The Springtime That Never Came: In Conversation With Paweł Lisicki by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

Hardback: The faithful deprived of the Mass. 

Persecution and removal of clergy. 

Promulgation of communism and rampant heresies. 

Dehumanization, dictatorship, and the destruction of life.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider experienced these sufferings growing up in the 1960s in the former Soviet Union, and they are now a reality in the West. A witness to the truth passed down from the apostles, Bishop Schneider explains that, especially since the time of the French Revolution, natural law, order, and a sense of the supernatural have been eroded and replaced, through Freemasonry and other false ideologies, with widespread apostasy, to the point where society is now almost entirely devoid of God.

This riveting and climactic interview with Bishop Schneider tackles each and every controversial issue of our time. With charity, wisdom, and occasional humour, Bishop Schneider provides a rich historical and theological perspective with straightforward answers to a profusion of startling questions on topics such as ecumenism, ecology, Mass reforms, the German Church, Hell, Purgatory, sin, heresy, the roles of women in the Church, the traditional liturgy, and much more!

Amid the encircling darkness, this compendium of straight, authoritative answers elucidates the truths of our Faith with a piercing light. It will make you cheer as it reorients you on your journey with Christ. 

Be encouraged, as Bishop Schneider provides inspiring insights for the battle. 

Be enthused to uphold Church teachings and worship God no matter the challenges that may lie ahead. 

Be strengthened to trust God and follow the examples of the saints. 

Be energized to live your vocation and stand up courageously in our chaotic times.

In The Springtime That Never Came (2021), Bishop Schneider calls for a “new apologetics” and “re-Catholicization” of countries that have lost the Catholic Faith. He teaches us to avoid the “mental gymnastics” caused by theological confusion and assures us that souls return to the Church through repentance and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration and processions, Confession, and the Holy Rosary. Bishop Schneider believes our current situation, marked in many places by a deprivation of Holy Mass and Communion, is God’s “merciful appeal for a true eucharistic conversion of the whole Church.”

The Springtime That Never Came (2021) is first published as Wiosna Kościoła, która nie nadeszła in Cracow, Poland. 

The Springtime That Never Came is translated from the Polish by Justyna Krukowska. 

About the author: Bishop Schneider and coauthor Aurelio Porfiri encourage the revival of public prayers, such as the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration. Bishop Schneider explains how genuflecting, kneeling, and prostrating oneself are all outward signs of reverence that demonstrate this inward action. Our duty, he declares, is to render “perpetual thanksgiving” to God at Mass. Indeed, as the Bishop solemnly asserts, “The Mass is the greatest and most important work of the Church.”

About the Translator: Justyna Krukowska holds an MA in American Literature from the University of Białystok in Poland and a Master of Theological Studies from the International Theological Institute in Austria. A native of Poland, she has worked for various Catholic institutions in California, where she resides with her husband and children.

The Long Terrible Story

Buttinskies

A Declaration Of Dependence: Trusting God Amidst Totalitarianism, Paganism, And War by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen

Paperback: A Declaration of Dependence: Trusting God Amidst Totalitarianism, Paganism, And War (2022) reveals the shocking truth you need to know in a world riddled by irrationality, emotionalism, and violence. Religion is under attack, whether from totalitarian governments or modern education. Our tacit submission to politics, “freedom,” and science has made us slaves to a diabolical New Atheism and fear.

With his prescient wit, wisdom, and fervour, Archbishop Fulton Sheen provides clarity amid propagandist lies and pagan societies united in purpose to destroy. He reminds us why we must fear what kills the soul more than what kills the body. He exposes the false prophets and philosophies at work in the world and the many “believers” who no longer worship or act in accordance with their beliefs.

Archbishop Sheen masterfully decries the divisions and hatreds in America, explaining how we have turned from God and are on the precipice, that there is “too much tolerance of evil and not enough intolerance of injustice.” The chastisements the world is facing, he declares, are a consequence of its sins; they are the result of our abandonment of God, our idolatry; and man’s attempts to replace God serve only to show that the world is devoid of goodness without His presence.

By declaring ourselves independent of God, we have brought down His wrath and made ourselves slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Archbishop Sheen invites us to examine our consciences to see how we have, in fact, caused the wars in the world. 

