Up On Cove Mountain by Earl Swift

About the book: From the New York Times bestselling author of Chesapeake Requiem comes an intricately plotted tale of two end-to-end adventures through the Appalachian Trail’s twenty-two hundred miles, braided around a third strand, that of the trail’s most notorious tragedy that has haunted Earl Swift for thirty years.

In 1990, a youthful Earl Swift backpacked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia, a transformative experience that coloured every aspect of his later life. He emerged from his hike across the rugged, sky-high roof of fourteen eastern states a sharper and more organized thinker, a better problem solver, and a committed outdoorsman.

But he also left the AT with baggage: Early in his odyssey, he spent time with a couple of other southbounders, who were friendly, capable, and doing everything right, but who were nonetheless murdered weeks later at a mountaintop campsite in Pennsylvania - a fit of violence that the killer never explained.  

Half a lifetime later, Swift returned to the trail to find out whether he was still, in his sixties, equal to the AT’s roller-coaster terrain. Driving him, too, was a quest for answers that had nagged at him since that first hike: What had happened at that campsite to turn two smart, bighearted people into prey? Why had fate chosen them, when other hikers - Swift included - seemed more likely candidates? And how could such a grisly episode have unfolded in the backcountry’s sylvan loveliness, not to mention one of the safest places around?

Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail is the arresting account of Swift’s 2024 trek through the AT’s enduring wonders and the ghosts of its past, a chronicle of swashbuckling adventure coupled with a meditation on the nature of risk and the risks of nature.

Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail will be on sale on 18 August 2026.

About the author: Earl Swift is the author of the New York Times bestseller Chesapeake Requiem, which was named to ten best-of-the-year lists. His most recent book, Hell Put to Shame, was a finalist for the Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime) and the Virginia Literary Award. A former reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and a contributor to Outside and other publications, he lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Charlottesville.

Treasured Island by Michael Gross

About the book: Treasured Island: The Story of St Barth . . . and Its Barbarians, Billionaires, and Beauties (2026) is a hugely entertaining social history of the elite and exclusive Caribbean island of St Barthélemy from the New York Times bestselling author of Model and 740 Park.

St Barthélemy is revered for its luxury, its stunning beaches and its VIP fans. Those who have either been there or hope to go, know St Bart’s - or St Barth, depending on your level of Francophilia - as the place for the beautiful people, the ultimate see-and-be-seen scene.

Over three decades, acclaimed social chronicler Michael Gross has taken dozens of extended trips to this gorgeous, sultry paradise and knows it almost as a local. In his captivating and detailed history, this “premier chronicler of the rich” (Gay Talese) reveals how the island grew from a barren volcanic island with sometimes in-bred, impoverished residents and no creature comforts to an elite port of call where entertainment, tech, and fashion celebrities, old money, nouveau riche, and international oligarchs vie for tables in chic, expensive restaurants; where pristine beaches, superyachts, and spectacular hotels and lavish private villas are playgrounds for the American, European, and Asian upper class. And some locals have gotten rich off them all.

This is an enticing and entertaining work that combines impeccable reporting and delicious commentary. It is essential reading for everybody who is anybody - or wants to be.

About the author: Michael Gross is the New York Times bestselling author of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women; 740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building; and House of Outrageous Fortune: Fifteen Central Park West, the World’s Most Powerful Address. He is the editor-at-large of Palmer: The Palm Beach Reader, and has written for publications around the world, including the New York Times, New York, GQ, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Air Mail and The Daily Beast. He lives in New York City.

The River's Grave (The French Mystery Series) by Christophe Villain

About the book: Lieutenant de Police Armand de Varenne, the son of an influential Parisian family, stumbles upon a series of missing persons cases that strike him as suspicious. 

Is there a serial abductor in the Ardèche region who is abducting young women? 

Or are the missing girls simply runaways after all?

Armand uses a clever manoeuvre to get appointed as a special investigator on the case. There is just one catch: he is paired with Margaux David, an unconventional officer who refuses to conform. They have just one thing in common: both are outsiders within the Paris force, which would be only too happy to see the back of them.

