Read Unapologetically

On The Discourse Of Number Of Books Read

The Number Of Books I Read This Year

 

Compassion In The Court by Frank Caprio

About the book: Judge Frank Caprio, “the Nicest Judge in the World,” brings to the page the same wisdom and spirit of decency that millions of fans have come to treasure.

In his four-time Emmy-nominated show Caught in Providence, Judge Frank Caprio’s courtroom became a worldwide beacon of compassionate justice - and an unforgettable watch for millions of fans.

From 1985, when he first took the bench, to when he stepped down in 2023, Judge Caprio dispensed true compassion to a continuous flow of regular people in his municipal traffic court in Providence, Rhode Island. His courtroom was a place where defendants were treated with dignity, and where the deserving were given a break - not a pass or get-out-of-jail-free card, but the chance to right their lives and care for their families.

In Compassion in the Court, Judge Caprio shares transformative stories and lessons from his life and courtroom, including:

- Wisdom he gained from his immigrant parents

- Stories shared by individuals of all ages who appeared in court

- How he developed the ability to tell when someone is not telling the truth

- The power of growing up with someone who believed in him - and how he has tried to provide the same for everyone who appeared before him

- How a person’s worth is not measured by the mistakes they make, but by their ability to learn from those mistakes

Judge Caprio’s memories will challenge readers to become somebody - to value their past and their family, to confront their realities, and to believe that, through respect, compassion, and understanding, they can succeed. 

Compassion in the Court: Life-Changing Stories from America's Nicest Judge (2025) will touch your heart, uplift your spirit, and renew your faith in others and in yourself.

About the author: Judge Frank Caprio became an unexpected television and internet superstar while in his eighties! Judge Caprio and his three-time Emmy-nominated television show, Caught in Providence, has amassed over 20 million followers across social media, and his videos have accrued billions of views. His compassionate temperament - unique for a judge - has earned him the title “the nicest judge in the world.” A beloved Rhode Island–based judge and attorney, Judge Frank Caprio is from humble beginnings. His parents were immigrants from Italy who through hard work, devotion to family, and love of their new country and community forged a new life in America. Their sense of responsibility and commitment to service and education was firmly instilled in each of their three sons. Today, Judge Caprio has inspired the world and become the face of compassionate justice.

St Vincent Ferrer of the Order of Friar Preachers: His Life, Spiritual Teaching And Practical Devotions by Andrew Pradel

About the book: St Vincent Ferrer of the Order of Friar Preachers: His Life, Spiritual Teaching And Practical Devotions (1863) is another important book written over 100 years ago with information, prayers and devotions of St Vincent Ferrer by the Reverend Father Andrew Pradel of the same order. It is translated from the French by the Reverend Father T A Dixon, Ord Praed. 

Padre Candido Amantini: Rome's Exorcist by Antonio Coluccia and Andrea Maniglia

About the booklet: Padre Candido Amantini: Rome's Exorcist (2016) is an English translation of a brief biography of Servant of God Father Candido Amantini, CP, a Passionist priest, exorcist, and beloved spiritual father. He lived from 1914-1992 and received people at the Church of the Scala Santa (Holy Staircase) in Rome, Italy. He was the teacher of Fr Gabriele Amorth. Padre Candido is loved by many people. Every day, at the Scala Santa in Rome, his 'friends' come to pray for his intercession by his tomb. His cause for beatification and canonization has been opened. All proceeds from the sale of this publication go directly to printing and distribution of prayer cards and other materials about Padre Candido Amantini CP. Neither the translators nor the Society of the Holy Face of Jesus benefit financially from the sale of this book.

This text was translated by Dr Anna Pecoraro and Father Francis Piro. It is printed in English by the Society of the Holy Face of Jesus on the anniversary of Padre Candido Amantini's passing into eternal life on 22 September 2016.

Sometimes

Treatise On The Spiritual Life by Saint Vincent Ferrer

About the book: The saintly author begins by detaching the soul from all things and from itself by means of poverty, silence and the practice of self-renunciation. Thus he would have us attain to purity of heart. And this purity leads us to divine union, which is the end of the whole spiritual life. Having established these great principles, he then applies them to the principal actions of Christian and religious life. 

Considering these actions one by one, he indicates, together with the interior dispositions which should animate them, some exterior practices aimed at sanctifying them. It is, as it were, a road mapped out for us towards perfection. But along this road dangers are to be encountered; he points them out to us: discouragement will overtake us; he forestalls it by proposing fourteen most efficacious motives for stimulating our generosity in the service of God.

This classic includes the following chapters:

1. On Poverty

2. On Silence

3. On Purity of Heart

4. Perfection Through the Help of a Director

5. On Obedience

6. On Regulating the Body

7. Rules in Regard to Drink

8. Rules to be Observed at Table

9. Persevering in Sobriety and Abstinence

10. Rules of Sleep, Watching, Study, and Choir

11. On Preaching

12. Remedies Against Certain Spiritual Temptations

13. Remedies Against False Revelations

14. Motives to Excite Us to Perfection

15. Elucidation and Application of Motives

16. How to Escape the Devil

17. Dispositions in Regard to Our Neighbour

18. On Perfection

19. Instruction on Various Subjects

Treatise on the Spiritual Life was originally published in 1944.