By reading this book you will see how “isms” control people where the seeds have been planted for them to be controlled. You will learn how, throughout history, God punishes to destroy evil and, at the same time, to heal His sons from their sins. In addition, you will absorb the future saint’s teachings on:

The presence of the Antichrist in history

The cause of war — whether or not it is just — and where its greatest tragedy lies

How to truly fight for peace, justice, and unity in our country and among nations

The standard to which all Christians should hold themselves 

Why the Church is opposed to extreme militarism and pacifism

Why those without conscience persecute those with conscience

Best of all, Archbishop Sheen explains how God’s wrath is not capricious but is a consequence of our actions, how He is good and loving and will not let us drown in our sins, and how the key to our restoration — repentance — is readily in our grasp. 

A Declaration of Dependence: Trusting God Amidst Totalitarianism, Paganism, And War (2022) is dedicated to Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, Gracious Queen of Christ's afflicted ones, in prayerful petition that the glorious peace of Christ may reign in the souls of men.

About the author: Archbishop Fulton J Sheen (1895-1979) spent almost forty years evangelizing Catholics and non-Catholics alike through his voluminous writings and his thousands of nationwide radio and television broadcasts. Along the way, he served the Church as auxiliary bishop of New York and bishop of Rochester. On 5 July 5 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle that occurred through Sheen’s intercession, clearing the way for his beatification.

Men, Be Kind To Your Fellow-Men

Being Elvis: A Lonely Life by Ray Connolly

Paperback: What was it like to be Elvis Presley? What did it feel like when impossible fame made him its prisoner? 

As the world’s first rock star there was no one to tell him what to expect, no one with whom he could share the burden of being himself – of being Elvis. On the outside he was all charm and sex appeal, outrageously confident on stage and stunningly gifted in the recording studio. To his fans, he seemed to have it all. He was Elvis! And with his voice and style influencing succeeding generations of musicians, he should have been free to sing any song he liked, to star in any film he was offered and to tour in any country he chose.

But he was not free. 

The circumstances of his poor beginnings in the American South left him with a lifelong vulnerability. Made rich and famous beyond his wildest imaginings when he mortgaged his talent to the machinations of his manager, ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker, there would be an inevitable price to pay. Though he daydreamed of becoming a serious film actor; instead he grew to despise his own movies and many of the songs he had to sing in them. He could and should have rebelled. But he did not. 

Why not? 

In the Seventies, as the hits rolled in again, and millions of fans saw him in a second career as he sang his way across America, he talked of wanting to tour the world. 

But he never did. 

What was stopping him? 

Being Elvis (2017) takes a clear-eyed look at the most loved entertainer ever to find an unusual boy with a dazzling talent who grew up to change popular culture; a man who sold a billion records and had more hits than any other singer, but who became trapped and then destroyed by his own frailties and excesses in the loneliness of fame. Being Elvis is also the perfect companion to Baz Luhrmann’s movie tie-in, Elvis (2022).

About the author: Ray Connolly has written novels, movies, television films and series, radio plays, short stories and much journalism. Brought up in Lancashire, after graduating from the London School of Economics – where he read social anthropology – he began a career in journalism as a sub-editor at the Liverpool Daily Post. Between 1967 and 1973 he wrote a weekly interview column for the London Evening Standard – concentrating mainly on popular culture and music. Since then he has written for the Sunday Times, The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Observer and the Daily Mail.

Working with producer David Puttnam, he wrote the original screenplays for the films That’ll Be The Day and Stardust, and wrote and directed the feature length documentary James Dean: The First American Teenager. He has also written for television, most notably the films Forever Young and Defrosting The Fridge, and the series Lytton’s Diary and Perfect Scoundrels. He also co-wrote the George Martin documentary trilogy about music, The Rhythm of Life, for BBC2.

His first novel, A Girl Who Came To Stay, was published in 1973, and has been followed by several others, including Sunday Morning, Shadows On A Wall and Love Out Of Season. There have also been the biographies Being Elvis: A Lonely Life and Being John Lennon: A Restless Life. His latest novella, ‘Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition’, which is based on a play he originally wrote for Radio 4, was published in book form in 2019.

For radio he wrote Lost Fortnight, which was about Raymond Chandler in Hollywood, and Unimaginable, which concerned the 24 hours around the death of John Lennon, whom he was due to see on the day the former Beatle was murdered. In 2010, he adapted one strand of his novel Love Out Of Season as the radio play God Bless Our Love.

He is married to Plum Connolly, has three children and two grandchildren, and lives in London.