What divides them is their mutual distrust. Only if they overcome it will they stand a chance of tracking down the ruthless kidnapper - someone who knows the region inside out and is always one step ahead of them. And the closer they get, the more dangerous the investigation becomes for them both.

The River's Grave (2026) is the first instalment in this new French Mystery series set in the stunning and remarkably beautiful Ardèche region of France.

The second instalment in the French Mystery series, Deadly Underworld, will be released on 19 December 2026, this time, set in the gloomy underworld of Paris.

About the author: Christophe Villain has spent his summers in France since childhood. After completing his studies, he worked for several years in Paris and along the French Atlantic coast. Now, as a lawyer, he combines his favourite hobbies: traveling to France, enjoying good food, and indulging in exciting crime novels. Armand de Varenne and Margaux David work on cold cases in some of Christophe Villain's favourite locations throughout France.

Rating: 5/5

"The Hermit"

Until the Last Penny (Novella) by Steve A Brous

About the book: "Pauli, don't do this."

Paul Ranzinni has spent his life as a made man in the Romano crime family. He has stolen, cheated, and killed. He has broken every commandment more than once.

But when his dying mother extracts one final promise, a confession to his priest brother Anthony, Paul finds himself face to face with a mercy he never expected.

Hours later, he is dead.

Now Paul stands on the shore of eternity, his sins laid bare before the judgment seat of Christ. Saved by the skin of his teeth, he is sentenced to five hundred years in Purgatory, beginning at the lowest level, where Hell and Purgatory overlap and the demons are allowed to torment him.

What follows is a journey through fire, confrontation, grief, and ultimately mercy, as Paul faces the consequences of every choice he ever made and discovers that salvation is only the beginning.

Until The Last Penny: A Catholic Novella of a Soul's Journey Through Purgatory (2026) is a gripping Catholic novella of sin, judgment, and the purifying love of God.

"You shall not leave until you have paid the very last penny." - Matthew 5:26

About the author: Steve Brous is a Catholic author and content creator from Springfield, Missouri. A convert to Catholicism in the early 90s, Steve's faith journey led him to the Traditional Latin Mass, which has been the cornerstone of his spiritual life ever since.

Steve is the host of I Miss Christendom, a YouTube channel dedicated to Traditional Catholicism, where he had built a community of nearly 26,000 subscribers around the beauty and depth of the traditional faith.

Until The Last Penny is his debut novel - a story born from his deep conviction that the ancient truths of sin, confession and Purgatory are not dusty theological abstraction, but living realities that touch every human soul.

A Mother's Letters: A Vision of Faith In Everyday Life by Concepción Cabrera de Armida (Conchita)

About the book: Readers who have enjoyed Conchita: A Mother's Spiritual Diary will not want to miss this remarkable collection of her letters to her family.

Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) lived all of the states of life possible for a Christian woman: she was a single young woman, a wife, the mother of nine children, a widow and a professed religious (at the hour of her death, by special permission of the Pope). 

Her life of continuous and intimate relationship with the Lord was expressed in a remarkable number of ways. She inspired the five Works of the Cross: 

1) the Apostleship of the Cross and the Covenant of Love with the Sacred Heart of Jesus (both for laity), 

2) the Fraternity of Christ Priest (for priests and bishops), 

3) the Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (a contemplative congregation), and 

4) the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit (priests and brothers). 

In addition, she wrote one remarkable book after another, expressing her profound religious insights and her devotion to the Eucharist. 

But Conchita was not a cloistered religious or hermit writing in tranquillity. She was a busy wife, mother, and grandmother who lived during one of the most turbulent times in Mexican history - an age of religious persecution, revolution and economic depression.

These letters to her large and extended family express not only her spiritual wisdom but also her warm, human side as she lovingly guides, advises, and rejoices with the members of her family in good times and bad. 

