name.
Drawn by the Quaker belief in the “inner light”—the idea that goodness lives in every person—Jim joins a small group that holds meetings inside the Adult Correctional Institutions. In prison chapels and converted classrooms, he sits in stillness with inmates and wrestles with a question that will not leave him: Does everyone possess an inner light—and if so, can it be found here?
The Honey Locust Tree is a deeply personal memoir about faith tested in unlikely places. Moving between prison walls, school classrooms, and the quiet refuge of home with his wife, Betsey, Jim reflects on trust, justice, and the fragile yet resilient spark within us all.
Can the inner light be nurtured? Can it be extinguished? And what happens when we discover that our search for goodness in others is, in fact, a search within ourselves?
“Wonderful. In a rare class by itself. Extremely moving.”
“…offers fascinating insights into the human condition. An inspired read!”
“Wrestles with big questions about faith and morality, privilege and hardship, crime and punishment, life and death.”
“Honest, moving, and thought-provoking.”
Available September 8, 2026
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