About the author: Saint Vincent Ferrer, OP, (1350-1419) was a Valencian Dominican friar who gained acclaim as a preacher, missionary and logician. 

58 New Bookstores In 2025

Dear Parents

The Devil In Rome by Rachel Mastrogiacomo

About the book: The Devil in Rome: How I Survived Satanic Ritual Abuse by a Catholic Priest and Why You Should Not Leave the Barque of Peter (2025) is a searing first-person account of a young woman's entanglement with a charismatic Catholic priest whose hidden double life led her into psychological manipulation and satanic ritual abuse. 

Told with courage and deep faith, Rachel's story lifts the veil on a dark undercurrent of clerical corruption and occult influence within the Church, while offering a powerful witness to resilience, spiritual warfare, and the healing she found through Christ and the Traditional Latin Mass.

About the author: Rachel Maria Mastrogiacomo is a survivor of extreme clerical abuse. She is a major whistleblower of clerical sexual abuse (CSA) and satanic ritual abuse (SRA) in the Catholic Church. In 2022, Cardinal McElroy’s promotion to the cardinalate, despite his documented coverup of Mastrogiacomo’s SRA, was considered a “Top Vatican scandal.” Mastrogiacomo, a wife and mother, remains a devout Catholic and calls for church reform. She and her husband have served as missionaries on three continents and are passionate about orphan care and adoption. She holds bachelor degrees in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University, and a European degree in Spirituality from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. 

Mastrogiacomo’s story has been published in both secular and Catholic news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, The San Diego Tribune, Crux, LifeSiteNews, Crisis Magazine, and others.

Scholia (Escolios)

Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913-1994), Colombian Philosopher and Aphorist

Our Lady of Fátima's Peace Plan from Heaven

About the booklet: This booklet, Our Lady of Fátima's Peace Plan from Heaven, one of the most complete, authentic, and compact on the subject of Fátima, is being made available at the lowest possible price for quantity distribution, in order to reach as many people as possible. 

The issue is the salvation of souls and peace in the world.

Our Lady of Fátima's Peace Plan from Heaven was originally published in 1950, reprinted in 1980 and in 1983 with revisions. Over 10,200,000 copies have been sold.

Our Lady of Fátima's Peace Plan from Heaven is a brief but complete statement on Fátima.

Feminine Beauty And Modesty by Fr Louis Pieronne, SSPX

About the booklet: What is modesty? In speaking of modesty, our imperfect words can sometimes lead to misunderstanding. 

The feminine body is a work of God, a marvel whose great dignity is to be the temple of life.

It is the place where we were all conceived and carried.

It is the place where we all received life.

We can never have enough respect for the body of woman, where so great a mystery occurs.

Why then do we ask woman for modesty? If this body is good, why would she hide it? Why give her the false impression of being a source of corruption, accusing her of tainting others?

To understand the situation of fallen nature and its demands, we must consider the plan of God.

While beauty lifts souls upward, modesty goes further - attracting all who witness it to goodness and guiding them towards God. 

This short book will provide readers a deeply Catholic perspective on a topic that is practically forgotten today. It is also available as an eBook.

The cover of Feminine Beauty And Modesty (2024) is of Allégorie de la Justice, 1815, by Charles Meynier.

The Holy Veil Of Manoppello: The Human Face Of God by Paul Badde

About the book: The horrific 1915 earthquake that levelled tiny Manoppello, Italy, brought forth from the local church’s rubble one of Christendom’s long-lost, but most precious relics: the small cloth that lay on Jesus’s face in the tomb.

Saint John speaks of it in his Gospel: “When Peter went into the tomb, he saw linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.” Tradition says that Our Lady herself laid this cloth on His face before He was wrapped in His shroud for burial.

This small veil, now known as the Holy Face of Manoppello, absorbed the very first new breath of the Risen Christ . . . and at that same instant had imprinted on itself, miraculously, a vivid image of the now-resurrected Jesus.

Modern scholars have confirmed that this image corresponds perfectly in all its measurements to the face of the dead Christ on the more famous Shroud of Turin.

Unlike the Shroud, however, the Holy Face of Manoppello shows not the grim visage of a dead man with eyes closed, but the lively face of the living Christ, His eyes wide open, piercing us with their gaze.

In 2006, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to Manoppello to pray before this image. In the decade since then, tens of thousands of other pilgrims have followed in the Pope’s footsteps, making the trek to central Italy to meet Jesus face-to-face.

Now, thanks to author Paul Badde you can learn of the loss and recovery of this precious relic in The Holy Veil of Manoppello: The Human Face of God (2018). 

Better yet, by means of the dozens of colour pictures in this book, you, too, can encounter this miraculous cloth, and finally gaze reverently on the face of the living Christ Himself!

The Holy Veil of Manoppello: The Human Face of God is translated from the German (Von Angesicht zu Angesicht: das Antlitz Gottes in Manoppello) by Raymond Frost. 