Life Right Now

He Who Is Not Angry Is Immoral And Unjust

1 Corinthians 14:38

Saint Thomas More

Saint Thomas More (1478-1535), English Lawyer, Judge, Social Philosopher, Author, Statesman, and Noted Renaissance Humanist

CS: Common Sense

Double-Entendre

William At 40: The Making Of A New Monarch by Robert Jobson

Hardback: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is destined one day to be king. Determined to serve his country as his grandmother, the Queen has so selflessly done for seven decades, William is the epitome of a loving husband to Catherine, and a devoted father to their three children: George, Charlotte and Louis.

In public, William appears calm, balanced and determined. He is passionate about safeguarding the environment and helping to protect species under threat of extinction. The Duke and his wife have also worked tirelessly to remove the stigma that continues to mark mental health problems.

In private, however, those close to him say that William, while being a dedicated servant of the Crown can defy his calm, family-guy public demeanour.  

William At 40: The Making of a New Monarch (2022) is the definitive account - insightful and nuanced - of the life of the Duke of Cambridge as he approaches his milestone birthday. Jobson explores the complex character of the man who will one day reign as King William V. It is the story of the making of a king for our times. It is the story of the making of a monarch for the twenty-first century.

Happy 40th birthday, HRH Prince William!

About the author: Robert Jobson is one of Britain's leading royal commentators, dubbed the "Godfather of Royal Reporting" by The Wall Street Journal. He is Royal Editor of the respected London Evening Standard and regularly appears on television as a royal expert. A best-selling author and award-winning correspondent, he has been at the forefront of royal reporting for a quarter of a century. He is Royal Editor of Australia's top rated morning shows, Sunrise and The Morning Show for the 7 network and New Zealand's TVNZ Breakfast One.

In the UK, he is a regular on screen expert for ITV Daybreak, Sky News, Channel 5 and the BBC. In America, he is royal contributor for NBC's Today Show. He is also royal contributor to America's prestigious Forbes magazine and Forbes.com.

The author of 8 books, he is an accomplished guest lecturer for Cunard Insights programme and a regular on the after-dinner speeches circuit.

Just As The Calendar Began To Say Summer by Mary Oliver

Without A Prayer: The Death Of Lucas Leonard And How One Church Became A Cult by Susan Ashline

Hardback: The Word of Life Christian Church in Chadwicks, New York, seemed a little odd, but the upstate town and then the entire country were shocked by the 2015 beating death of 19-year-old Lucas Leonard by the congregation, including his own parents. 

In her excellent debut, Emmy-nominated journalist Susan Ashline details what led to the murder, the church’s fanatical founder, his strange death, and the succession of his daughter, who inflicted bizarre emotional and verbal abuse on her congregation. 

One method of control was through threatening action for any sexual misconduct, which spiralled into allegations of child abuse against Leonard and his 17-year-old brother, Chris. When locked in the church and confronted by the pastor, the pastor’s family, and the boys’ parents, they were beaten and whipped until they “confessed” to their sins. Even then, the abuse went on for hours, until Lucas was left for dead. 

Susan Ashline then follows the trials of nine members of the cult and details the mounds of evidence against them. Most were defiant, though after one defendant received a lengthy prison sentence, the rest agreed to pleas for shorter jail time. In the end, only Lucas’s father seems to realize the how and why of the tragedy and accepts his own guilt in a jailhouse letter written to the author. 

The full story has never been told until now. Meticulously researched, Without A Prayer: The Death Of Lucas Leonard And How One Church Became A Cult (2019) delves deep into the Leonard family history, the darkness within the parish-turned-cult Word of Life Christian Church, and what led Lucas, his family, and his community to that fateful night.

About the author: Susan Ashline's journalism career spans more than 25 years. Her work has received major awards, including an Emmy nomination for a public broadcasting societal concerns program, a first place Associated Press award for general excellence in individual reporting, and a Gold Medal Award for Democrat and Chronicle online excellence. She lives in Rochester, New York.

The Freemasons: A History Of The World's Most Powerful Secret Society by Jasper Ridley

Paperback: What did Mozart and Bach, Oscar Wilde and Anthony Trollope, George Washington and Frederick the Great, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt have in common? They were all Freemasons, a secret society that has been the subject of endless fascination.

To the layman, they are a mysterious brotherhood of profound if uncertain influence, a secret society purported in some popular histories to have its roots in the fabled order of the Knights Templar, or in the mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids. They evoke fears of world domination by a select few who enjoy privileged access to wealth and the levers of power. The secrecy of their rites suggests the taint of sacrilege, and their hidden loyalties are sometimes accused of undermining the workings of justice and the integrity of nations. Chapters here include:

The Masons

Heretics

Grand Lodge

The Pope’s Bull

Germany and France

English Grand Lodge

Troubles and Scandals

The American Revolution

The French Revolution

Modern Freemasonry in Britain

Modern Freemasonry in the United States

Are the Freemasons a Menace

And much more!