A Mother's Letters: A Vision of Faith In Everyday Life (2004, 2022 current printing) is compiled and annotated by Sister Dolores Icaza Conrey, RCSCJ. Originally published in Spanish under the title Cartas de una madre de familia - Concepción Cabrera de Armida (1986), it has been translated into the English by Mary McCandless. 

A Mother's Letters: A Vision of Faith In Everyday Life is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

About the author: Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida, better known as Conchita, was born in San Luis Potosi on 8 December 1862 and died in Mexico, DF, on 3 March 1937. 

As a writer, she often aimed to show her readers how to love the Catholic Church:

"To love the Church is not to criticize her, not to destroy her, not to try to change her essential structures, not to reduce her to humanism, horizontalism and to the simple service of a human liberation. To love the Church is to cooperate with the work of Redemption by the Cross and in this way obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit come to renew the face of this poor earth, conducting it to its consummation in the design of the Father's immense love."

Wife, mother, widow, lay apostle, Catholic mystic and writer, Conchita was beatified in Mexico City on 4 May 2019 as the first Mexican laywoman to receive this recognition.

Who Is The Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (The Early Church Today Series, Volume 7) by St Clement of Alexandria

About the booklet: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” said the Lord Jesus Christ, a statement that greatly astonished the disciples at that time and has continued to astonish many throughout the generations. 

St Clement expounded on the encounter between the rich young ruler and Christ, an encounter that showed high hopes at the start, yet ended with the rich man walking away in despair. 

Is it sinful to be rich? 

Can a rich person be saved? 

St Clement of Alexandria, a Church Father, who was born in the second century AD and became the head of the Catechetical School at Alexandria, answers these questions and others in this treatise, providing an understanding that is as relevant and applicable to us today as it was many centuries ago.

St Clement of Alexandria wrote the treatise Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (often titled Quis dives salvetur?) around 203 AD. Minor editing of the original translation was done by St Mary and St Moses Abbey, mainly changing archaic words to their modern counterparts. 

Who is the Rich Man That Shall be Saved? (1983, 2025) is translated by G W Butterworth.

About the author: Neither Clement's birthdate or birthplace is certain. It is speculated that he was born sometime around 150 AD. According to Epiphanius of Salamis, he was born in Athens, but there is also a tradition of an Alexandrian birth. His parents were pagans and Clement was a convert to Christianity. In the Protrepticus, he displays an extensive knowledge of Greek religion and mystery religions, which could have arisen only from the practice of his family's religion. Having rejected paganism as a young man due to its perceived moral corruption, he travelled in Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt. Clement's journeys were primarily a religious undertaking. In Greece, he encountered an Ionian theologian, who has been identified as Athenagoras of Athens; while in the east, he was taught by an Assyrian, sometimes identified with Tatian, and a Jew, possibly Theophilus of Caesarea.

In around 180 AD, Clement reached Alexandria, where he met Pantaenus, who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Eusebius suggests that Pantaenus was the head of the school, but controversy exists about whether the institutions of the school were formalized in this way before the time of Origen. Clement studied under Pantaenus, and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Julian before 189. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known of Clement's personal life in Alexandria. He may have been married, a conjecture supported by his writings.

During the Severian persecution of 202–203, Clement left Alexandria. In 211, Alexander of Jerusalem wrote a letter commending him to the Church of Antioch, which may imply that Clement was living in Cappadocia or Jerusalem at that time. He died AD 220 at an unknown location. (Source: Wikipedia)

Beyond Possible (Autobiography) by Nimsdai Purja (1983-2026)

About the book: I wanted to show the world a new truth: that with bravery and enough heart and drive, the impossible is possible. Fourteen mountains on Earth tower over 8,000 metres above sea level, an altitude where the brain and body withers and dies. Until recently, the world record for climbing them all stood at nearly eight years. So I announced I was summiting them in under seven months . . .

People laughed. They told me I was crazy, even though I'd sharpened my climbing skills on the brutal Himalayan peaks of Everest and Dhaulagiri. But I possessed more than enough belief, strength and resilience to nail the job, having taken down enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers while serving with the Gurkhas and the UK Special Forces.