About the author: Paul Badde, born in 1948 near Aachen, Germany, has been a Rome correspondent for EWTN since 2013. He has taught history and politics and, for about twenty years, was a journalist for the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. From 2000 to 2013, he was the Jerusalem, Rome and Vatican correspondent for the daily Die Welt.

Badde discovered and translated from the original Yiddish Zvi Kolitz's Yosl Rakover Talks to God. He is also the author of a number of books including Maria of Guadalupe: Shaper of History, Shaper of Hearts and Benedict Up Close. His books The Face of God: The Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus and The True Icon first spread the news about the Holy Face of Manoppello throughout the world. He holds one of the two honorary keys to the city of Manoppello. The other was given to Pope Benedict XVI.

Angels Flight (Harry Bosch Series) by Michael Connelly

About the book: When the body of high profile black lawyer Howard Elias is found inside one of the cars on Angels Flight, a cable railway in downtown Los Angeles, there is not a detective in the city who wants to touch the case. For Elias specialized in lawsuits alleging police brutality, racism, and corruption, and every LAPD cop is a possible suspect in his killing.

Detective Harry Bosch is put in charge.  

Elias’s murder occurred on the eve of a major trial: on behalf of black client, Michael Harris, Elias was to bring a civil case against the LAPD for violent interrogation tactics that had caused his client the partial loss of his hearing. Harris had been acquitted of the rape and murder of a twelve-year-old girl, but many, including Bosch, believe him guilty.  

Elias had let it be known that the trial would serve a dual purpose — to target and bring down the guilty cops and to expose the real murderer of the little girl. Post Rodney King, the 1992 riots, and the trial of O J Simpson, the City of Angels is living on its nerves.  

To discover the truth Harry must dig deep in his own backyard — except that it is a minefield of suspicion and hate that could detonate in his face.

And as if he did not have enough on his mind, his happiness with Eleanor Wish looks to be short-lived.  Five cards on the felt are pulling her back to a place where Harry cannot follow, back to herself.

Angels Flight (1999) is the sixth book in the excellent Harry Bosch series set in Los Angeles.

About the author: About the author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of thirty-eight novels and one work of non-fiction. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of three television series: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and The Lincoln Lawyer. He is also the creator and host of the podcasts Murder Book and The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood. He spends his time in California and Florida. 

To find out more, visit Michael's website at www.michaelconnelly.com.au, or follow him on Facebook (MichaelConnellyBooks) or Twitter @ConnellyBooks. 

Rating: 5/5

What's Your Plan For The Rest Of The Year?

A Man Who Accepts Ease As His Master

💯

My Brother Pier Giorgio: His Last Days by Luciana Frassati

About the book: From the heart of his sister, Luciana, we receive this gripping first-hand testimony of Pier Giorgio's last week on earth. 

In his final days, his Christian character was revealed in an extraordinary way - his devotion to friends and family, his longing to marry the girl he loved, his concern for the poor, and above all his acceptance of God's will. 

In the end, his family was astonished by the huge multitude that formed his funeral procession, finally realizing that Pier Giorgio was destined to belong to the whole world. 

Recounted with incredible detail and love, no one will come away from reading My Brother Pier Giorgio: His Last Days (2025 New Hope Publications) unchanged.

Pier Giorgio was canonized as a saint by Pope Leo XIV in 2025.

My Brother Pier Giorgio: His Last Days is translated from the Italian by Father Hector R G Pérez, STD.

About the author: Luciana Frassati (1902-2007) was an Italian writer and author. She devoted her life to making her brother, Pier Giorgio (1901-1925), known through her first-hand accounts of his short earthly pilgrimage. She was considered a champion of Catholic causes.

About the translator: Father Hector R G Pérez, STD of the Diocese of Pensacola, Florida, who translated this work and added footnotes, has been an enthusiastic promoter of St Pier Giorgio for many years.

1 December 2025

In A Good Bookroom

St Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of the Judgment by Fr Andrew Pradel OP

About the book: St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), during the last 20 years of his life, preached all over Southern Europe that the Last Judgment was imminent if people did not repent and change their lives. He even maintained that he was "The Angel of the Judgment" mentioned in the Apocalypse (Apoc 14:6-7), and he worked an extraordinary miracle to prove it, which the Church accepted as verification of the truth of his claim.

"And I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel, to preach unto them that sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people: saying with a loud voice: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come..." - (Apoc 14:6-7)

And like Nineve at the warning of the Prophet Jonas, the people did change, and the world was spared, and it has subsisted to the present hour - in large part because of this one man! Yet today hardly anyone has ever heard of St Vincent Ferrer!

Commissioned by Our Lord Himself to preach His Gospel, St Vincent began at age 50 an apostolate of preaching that would extend to France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and a few other countries as well. Travelling with him were as many as 10,000 people, including at least 50 priests. The throngs that gathered to hear him came from many miles around, such that he was forced to preach in the open - no church being large enough to hold all the people. Miracles occurred at every step. The author says that if he had worked only 8 per day, they would have totalled over 58,000 - yet he worked far more than 8 miracles each day. At his canonization, the judges became weary and stopped the recitation of validated miracles after they had exceeded 800.