Though not a mason himself, Jasper Ridley nonetheless refutes many of the outrageous allegations made against Freemasonry, while at the same time acknowledging the masons’ shortcomings: their clannishness, misogyny, obsession with secrecy, and devotion to arcane ritual. 

In this much-needed reassessment first published in 1999 and reprinted in 2011, he offers a substantial work of history that sifts the truth from the myth as it traces Freemasonry from its origins to the present day.

About the author: Jasper Ridley (1920-2004) was a British writer known for historical biographies. He received the 1970 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography Lord Palmerston. Ridley was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister before beginning his career as a writer. He was a conscientious objector during WWII, served on St Pancras Borough Council between 1945 and 1949, and stood as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955. He was the author of around 20 biographies and general historical works, with subjects as diverse as Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer, Mussolini, and Tito. His work has been described by Isabel Quigley as 'the non-fiction equivalent of the upper-middlebrow novel – intelligent, accessible, not too demanding'. Ridley was master of the Carpenters Company, a vice-president of English PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists), and a keen walker. 

His last work, The Freemasons (2011) posted here, was highly acclaimed.

Thank You For Calling Your Father

British Summer

Happiness No 166

Newer With Years

 

Beware Of False Knowledge

Meghan and Harry: The Real Story by Lady Colin Campbell

Hardback: This blockbuster narrative provides the first behind-the-scenes, authoritative account of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s marriage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Diana in Private.

The fall from popular grace of Prince Harry, the previously adulated brother of the heir to the British throne, as a consequence of his marriage to the beautiful and dynamic Hollywood actress and "Suits star" Meghan Markle, makes for fascinating reading in this groundbreaking book from Lady Colin Campbell, who is the New York Times bestselling biographer of books on Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth’s marriage.

With a unique breadth of insight, Lady Colin Campbell goes behind the scenes, speaking to friends, relations, courtiers, and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic to reveal the most unexpected royal story since King Edward VIII's abdication. She highlights the dilemmas involved and the issues that lurk beneath the surface, revealing why the couple decided to step down as "senior royals". 

She analyses the implications of the actions of an ambitious Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in love with each other and with the empowering lure of fame and fortune, and leads the reader through the maze of contradictions Meghan and Harry have created - while also evoking the Californian culture that has influenced the couple's conduct.

Meghan and Harry: The Real Story (2020) exposes how the royal couple tried and failed to change the royal system - by adapting it to their own needs and ambitions - and, upon failing, how they decided to create a new system and life for themselves. It is a balanced account of game changes, conflicts and ambitions.

Meghan and Harry: The Real Story (2020) is a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

About the author: Lady Colin Campbell was born in Jamaica in 1949. She is a British author, socialite and television personality who has published seven books about the British royal family. She is a London Times and New York Times bestselling author of Diana in Private and The Untold Life of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Her works include People of Colour and the Royals (2019), The Queen's Marriage (2018), Daughter of Narcissus (2009), Empress Bianca (2005), The Real Diana (2004), A Life Worth Living (1997), The Royal Marriages (1993) and Guide to Being a Modern Lady (1986). A renowned animal lover, she also ghosted With Love from Pet Heaven by Tum Tum the Springer Spaniel (2010). 

She divides her time between London and Castle Goring with her sons and her pets.

Nothing Which Sounded Human

The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out Of Auschwitz To Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland

Hardback: The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn The World (2022) is the astonishing, forgotten story of the hero who escaped from Auschwitz to reveal the truth of the Holocaust.

In April 1944, a teenager named Rudolf Vrba was planning a daring and unprecedented escape from Auschwitz. After hiding in a pile of timber planks for three days while 3,000 SS men and their bloodhounds searched for him, Vrba and his fellow escapee Fred Wetzler would eventually cross Nazi-occupied Poland on foot, as penniless fugitives. Their mission: to tell the world the truth of the Final Solution.

Vrba would produce from memory a breathtaking report of more than thirty pages revealing the true nature and scale of Auschwitz – a report that would find its way to Roosevelt, Churchill and the Pope, eventually saving over 200,000 Jewish lives.

A thrilling history with enormous historical implications, The Escape Artist is the extraordinary story of a complex man who would seek escape again and again: first from Auschwitz, then from his past, even from his own name. In telling his story, Jonathan Freedland – the journalist, broadcaster and acclaimed, multi-million copy selling author of the Sam Bourne novels – ensures that Rudolf Vrba’s heroic mission will also escape oblivion.