Beyond Possible (2020) is the brave and inspiring true story of renowned climber Nirmal Purja's mission to summit the fourteen highest peaks on Earth - as seen on Netflix.

About the author: Nirmal Purja, also known as Nims or Nimsdai, was a Nepali and British mountaineer. Before beginning a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas and later in the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy.

Purja climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen between April and October 2019; this was a record until it was broken in 2023. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, he and a team of nine other Nepalese climbers completed the first winter ascent of K2. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mountaineers in history and a pioneer of modern mountaineering.

In 2018, Purja was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for outstanding achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.

In 2023, he received an honorary degree from Loughborough University for his military service and his achievements as a multi-world record-breaking mountaineer.

On 30 July 2026, Purja and nine other climbers died in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.

At The Foot Of The Cross by John Burger

About the book: Through times of trial, division, repression, and new growth, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has remained faithfully at the foot of the Cross.

The leader of this Eastern Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, grew up in Ukraine during a time when his Church was illegal, and his family had to carry out their religious practices in secret. Born in the western Ukrainian city of Stryi on May 5, 1970, he grew up hearing stories of his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who had to deal with the demands of shifting political situations and the conflicts of Eastern Europe. He studied for the priesthood in an underground seminary and learned from the witness of priests and bishops who were imprisoned for their faith - including some who lost their lives on account of their fidelity to Christ and his Church.

Today, in the interviews contained in this book, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk offers deep insights about the direction in which the world is going, including the struggle the Church once again faces, thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the Foot of the Cross:Lessons From Ukraine, An Interview with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk (2023) is dedicated to the People of Ukraine. 

About the author: John Burger has been working in religious journalism for almost three decades, beginning as a reporter for the New York archdiocesan weekly newspaper Catholic New York and later as a reporter and news editor at the National Catholic Register. Since 2013, he has written for the international Catholic website Aleteia.org. A graduate of Iona College in Rochelle, New York, Burger holds a Master's degree in English from Iowa State University. 

An 1847 Letter

Definition: Ultracrepidarian

The Taverna At The Edge Of Night (Deadly Destinations Thriller Collection, #1) by H Y Hanna

About the book: A Greek island vacation. A deadly village secret. A best friend you can no longer trust.

When Daphne travels to a remote fishing village on the Greek island of Crete, she is looking forward to sun-drenched days, dazzling sea views, and a happy reunion with the best friend she has idolised since university. But from the moment she arrives at the whitewashed taverna perched on the cliffs above the sea, something feels wrong. Roxy is jittery and evasive, the locals avoid questions, and rumours of a cliffside murder have everyone on edge.

Then there is an attack in the night. Daphne is left reeling and desperate for answers. She turns to her best friend for help but all she is met with is gaslighting and lies that make her question her own sanity. Completely isolated and unsure who to trust, she now finds herself trapped in a lethal game of deception - and caught in a dangerous attraction to a stranger with secrets of his own.

As Daphne digs deeper, she realises that someone in this idyllic village has a deadly secret… and that her closest friendship might be the most dangerous thing of all.

The Taverna At The Edge Of Night (2026) is the first instalment in the Deadly Destinations Thriller Collection which features "vacation gone wrong" thrillers where the most beautiful locations hide the deadliest betrayals - ideal for fans of slow burn, atmospheric psychological suspense by Lucy Clarke and Tana French.

The second instalment in the Deadly Destinations Thriller Collection, Balcony of Dark Deceit, set in the Renaissance city of Verona, will be released in May 2027.

About the author: Hsin-Yi Hanna is an award-winning mystery writer and the author of the bestselling Oxford Tearoom Mysteries. After graduating from Oxford University, Hsin-Yi tried her hand at a variety of jobs, before returning to her first love: writing. She worked as a freelance journalist for several years, with articles and short stories published in the UK, Australia and NZ, and has won awards for her novels, poetry, short stories and journalism.