St Vincent was a Spanish Dominican from Valencia, whose very birth was heralded by prodigies, and he worked miracles even in his infancy and youth. Like St Thomas, he knew the Scriptures by heart, and he combined in himself all the charisms of an original Apostle, a Doctor of the Church, the greatest of wonder-workers, and a missionary extraordinaire. Wherever he preached, the Protestant Reformation did not take root. A master of languages, still he preached only in his native Castilian, yet everyone understood him in his own mother tongue. During his 20-year apostolate, he ever maintained his holy religious practices - he wore a hair shirt, slept only 5 hours a night, took the discipline daily, went to Confession every day and ate only once a day.

St Vincent walked everywhere he went, and often he had to enter a town walking in a wooden cage to avoid being crushed by the crowd. Perfect order reigned among the vast concourse that followed him everywhere, and they always had enough money for their needs. Virtually no one could resist the Saint's preaching, and whole cities would be converted in a matter of days from the depths of worldliness and mortal sin to strict Catholicism. He never left a town until all feuds and enmities had been resolved. 

And it was largely due to him that the "Great Western Schism" (1378-1417) - where they were 2 and sometimes 3 claimants to the Papal throne - was finally ended. In short, it is hard to imagine that there ever existed a more effective apostolate for Christ than St Vincent Ferrer, so much so that, even in our neo-pagan world, steeped in unbelief and gone nearly mad with self-indulgence, those who read this life will be forced to admit the truth of the Catholic Faith - because the hand of God was obviously on this man! 

St Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of the Judgment (1875) is translated from the French by Father T A Dixon, OP. 

Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson and Candice Fox

About the book: From the world’s #1 bestselling author comes a thrilling novel where a sisterly detective duo finds themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous and lawless group.

Attorney Rhonda Bird returns home after a long estrangement when she learns her father has died. There she makes two important discoveries: her father stopped being an accountant and had opened up a private detective agency; and she has a teenage half sister named Baby.

Baby brings in a client to the detective agency—a young man who claims he was abducted.

During the course of the investigation, Rhonda and Baby become entangled in a dangerous case involving a group of overprivileged young adults who break laws for fun, their psychopath ringleader, and an ex-assassin victim who decides to hunt them down for revenge.

Sisters Detective Agency (2021) is the first instalment in the 2 Sisters Detective Agency Mystery series.

About the author: James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.

Candice Fox is the author of eleven solo novels, three of which have won Australia's prestigious Ned Kelly Award. She has multiple tv and film adaptations currently in production, with the adaptation of her bestselling Crimson Lake hitting screens as Troppo starring Thomas Jane and Nicole Chamoun in 2022. A third season of the hit show is currently in production. In 2015, Candice began collaborating with James Patterson. Every one of their seven novels together have been New York Times best sellers. Candice lives in Sydney with her family and is a volunteer rescuer of injured wildlife.

Rating: 4/5

Carmelite Studies VI: John of the Cross: Conferences and Essays by Members of the Institute of Carmelite Studies and Others

About the book: In 1965, with a shared interest in Carmelite scholarship, a few friars of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites joined together to found the Institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS). Its first steps were modest enough, but aspirations were high. Among other activities, the group met occasionally to encourage each other in their work and share the fruits of their research; some of the results made their way into the pages of the province's quarterly, Spiritual Life.

Since 1991 marked both the twenty-fifth anniversary of ICS and the worldwide celebration of the fourth centenary of the death of St John of the Cross, the members of the Institute wanted to honour the occasion with a tribute to the Mystical Doctor with whom our fortunes are so closely tied. 

During the centenary year, with the organisational help of Father Kevin Culligan, OCD, various members of the ICS offered free public conferences on the life and teachings of St John of the Cross, through the local communities of the Washington Province.

These talks met with an enthusiastic response, and have been gathered here to make them available to a wider audience. Other contributions arrived later, and were added to round out this volume. This accounts for the variation in tone from article to article; wherever possible, we have retained the original oral style in which the talks were delivered, while adding appropriate notes for sources.

The essays by Michael Dodd, Daniel Chowning, Kevin Culligan, Denis Read, Regis Jordan, Emmanuel Sullivan and Steven Payne were part of the original lecture series. Finally, we added articles from other authors whose essays, some originally intended for Spiritual Life, seemed especially suited to this volume.

Carmelite Studies VI: John of the Cross: Conferences and Essays by Members of the Institute of Carmelite Studies and Others (1992) is edited by Steven Payne, OCD.

Down To The Bone (True Crime) by Caitlin Rother

About the book: Joseph and Summer McStay, and their two young sons, Joey Jr and Gianni, went mysteriously missing from their house in Fallbrook, California, on 15 February 2010. 

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSD) investigated their disappearance as a missing persons' case for months, after finding no blood or any physical evidence of foul play in the house. 

However, the circumstances were certainly suspicious: eggs were left out on the counter, a half-eaten apple on the stairs and two bowls of popcorn on the futon, indicating they left in a hurry, yet their family had no idea where they were. 