About the author: Jonathan Freedland is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, who also writes bestselling novels under the pseudonym, Sam Bourne. Jonathan writes for the Guardian, the New York Times and New York Review of Books, and has a monthly column in the Jewish Chronicle. He also presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series, The Long View.

Jonathan was named Columnist of the Year in the annual What the Papers Say Awards of 2002 and in 2008 he was awarded the David Watt prize for journalism. He has also been awarded The Orwell Special Prize for his contribution to political journalism (2014).

The Righteous Men, Sam Bourne's first novel, was an international bestseller and was selected as one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads. He has continued this success with a series of bestselling thrillers and has sold over a million copies in the UK alone.

Childhood: A Miraculous World

The Most Dangerous Man In The World by Andrew Fowler

Paperback: The Most Dangerous Man in the World (2011) is the definitive account of WikiLeaks, threats against its existence and the man who is as secretive as the organisations he targets. 

Through interviews with Julian Assange, his inner circle and those who fell out with him, Andrew Fowler tells the story of how a man with a turbulent childhood and brilliance for computers created a phenomenon that has become a game-changer in journalism and global politics.

In this international thriller, Fowler gives a ringside seat on the biggest leak in history. He charts the pursuit of Assange by the US and Sweden and the offer of political asylum by Eucador. It tells the story of how in the eyes of many Assange had become, according to the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, 'the most dangerous man in the world'.

An updated version of this book - The Most Dangerous Man In The World: Julian Assange and WikiLeaks’ Fight for Freedom - was published on 2 July 2020.

About the author: Andrew Fowler is an award-winning investigative journalist and a former reporter for the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners programs. Fowler began his journalism career in the early 1970s, covering the IRA bombing campaign for the London Evening News. He has been the chief of staff and acting foreign editor of The Australian newspaper. Fowler first interviewed Julian Assange for Foreign Correspondent in 2010, for which the program won the New York Festival Gold Medal. He wrote the first edition of The Most Dangerous Man in the World in 2011. His two other books are The War on Journalism (Random House, 2015) and Shooting the Messenger: Criminalising Journalism (Routledge, 2017). He was also a Walkley Award and Logie finalist for a major corruption investigation.

The Absence Of Empathy And Understanding

As They Are Fed

Rationally

Definition: Corrump

 

The Queen's Faith: Queen Elizabeth II Describes Her Faith by Geoffrey Waugh

Paperback: The Queen's Faith (2021) describes Her Majesty's faith as found in her annual broadcasts. 

This book arranges excerpts from the broadcasts in ten themes. It includes excerpts from The Queen's annual Christmas Broadcasts and from her historic Easter Message of 2020 (when churches were closed) including many photographs.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in the first of her annual Christmas Speeches (1952), reminded us that 'Peace on earth, Goodwill toward all' is the eternal message of Christmas and the desire of us all.

About the author: Dr Geoffrey Waugh, a retired Australian Minister and Teacher, is the founding editor of the Renewal Journal and offers free PDF books on www.renewaljournal.com

Geoffrey, born in 1937, is the eldest of his minister father's nine children and began teaching at 19 with a great class of 43 boys. He then completed theological college and taught in schools and Bible Schools in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, living mostly in bamboo and grass roof houses, sometimes in villages. He married Meg, also a teacher, and their first child was born in the remote mission hospital. They returned to Australia, where two more children were born, and they lived mainly in Brisbane in an extended family community home linked with other community homes involved in renewal. Geoffrey taught on renewal and revival at Bible College, Trinity Theological College, and Christian Heritage College.

Geoffrey's books focus on renewal and revival. They include Flashpoints of Revival, Revival Fires, South Pacific Revivals, The Lion of Judah series, Discovering Aslan series, Living in the Spirit, Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit, Kingdom Life study books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), and his autobiographical adventures, God's Surprises and Journey into Ministry and Mission.

A Wonderful Monarch In Globally Unstable Times

 

Queen Of Our Times: The Life Of Elizabeth II by Robert Hardman

Hardback: Queen of our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II (2022) is a definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the seventieth anniversary of her reign by a renowned royal biographer.

Shy but with a steely self-confidence; inscrutable despite ten decades in the public eye; unflappable; devout; indulgent; outwardly reserved, inwardly passionate; unsentimental; inquisitive; young at heart.

All of these describe Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned through more seismic social change than any monarch in British history. From the Abdication to the Sussexes, from World War II to the loss of her life-long partner, she has witnessed family crises on a scale not seen since the days of George III.

