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.

Vows (A Memoir) by Peter Manseau

About the book: That's how I imagine the scene of my parents' meeting, as a series of contrasts and contradictions. Standing between a cardboard-patched window and scripture-painted walls, half-buried shards twinkling like stars beneath them, they made their introductions in the middle of a storefront with nothing to sell. He was a Catholic priest wearing a white plastic collar like a lock around his neck. She was a nun in a virgin's black veil. (Prologue)

Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son (2005) is a compelling story of one family's unshakable faith that to be called is to serve, however high the cost may be. 

Peter Manseau's riveting evocation of his parents' parallel childhoods, their similar callings, their experiences in the seminary and convent, and how they met while tending to the homeless of Roxbury, Massachusetts, during the riot-prone 1960s is a page-turning meditation on the effect that love can have on profound faith.

About the author: Peter Manseau is the author of Vows and coauthor of Killing the Buddha. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. A founding editor of the award-winning webzine KillingTheBuddha.com, he is now the editor of Search, The Magazine of Science, Religion, and Culture. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Washington, DC, where he studies religion and teaches writing at Georgetown University.

Finding Suzy (True Crime) by David Videcette

About the book: How can someone just disappear?

Step inside a real-life, missing person investigation in this compelling, true crime must-read. Uncover what happened to missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, as David Videcette takes you on a quest to unpick her mysterious disappearance and scrutinise the shadowy 'Mr Kipper'.

One overcast Monday in July 1986, 25-year-old estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanished whilst showing a smart London property to a mysterious ‘Mr Kipper’.

Despite the baffling case dominating the news and one of the largest missing persons cases ever mounted, police failed to find a shred of evidence establishing what had happened to her.

Sixteen years later, following a second investigation and under pressure from Suzy’s desperate parents, police named convicted rapist and murderer John Cannan as their prime suspect. However, the Crown Prosecution Service refused to charge him, citing a lack of evidence.

High-profile searches were conducted, yet Suzy’s body was never found. The trail that might lead investigators to her, long since lost.

Haunted by another missing person case, investigator and former Scotland Yard detective, David Videcette, has spent five years painstakingly reinvestigating Suzy’s cold case disappearance culminating in Finding Suzy: The Hunt for Missing Estate Agent Suzy Lamplugh and 'Mr Kipper' (2021).

Through a series of incredible new witness interviews and fresh groundbreaking analysis, he uncovers piece by piece what happened to Suzy and why the case was never solved.

People don't just disappear...

About the author: As an investigator, David Videcette has worked on a wealth of famous cases. He has chased numerous dangerous criminals and interviewed thousands of witnesses. With decades of experience working in counter-terror operations and combatting organised crime, David investigated the 7/7 London bombings as a Scotland Yard detective. Today, he uses his policing expertise to investigate cold cases in his true crime series: Investigations by David Videcette. He is also the author of the Detective Inspector Jake Flannagan thriller series. When he is not writing, he consults on security operations for high-net-worth individuals and is a key media commentator on crime and policing for broadcasters and newspapers, both nationally and internationally. David lives in London. 

Find out more at: www.DavidVidecette.com

Terror By Night (True Crime) by Terry Caffey with James H Pence

About the book: In one evening, Terry Caffey lost everything. His wife, Penny, and his sons, Matthew and Tyler, were brutally murdered; his home was burned to the ground, and his sixteen-year-old daughter, Erin, was in jail, charged with three counts of capital murder. In one year’s time, God would restore it all. What happened next is nothing short of miraculous...

At 3:00 a.m. on 1 March 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter’s former boyfriend standing in the bedroom doorway with a gun. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry’s wife and wounding Terry six times. As he slipped toward unconsciousness, Terry heard his son crying upstairs. More gunfire followed. When he regained consciousness, he felt the searing heat of his burning house.

Terry knew it was too late to save his family, but he had one thing to do before he died. He fought to stay awake and escaped the burning house through a bathroom window. As Terry stumbled and crawled four hundred yards through pitch darkness, he asked God to keep him alive long enough to identify the killer, and then to let him die.

God allowed Terry to identify the murderer, but He did not let Terry die.

What happened next is nothing short of miraculous.

Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder That Destroyed A Family, Restored One Man's Faith, and Shocked A Nation (2009) is the emotionally gripping story of a daughter’s ultimate betrayal, a father’s unfathomable forgiveness, and a miraculous discovery that would restore one man’s faith, spare two young lives, and restore peace to a small Texas town.

This book tells the compelling story of how Terry Caffey found peace after his wife and sons were brutally murdered and his teenage daughter implicated in the crime. Sharing never-before-told details about the night of the crime and subsequent murder trial, Terror by Night shows how Terry was able to forgive the men who murdered his family, and how he even interceded with the prosecutors on their behalf. This story is a powerful example of how the power of forgiveness can bring healing after tragedy and great loss, and how God can bring good out of even the darkest tragedies.

About the authors: Terry Caffey lives in Wills Point, Texas, with his wife, Sonja, and their two sons, Blake and Tanner. Since the tragic loss of his first wife, Penny, and their sons, Matthew and Tyler, he has gone into full-time ministry, speaking and reaching out to others who have suffered unspeakable tragedy and sharing his personal message of God’s faithfulness. Terry continues to visit his daughter, Erin, regularly and remains steadfast in his belief that she did not mastermind the plot to kill her family.

James H Pence is a full-time professional writer, editor and Web designer living near Dallas, Texas. James came to know the Caffey family when Terry's daughter, Erin, and her brother Tyler enrolled in James's "Karate for Homeschoolers" class. Through the karate class, James got to know both Terry and Penny. He later gave Penny a copy of his novel Blind Sight, the source of the mysterious scorched page that Terry found in the aftermath of the fire and credits with turning his life around following the loss of his family. 

A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia

About the book: Set in mid-century Rome and England, this forbidden slow-burn love story will take your breath away!

Rome, 1953. David is young, handsome, charismatic and sworn to celibacy. He is freshly ordained and about to return to England to begin life as a priest. Devotion to God is all he has ever known.

In London, Margaret is entangled in an impossible love affair. Committed to living on her own terms without sacrificing her faith, she becomes drawn to a women’s movement challenging the archaic rules of the Church.

When they are thrown together in David's countryside parish, something ignites in each of them, and so begins a decades-long secret with consequences that will reverberate throughout the generations.

A Private Man (2026) is shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize as well as for the Orwell Prize for Fiction.

About the author: Stephanie Sy-Quia’s first book of poetry, Amnion, won the 2021 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, an Eric Gregory Award, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Laurel Prize, and the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. Her writing has appeared in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Boston Review, The White Review, Five Dials and Granta, among others. She lives in London.

Rating: 4/5 

Before The Altar by Concepción Cabrera de Armida

About the book: This future saint, Concepción Cabrera de Armida (Conchita), prepares us, in these short meditations, to further our spiritual growth and union with Jesus.

There are 100 extraordinary meditations of this Holy Mystic which, because of its many editions (twenty five editions in Spanish, French, Italian and English), might be called a classic within the spirituality. 

May all who read this book in the spirit of total self-surrender to her beloved Jesus receive the grace to be similarly transformed from ardour to holiness.

Before The Altar: A Hundred Visits To Jesus In The Blessed Sacrament (2000) is revised by Ronda de Sola Chervin with an Introduction by Msgr Juan Esquerda Bifet.

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.