The SDSD let the case go cold, deciding the McStays had left voluntarily to Mexico, even though there was no activity on their phones or credit cards.  

Nearly four years later, their skeletal remains were discovered in the High Desert of San Bernardino County - with holes in their skulls, along with a sledgehammer consistent with the injuries, and Summer's bra sliced in half and her pants pulled off. 

A year after that, Joseph's business partner, Charles "Chase" Merritt, was arrested for their murders. 

After many twists and turns in the case, a revolving door of different defense attorneys, and a protracted trial, Merritt was found guilty and, after more delays, sentenced to death row.  

Nonetheless, some observers believe Merritt was wrongly convicted, or if he was involved, did not act alone.  

In this twisting, deeply researched true-crime mystery, Down To The Bone: A Missing Family's Murder and the Elusive Quest for Justice (2025), New York Times bestselling investigative journalist, Caitlin Rother, hunts for answers to reveal the truth behind a heinous crime that became a nation’s obsession, with a controversial trial in its wake, and lingering questions of justice.

About the author: New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rother has written or co-authored 16 books, the latest (crime fiction) of which will be released in January 2026. She worked as an investigative reporter at daily newspapers for 19 years before deciding to write books full-time. Her work has been published in Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Daily Beast. As a TV and radio crime commentator, she has appeared on more than 250 shows, many of which air internationally, including 20/20, People Magazine Investigates, Crime Watch Daily, Australia's World News, Nancy Grace, and Snapped, as well as on Netflix, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, HLN, Reelz, Oxygen, E!, and A&E. Rother also works as a writing-research coach and consultant, enjoys ocean swimming, and plays keyboards and sings in a band. Please visit her website at caitlinrother.com

I Am Boring

Oh, How Sweet Life Was

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

About the book: Culpability (2025) is a suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, killing an elderly couple, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. 

Yet each family member harbours a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.

During a weeklong recovery vacation in the final days of summer, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behaviour tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident - suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. 

When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

A psychosocial thriller and a propulsive family drama, Culpability (2025) explores a world newly shaped by non-human forces such as chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and forces us to examine our own relationship to artificial intelligence, and the nuanced ways in which we are all, in fact, culpable.

About the author: Bruce Holsinger is the author of four award-winning novels, including The Displacements and The Gifted School, and many works of nonfiction. His books have been recognised with the Colorado Book Award, the John Hurt Fisher Prize, the Philip Brett Award, the John Nicholas Brown Prize, the Modern Language Association's Prize for a First Book, and others. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and many other publications. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches in the department of English at the University of Virginia, where he specialises in medieval literature and modern critical thought.

Rating: 5/5

María Esperanza And The Grace Of Betania by Father Timothy E Byerley

About the book: This biography, María Esperanza and the Grace of Betania: God's plan for Healing the Family and Society in the Third Millennium (2014), details the life of María Esperanza Medrano Bianchini (1928-2004), a mystic and visionary from Barrancas, Venezuela, now Servant of God.

María Esperanza became known worldwide after 1984, when she and 150 other people reported seeing an apparition of the Blessed Mother at Betania, a farm in Venezuela.  Her title was “Mary, Virgin and Mother, Reconciler of all Peoples and Nations.”  

The diocesan bishop, Msgr Pio Bello Ricardo, approved the apparition in 1987, in consultation with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), who was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time.

She died after a long illness in a home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, in 2004.  

In 2010, Bishop Paul Bootkoski of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, opened her cause for canonization at the Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi in Metuchen, with 1,100 faithful present.

Father Timothy Byerley, the author, reflects on the aspects of the life and work of María Esperanza. He presents to the reader the mystical gifts of our Servant of God: visions, revelations, gift of prophesy, stigmata, etc, and illustrates each case with specific examples. 

Likewise, he shows, from the perspective of the Church, how these phenomena must be understood within the context of its rich mystical tradition.

It is hoped that this masterpiece may be an opportunity for the reader to rediscover the value of family life and of the Catholic faith, as well as an invitation to hope in a world reconciled.

About the author: Father Byerley studied at Mount St Mary, Emmitsburg, Maryland, and St Charles Seminary in Philadelphia. He was ordained on 25 May 1985. He served as pastor at Mary, Queen of All Saints Parish, Pennsauken, from October 2013 to June 2016; and St John Vianney Parish, Deptford, from 2004-10. He has been parochial vicar at St Jude, Blackwood (1985-88); St Peter, Merchantville (1988-93); Mary, Mother of the Church, Bellmawr (1993-94); St Pius X, Cherry Hill (1994-2000); and Our Lady of Grace, Somerdale (2000-01). He also served as administrator of Our Lady of Grace, 2003-04.

Father Byerley also serves as vice-postulator for the beatification cause of María Esperanza, a visionary and the central figure in the Marian apparitions at Betania, Venezuela, which were approved by the Catholic Church in 1987.

Father Timothy E Byerley has served as pastor of Saint Peter Roman Catholic Church, in Merchantville, New Jersey, since 2016.