She is a 21st-Century global phenomenon commanding unrivalled respect and affection. Sealed off during the greatest peacetime emergency of modern times, she has stuck to her own maxim: ‘I have to be seen to be believed.’ And now she is preparing for an event without parallel in Europe since the reign of Louis XIV: her Platinum Jubilee, celebrating seventy years on the Throne.

Robert Hardman, the acclaimed and respected author of Her Majesty and Queen of the World has already examined the Queen as a modern monarch and her role as a stateswoman abroad. Now, in this entirely new study, including unpublished Royal Family papers and photographs along with personal stories from other world leaders, he wraps up the full story of one of the undisputed greats in a thousand years of monarchy.

Hardman distils Elizabeth's complex life into a must-read study of dynastic survival and renewal. It is a portrait of a world leader who remains as intriguing today as the day she came to the Throne at age twenty-five.

With peerless access to members of the Royal Family, staff, friends and royal records, Queen of Our Times  brings fresh insights and scholarship to the modern royal story. There will be no more thorough, more readable, more original book on the record-breaking Elizabeth II as she reaches a landmark which, surely, can never be equaled.

About the author: Robert Hardman is a leading author, commentator and film-maker on royal life having covered the British monarchy for three decades. He is the writer of both the film and the book Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work as well as Her Majesty and Queen of the World, both available from Pegasus Books. He writes for the Daily Mail in London.

There Once Is A Queen by Michael Morpurgo

Hardback: “There once is a Queen ever constant to her people…”

From the Nation’s Favourite Storyteller Sir Michael Morpurgo comes a poetic celebration of our Queen and longest reigning monarch, beautifully illustrated in watercolour by acclaimed artist Michael Foreman.

There once was a little girl, a princess, who became a queen, our Queen Elizabeth. Now, seventy years later, her reign as the longest serving female monarch in history has seen her stand steadfast through triumph and tribulation, and through the monumental changes that have shaped our world, as this remarkable queen has remained devoted to crown, to country and a corgi or two!

Beginning with the queen as a little girl, planting an oak tree with her father, There Once is a Queen (2022) follows her incredible story in a way that will bring this historic reign vividly to life for readers around the world, big and small. An exquisite gift book and commemoration of the Platinum Jubilee, it marks a unique moment in our shared history and will be a treasured keepsake for generations to come.

There Once is a Queen (2022) is illustrated by Michael Foreman.

About the author: Michael Morpurgo is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist.

Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the war, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up 'Farms for City Children' with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999, this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were awarded an MBE for services to youth. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.

Morpurgo has a gift for magical storytelling, and his books also often tackle social issues. Out of the Ashes (2001), for example, is about the foot and mouth crisis. His most popular books include War Horse (1982), which was runner-up for the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1982 and became an enormous success onstage and on screen; Why the Whales Came (1985), which was made into a film starring Helen Mirren; King of the Cloud Forests (1988), which won the Cercle D'Or Prix Sorciere (France); and My Friend Walter (1988), which was adapted for television. The Wreck of the Zanzibar (1995) won the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award. The Butterfly Lion (1996) draws on the author's own unhappy experiences at boarding school, and is the story of a young boy who rescues an orphaned lion club from the African bush. It won the 1996 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award). Kensuke's Kingdom (1999) tells the tale of a boy who survives on an island after falling from his parents' yacht and learns how to survive with the help of the mysterious Kensuke. This book won the Children's Book Award in 2000. Private Peaceful (2003) is set during the first world war and telling the story of two brothers, Charlie and Tommo. It won the 2005 Red House Children's Book Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the 2004 Whitbread Children's Book Award.

In 2003, Michael Morpurgo became the third Children's Laureate, a scheme he had originally helped to set up with poet Ted Hughes. The Laureateship rewards a lifetime contribution to children's literature and highlights the importance of the role of children's books. Morpurgo firmly believes that 'literature comes before literacy' and wants all children 'to discover and rediscover the secret pleasure that is reading, and to begin to find their voice in their own writing...'

He was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to literature. His recent publications include Half a Man (2014), An Eagle in the Snow (2016), and Flamingo Boy (2018).

About the illustrator: Michael Foreman was born in Suffolk in 1938 and grew up near Lowestoft. He studied at Lowestoft Art School, and at St Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. His first children's book was published while he was still a student.

After completing his studies, he travelled all over the world, making films and television commercials and doing hundreds of sketches which he later used as the inspiration for many of his books. Before becoming a full-time author and illustrator, he lectured at various Schools of Art.