A globe-trotter all her life, Hsin-Yi has lived in a variety of cultures, from Dubai to Auckland, London to New Jersey, but is now happily settled in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and a rescue kitty named Muesli. Visit her website at hyhanna.com

Rating: 5/5

The Difference Between Temporal And Eternal by Father John Eusebius Nieremberg

About the book: The Jesuit priest, Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595-1658) was a theologian and mystic. Man is created by God to praise Him, revere Him and serve Him and thus save his soul; and other things are created for man on the face of the earth, and to help him in the search for the end for which he was created.

This follows, therefore, that man must use them as much as they help him achieve his goal, and as much as they prevent him from doing so, he must distance himself from them. 

Therefore, this "difference" between the earthly and the eternal is related to the intention of man's life. 

In this excellent work, The Difference between Temporal and Eternal (2020 Emporium Books), Nieremberg intends for the reader to internalize this "difference" critically and philosophically, delving into the philosophy of eternal life, either in heaven or hell. The "objects on the face of the earth", the physical, are means that must be "used" to achieve the end, that is, a happy life with God the Creator.

The Difference between Temporal and Eternal (1953) is translated from the Spanish by Sir Vivian Molyneux, revised, with a sketch of the author, by the Reverend Matthew Russell, SJ Dublin in 1884.

About the author: Father Juan Eusebio Nieremberg y Ottín SJ (1595-1658) was a Spanish Jesuit, polymath and mystic. Of German heritage, Father Nieremberg was born in Madrid and entered the Jesuit order. He became a professor of natural history at the Imperial College in Madrid. He was highly esteemed in devout circles as the author of De la afición y amor de Jesus (1630), and De la afición y amor de María (1630), both of which were translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Latin. These works, together with the Prodigios del amor divino (1641), are now forgotten, but Nieremberg's version (1656) of the Imitation is still a favourite, and his eloquent treatise, De la hermosura de Dios y su amabilidad (1649), is the last classical manifestation of mysticism in Spanish literature. His works are distinguished for their erudition. The Spanish Academy includes his name in the "Diccionario de Autoridades". (Source: Wikipedia)

The Cassock by Fr Lawrence Carney III

About the book: For decades now, the average Catholic has spoken about a longing for the days when one would see religious priests, brothers, sisters, and nuns wearing the full habit. They speak of the comfort they once saw when priests walked in public in their cassocks. The rest of the world has largely not even seen a priest in a cassock except in the movies. 

The Church Militant, those seminarians, priests, and religious, have even been discouraged in modern times from wearing the cassock, the flag of Christ, a part of the Church Visible.

The Cassock: Sign of Christ, Sign of Contradiction (2026) presents a challenge for the clergy to consider the witness given by donning the cassock, that Holy Mother Church might once again visibly manifest a thriving priesthood.

Between the covers of this volume, lay people, seminarians, religious, and priests will learn:

- The heartening stories of the Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro and Blessed Rolando Rivi

- How these men chose to wear the cassock even to martyrdom

- Whether the cassock is forbidden to be worn outside of the parish grounds. The author puts forth research to answer this question

- How the American Indians were drawn to the cassock in dreams and sought baptism into the Catholic Faith through the “Black Robes,” the missionary and cassock-clad priests in the United States

- How the cassock is a sacred garment with its own official blessing and how it can help deter a priest from temptations

- The practical side of how a priest wears a cassock in the chapter called “Cassock Trimmings”

The book concludes with the spirituality that comes with the cassock and how it relates to the minor orders: porter, exorcist, lector, and acolyte. The time has come for a visceral renewal of the Holy Priesthood in the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. This will only come about by the prayers of faithful Catholics who pray for a fully alive, thriving, and holy priesthood. Does the cassock play a part in this renewal? 

About the author: Fr Lawrence Daniel Carney III, is the author of five books including Walking the Road to God, Remedy, The Secret of the Holy Face, and Total Consecration to the Holy Face of Jesus. Father Carney walks the streets in cassock, with Rosary and cross, praying for the conversion of sinners. He works to spread devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and the Most Holy Rosary as an author, in interviews, at conferences, retreats, and parish missions.