Joy In Suffering by Rose Hu

About the book: Rose Hu was born on 4 May 1933, in Shanghai, the eighth of nine children. She converted to Catholicism and was baptized on 17 April 1949 just six months prior to China officially becoming Communist. 

Following her arrest in 1951, Rose spent the next 26 years in Chinese concentration camps under Mao Tse-Tung. 

After her release in 1982, she was able to tell this story in her own words.

Joy in Suffering (2000, 2019) is filled with the raw, unfiltered thoughts and experiences of a soul who endured much for Christ. What Rose suffered for her Catholic Faith defies belief, demands respect and certainly draws a clear picture of the treatment of Catholics under Communism in China.

Recently translated from the Mandarin (樂 在 苦中) to an English audience, this is an inspirational story of a young woman's life in communist China, that lead her to the Catholic Faith. She gives her account of Catholics suffering in a Chinese labour camp during the communists' persecutions in the 1950's. Her story is highly recommended by Fr Daniel Couture, SSPX, her spiritual director.

About the author: Rose Hu was the president of the Legion of Mary in China in the 1950s and suffered imprisonment for twenty-six years (1955-1981). She wrote a beautiful book, Joy in Suffering, in exquisite prose about her ordeal. The following is a poem written by Rose Hu:

For the Month of November

Violently, the fire in Purgatory is burning;

Anxiously, all souls are expecting,

Prayers unceasing;

With penances continuing.

Our Lady in Heaven waiting! 

The Widow by John Grisham

About the book: #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller. Now, he is back with his first-ever whodunit, The Widow (2025), even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.

Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.

Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. 

But soon her story begins to crack. 

When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he did not commit: murder.

Simon knows he is innocent. 

But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. 

To save himself, he must find the real killer.

About the author: John Grisham is the author of more than fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include Framed, Camino Ghosts, and The Exchange: After the Firm. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honoured with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he is not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. John lives on a farm in central Virginia.

Rating: 5/5

The Proving Ground (Lincoln Lawyer Thriller Series) by Michael Connelly

About the book: We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangers of AI. Indeed, the proverbial walls of the city have already been breached. Now is the time to act. - National Association of Attorneys General, 6 September 2023

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a teenage girl.

Following his “resurrection walk” and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.

Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy (The Poet), who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimately delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.

It is said that machines became smarter than humans on the day in 1997 that IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with a gambit called “the knight’s sacrifice.” Haller will take a similar gambit in court to defeat the mega forces of the AI industry lined up against him and his clients.

The Proving Ground (2025) is the eighth instalment in the excellent Lincoln Lawyer Thriller series and is available in print, eBook, and audiobook in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. The audiobook is narrated by Peter Giles.

About the author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of thirty-eight novels and one work of non-fiction. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of three television series: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, and The Lincoln Lawyer. He is also the creator and host of the podcasts Murder Book and The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood. He spends his time in California and Florida. 

To find out more, visit Michael's website at www.michaelconnelly.com.au, or follow him on Facebook (MichaelConnellyBooks) or Twitter @ConnellyBooks. 

Rating: 5/5

John Of The Cross: Man And Mystic by Richard P Hardy

About the book: St John of the Cross, great mystic of the Christian tradition, knew suffering firsthand: his personal “dark night” included exile, imprisonment, starvation, abuse. 

Yet sustained by tremendous faith and steeped in an enormous love for God and humanity, John surrendered to the Divine and was drawn through his experiences to a profound compassion for and solidarity with others.

This engaging contemporary biography is the perfect introduction—or an enjoyable re-acquaintance—to a man whose life, writings, and spirituality have illuminated the Christian world.

ICS Publications is pleased to have this this sought-after and highly acclaimed biography, out of print for a decade, among our titles.

John of the Cross: Man and Mystic (2004) includes a reading guide to the works of St John of the Cross, a selection from his works, 24 pages of colour photos and reproductions of masterpiece artwork, and an extensive bibliography and notes.

About the author: Richard P Hardy received his doctorate at the University of Strasbourg, France, and is a professor of Christian Spirituality, lecturing in the United States, Canada, Philippines, and Hong Kong. His workshops, retreats, and conferences on Carmelite spirituality focus particularly on St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Ávila. He lives in San Francisco.

Nobody's Girl: A Memoir Of Surviving Abuse And Fighting For Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

About the book: Daughter. Prisoner. Survivor. Warrior. Nobody’s Girl. This is Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s last word.

In 2011, Virginia Roberts Giuffre hit the headlines as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison and whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But first and foremost, she became known as a voice of courage and resilience for women everywhere. This is her story, in her own words. A story that has never been told in full before now. It demonstrates with extraordinary power that victims are made, not born. And that once you come to truly understand the horrifying impact of abuse, you will never again question why a victim stays, or returns over and over again.

In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. This is the powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront adversity and trauma of the darkest form, yet found the strength to move forwards, reclaim her voice and shine a light on evil – advocating for others and fighting for a safer, fairer world.