He has illustrated books by authors such as Dickens, Shakespeare, The Brothers Grimm, Roald Dahl and Rudyard Kipling, has designed Christmas stamps for the Post Office, and regularly contributes illustrations to American and European magazines.

Michael Foreman also writes and illustrates his own books. He enjoys writing about earlier periods of history, including conflict and war, in books such as War Boy: A Country Childhood (1989), War Game (1993), and After The War Was Over (1995). The latter is about the soldiers of the First World War, was shortlisted for a Kate Greenaway Medal and won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award 6-8 years category and overall winner) in 1993. His other books are The Littlest Dinosaur's Big Adventure (2009), A Child's Garden: A Story of Hope (2009), Why the Animals Came to Town (2010) and The Tortoise and the Soldier (2015). 

He has twice been nominated for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for his contribution as a children's illustrator, first in 1988 and again in 2010.

Many of Michael Foreman's books also feature Cornwall, where he lives when not in London.

The Queen: 70 Glorious Years (The Official Platinum Jubilee Souvenir) by Royal Collection Trust

Hardback: I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. - The Queen’s oath to the Commonwealth in a radio broadcast, 1947

This official souvenir publication celebrates the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II through photographs chosen to illustrate memorable events in the reign of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Delightfully informal family photographs of The Queen as a young girl, as a young wife and mother, on holiday and enjoying the company of her children and dogs are joined by more formal images illustrating the official life of the monarch, on grand state occasions, such as the Coronation, the State Opening of Parliament and Trooping the Colour – not to mention her memorable encounter with James Bond and her dramatic arrival at the ceremony marking the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.

Each photograph is accompanied by resonant quotations from speeches given by The Queen over the years, from her wartime Children’s Hour radio broadcast at the age of 14 and her first televised Christmas Day broadcast in 1957 to her speeches welcoming Commonwealth leaders and US Presidents to Buckingham Palace or responding to the warm hospitality extended to her on state visits to India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean.

Love of family, fondness for animals, a keen sense of humour, staunch belief in the Commonwealth as a force for good in the world, and gratitude to all the people around the world who go out of their way to help their communities – these are among the themes that come across from this photographic journey through a remarkable life of duty and service.

To be inspirational you don’t have to save lives or win medals. I often draw strength from meeting ordinary people doing extraordinary things: volunteers, carers, community organisers and good neighbours; unsung heroes whose quiet dedication makes them special. - The Queen on the importance of honouring people from all walks of life, 2016

The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser And The Wardrobe (Platinum Jubilee Edition) by Angela Kelly LVO

Hardback: When Angela Kelly and The Queen are together, laughter echoes through the corridors of Buckingham Palace.

Angela has worked with The Queen and walked the corridors of the Royal Household for twenty-eight years, initially as Her Majesty's Senior Dresser and then latterly as Her Majesty's Personal Advisor, Curator, Wardrobe and In-house Designer. As the first person in history to hold this title, she shares a uniquely close working relationship with The Queen.

Her Majesty has personally given Angela her blessing to share their extraordinary bond with the world. Whether it is preparing for a formal occasion or brightening Her Majesty's day with a playful joke, Angela's priority is to serve and support. 

Sharing never-before-seen photographs - many from Angela's own private collection - and charming anecdotes of their time spent together, this revealing book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe (2022), provides memorable insights into what it is like to work closely with The Queen, to curate her wardrobe and to discover a true and lasting connection along the way.

About the author: Angela Kelly LVO is Personal Advisor, Curator and Senior Dresser to Her Majesty The Queen (The Queen's Jewellery, Insignias and Wardrobe), as well as In-house Designer. Angela started working in the Royal Household in 1994 as Assistant Dresser and shares with you her unique insight into her working life with Her Majesty The Queen. 

Angela is also the author of the successful book Dressing The Queen (2012) which celebrated The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Elizabeth II: A Queen for Our Time by Chris Jackson

Hardback: As a Getty Images royal photographer, Chris Jackson has been granted privileged access to the monarch and the British royal family. He has documented the Queen's official engagements over the past two decades, during a period of seismic changes in the British monarchy. 

In photographs documenting public and private moments, and accompanied by warm and engaging text offering a personal perspective and behind-the-shot anecdotes, Jackson captures the Queen's great elegance and charm. From royal tours to hosting state dinners, Elizabeth II: A Queen for Our Time (2021) takes us to the heart of what it means to be the head of the British royal family. 

Much has been made of the Queen's enduring style, and here a spotlight also is shone on the coats, dresses, evening gowns, jewels, bags, and accessories that make up the Queen's coordinated wardrobe. Uniting all that is British as an ambassador and statesperson, Queen Elizabeth II has seen more of the planet and its people than any other head of state, and has engaged with them like no other monarch in British history; she is unquestionably a global voice for our time.

About the author: Chris Jackson is Getty Images Royal Photographer.

From private shoots with HM The Queen to The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to covering some of the world’s biggest news stories Chris has photographed a diverse range of subjects and events during his 18 years with the agency. Assignments have taken him from the Earthquake Zones of Pakistan to the Galapagos Islands, Australia, Los Angeles, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Japan, Dubai, Indonesia, Brunei, The Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Arctic Circle, Belize, Brazil and many more.

Chris was Royal Photographer of the Year 2016, as well as Royal Photographer of the Year 2015 and 2010. He has won special awards in 2009, 2013, 2014. He was News Photographer of the Year in 2005.

Chris specializes in working with Charity which over the years have included Breast Cancer Care, Comic Relief, Laureus, Tusk Trust and Prince Harry's Charity Sentebale. In July 2013, Chris conceived the Sentebale ‘Stories of Hope’ exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery in Central London, highlighting the incredible work the charity is doing in the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho in South Africa. Chris has produced behind the scenes photo documentaries of both the inaugural London and Orlando Invictus Games, a hugely inspiring initiative conceived and developed by Prince Harry

Chris has appeared as a Royal spokesperson on Good Morning America, ABC News, BBC Breakfast, RTL, CNN, Sky News, the Today Show, BBC London, CBS Early Show, ITV 1, BBC News 24, FOX News, CTV Canada, Channel 7 Sunrise and Channel 9 Australia as well as Channel News Asia and many more. 

A Queen For All Seasons: A Celebration Of Queen Elizabeth II On Her Platinum Jubilee by Joanna Lumley

Hardback: A Queen For All Seasons (2022), edited and introduced by Joanna Lumley, is a perceptive, touching and engaging tribute to this unique woman. A treasure chest of first-hand writings, insights and snapshots of the Queen during key moments of her reign to form a vibrant portrait of the woman herself and the extraordinary role she plays.

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates seventy years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. She is Britain’s longest reigning monarch and the very first to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.

Joanna Lumley guides us as we meet Princess Elizabeth in 1952, aged just twenty-five, and about to become Queen, and brings us through to the present day when, as our matriarch, the Queen keeps the national ship steady, including in moments of crisis and suffering. Here are unique perspectives into some of the most fascinating aspects of the Queen’s life – her role as head of state at home and abroad, her private passions and public interests and a bird’s-eye look at key events that have held the nation together and the Queen in our affection throughout Britain and beyond.

This book is a special and unique portrait of our constant Queen in an ever-changing world.

About the author: Dame Joanna Lumley DBE FRGS, English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist, has been described as ‘our most trusted national treasure’. She was born in India and grew up in England and the Far East, celebrating the Queen’s coronation as a schoolgirl in Kuala Lumpur. Her varied screen credits have included Absolutely Fabulous (where she played the legendary Patsy Stone), The New Avengers, and Coronation Street. She is well known for her travel documentaries and as a political activist, including for the Gurkha Justice Campaign.

Lumley was made a Dame (DBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to drama, entertainment and charity.

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Week 2022

Lady In Waiting: My Extraordinary Life In The Shadow Of The Crown (Royalty) by Lady Anne Glenconner

Paperback: Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner - a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. 

Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humour intact.

A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honour at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne's life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. 

In Lady in Waiting (2021), she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, travelling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbour for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities.

With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance.

Lady in Waiting is a New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, The Sunday Times Bestseller, The Globe and Mail Bestseller, ABA Indie Bestseller, The Times (UK) Memoir of the Year and one of Newsweek's Most Anticipated Books of 2020.

About the author: Lady Glenconner was born Lady Anne Coke in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, and grew up in their ancestral estate at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. A Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, she married Lord Glenconner in 1956. They had 5 children together of whom 3 survive. In 1958 she and her husband began to transform the island of Mustique into a paradise for the rich and famous. They granted a plot of land to Princess Margaret who built her favourite home there. She was appointed Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1973 and kept this role – accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours – until her death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving everything in his will to his former employee. She now lives in a farmhouse near Kings Lynn in Norfolk.

Lady Glenconner's mystery novels, Murder on Mustique (2020) and A Haunting at Holkham (2021), are available now.