Nobody’s Girl (2025) is a remarkable recounting of one woman’s fortitude in the face of depravity and despair, and the legacy she leaves behind and the unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

About the author: Virginia Roberts Giuffre (1983-2025) was an activist and advocate for sex trafficking survivors. She lived in Australia with her family.

My Brother Jason: The Untold Story Of The Life And Brutal Killing Of Jason Corbett By Tom And Molly Martens by Tracey Corbett-Lynch and Ralph Riegel

About the book: In August 2015, Limerick man Jason Corbett was killed by his wife, Molly Martens, and her father, ex-FBI agent Tom Martens, in the bedroom of their luxury North Carolina home. 

He had been savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat and brick while his children slept nearby.

For his sister, Tracey Corbett-Lynch, and the rest of his family in Ireland, it was just the beginning of the nightmare that would involve a custody battle for his orphaned children, an online hate campaign by Molly Martens and a gripping trial that would lead to her conviction, alongside her father, for his murder. 

But that was not the end of it. 

Tom and Molly Martens’ convictions were later quashed on appeal and the pair agreed a plea deal, accepting the charges of voluntary manslaughter in relation to the killing.

Now fully updated to include details of the 2023 sentencing hearing, My Brother Jason (2024) reveals the full and shocking story of what Molly and Tom Martens tried to get away with.

P/S On 9 August 2017, after less than 4 hours of jury deliberations, 67-year-old Thomas Martens and his 33-year-old daughter Molly Corbett Martens were unanimously found guilty of the second-degree murder of Jason Corbett. Both were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison, as per the prosecution's recommendation. On 6 June 2024, Molly Martens Corbett and Thomas Martens were released from prison after completing their sentences for the voluntary manslaughter of Jason Corbett. A Netflix documentary regarding Corbett's death, titled A Deadly American Marriage, was released on 9 May 2025. (Source: Wikipedia)

About the authors: Tracey Corbett-Lynch is mother of four children. Dean and Adam are her two eldest with her husband David. Jack and Sarah are her brother Jason Corbett’s children whom she fought for after he was killed.

Ralph Riegel is Southern Correspondent for the Irish Independent. Previous books include Afraid of the Dark: The Tragic Story of Robert Holohan and Shattered: Killers Do Time, Victims’ Families Do Life; My Brother Jason and A Dream of Death. He lives in Cork.

Advent by Gunnar Gunnarsson

About the book: Every winter, in the days leading up to Christmas, Benedikt walks into the snowy mountains of Iceland to rescue sheep lost in the blizzards.

With his dog and his ram by his side, traversing wild snowstorms and crystalline nights, fuelled by endless cups of hot coffee, Benedikt dedicates himself to helping other living beings in need. 

It is midwinter in the harshest of landscapes, but this is a place of deep belonging and peace – brutal and remorseless yet irresistible and indispensable. It is also a time of peace, filled with the anticipation of that special time of year – the days before Christmas: Advent.

This enchanting Icelandic classic of one man’s selfless quest at Christmas time has been newly translated into English for the first time in 90 years.

Advent (2025) is translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton.

About the author: Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975) grew up on a farm in the Fljotsdalur district of East Iceland and went on to become one of the most popular novelists in Denmark and Germany. His career began with his first novel, Af Borgslægtens Historie (translated into English as Guest the One-Eyed), which was published by Gyldendal in 1912-1914 and was adapted for cinema in 1919, the first Icelandic writing ever to be made into a film. During the next two and a half decades, Gunnarsson wrote numerous novels, short stories, poems and plays. His books were printed in many countries though his popularity was concentrated in Denmark and Germany. Ships in the Sky made it to sixth place on the New York Times bestseller list in 1938. Advent, also titled The Good Shepherd, is perhaps his most enduring book and is still widely read today.

About the translator: Philip Roughton was born in the US in 1965 and now lives in Iceland. Philip Roughton is an award-winning translator of Icelandic literature. He earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with specialties in medieval Icelandic, medieval Chinese, and Latin literature, and wrote his dissertation on medieval Icelandic translations of saints’ and apostles’ lives. He has taught modern and world literature at CU-Boulder, and medieval literature at the University of Iceland. His translations include works by many of Iceland’s best-known writers, including the Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Bergsveinn Birgisson, Steinunn Sigurðardóttir, and others. He was awarded the 2015 American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Competition Prize, for his translation of Halldór Laxness’ novel Gerpla (Wayward Heroes), the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize for 2016, for his translation of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s The Heart of Man, and an NEA Literature Translation Fellowship for 2017.

Rating: 5/5

Hostage by Eli Sharabi

About the book: On 7 October 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri, shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel. 

Dragged barefoot out of his front door while his family watched in horror, Sharabi was plunged into the suffocating darkness of Gaza’s tunnels. 

In total, he endured a gruelling 491 days in captivity - all the while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones.

In the first memoir by a released Israeli hostage, and the fastest-selling book in Israel’s history, Sharabi offers a searing firsthand account of survival under unimaginable conditions - starvation, isolation, physical beatings, and psychological abuse at the hands of his captors.

Eli Sharabi’s story is one of hunger and heartache, of physical pain, longing, loneliness and a helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength, of resilience, and of the human spirit’s refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged in captivity, the quiet power of faith, and one man’s unrelenting decision to choose life, time and time again.

Reminiscent of Elie Wiesel’s Night, Hostage (2025) is a profound witness to history, so that it shall be neither forgotten nor erased.

Hostage was translated from the Hebrew by Eylon Levy, a former Israeli government spokesperson. Sharabi's Hebrew memoir was originally published in May 2025, just four months after his release.

About the author: Eli Sharabi is a former hostage who survived 491 days in Hamas captivity following his abduction from Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October 2023. Sharabi has since become a global advocate for the remaining hostages, meeting with world leaders like US President Donald Trump, speaking at the United Nations, and sharing his story with audiences around the world. His memoir, Hostage, the first published account by a released Israeli hostage, became an instant number one bestseller in Hebrew, and the fastest selling book in Israeli history.

Born in Tel Aviv to Yemenite and Moroccan parents, Sharabi moved to Be’eri as a teenager and later married Lianne, a British woman with whom he shared two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, aged sixteen and thirteen. A longtime resident of Be’eri, Sharabi served as the Kibbutz’s business manager, as well as the Chief Financial Officer of the Kibbutz, Be’eri Printing, and other private companies in Israel. Sharabi continues to work tirelessly as a leader in the campaign for the release of captives.

About the translator: Eylon Levy is the head of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office and host of the State of a Nation podcast. He served as an Israeli Government Spokesman in the 7 October War, becoming one of the leading voices for Israel. He previously served as International Media Advisor to President Isaac Herzog, after a career as a TV news anchor. He holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and served in the IDF as a lone soldier after making aliyah from Britain.

As a Hebrew-to-English literature translator, Levy has translated several influential works of Hebrew non-fiction. In 2022, he was named the inaugural translation finalist of the Sami Rohr Prize in recognition of his translation of Danny Adeno Abebe's memoir From Africa to Zion. Among his previously published works are The Israeli Century by Yossi Shain (2021), The Fifth Fiasco by David Passig (2021) and Frayed by Yair Ettinger (2023).

Levy was also the co-creator of the musical comedy A Theory of Justice: The Musical, which premiered in Oxford in 2013 and was revived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for four awards. (Source: LinkedIn and Wikipedia)

Definition: Isolophilia

Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle To Uncover The Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh And Her Sons By Alan Hawe by Jacqueline Connolly with Kathryn Rogers

About the book: Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle To Uncover The Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh And Her Sons By Alan Hawe (2025) is the heart-breaking account of a search for the truth behind the brutal killings that shocked a nation.

On 29 August 2016, devastating news hit the headlines that an entire family was found dead in a rural community. For Jacqueline Connolly, this was a deeply personal and life-shattering tragedy, as she discovered her sister Clodagh, along with her nephews Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by their husband and father Alan Hawe.

Here, Jacqueline discloses the circumstances leading up to these tragic events, including Hawe's manipulation and coercive control of her unsuspecting sister.

Her gripping account tells of her family's painful struggle to expose critical failures in the initial garda investigation, as they uncovered the terrible darkness behind Hawe's 'pillar-of-the-community' facade.

Jacqueline also reveals many of the shocking, unpublished findings of the recent Garda Serious Crime Review, details that challenge our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, while laying bare a mass murder - Ireland's largest murder-suicide - that was cold-bloodedly planned for a year in advance.

Deadly Silence is both the story of a sister's determination to find truth and justice, and an inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss.

About the author: Jacqueline Connolly was born in rural Ireland and raised as one of three children. She works as a Senior HR Professional. She holds a master's degree in Human Resources Management and, inspired by her own experiences, has conducted valuable research into vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout for Irish healthcare workers.

She is an advocate for counselling, healing and refusing to let catastrophe and adversity define us as people. As a result of her devastating loss, she is also passionate about raising awareness of domestic violence and the insidious nature of coercive control and other forms of domestic abuse.

She lives with her son in Cavan, Ireland.

About the ghostwriter: Kathryn Rogers has been writing professionally for decades, much of it as a full-time national newspaper journalist and columnist. She has written on every subject imaginable for national newspapers, including the Irish Press, Sunday Press, Irish Independent, Sunday Tribune, Irish Sun and Irish Daily Star newspapers. She has also worked on magazines, periodicals, trade journals and produced annuals for UK publishers.

As a ghostwriter, she has helped bring more than a dozen books to publication. Many of these authors have enjoyed critical and sales success on the official Nielsen bestsellers lists.

As an editor, she has worked on many manuscripts across diverse topics, copying edit material, revising and rewriting where necessary. She also proofreads for grammar, spelling and punctuation. Her job is to ensure that authors can be proud of their work and confident their manuscript is ready for publication. 

I Deliver Parcels In Beijing (Non-Fiction) by Hu AnYan

About the book: I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (2025) is an authentic and humorous first person account of one worker’s daily life in the huge system that is the Chinese gig economy. The system could crush you unless you, as the author, have a slightly philosophical look on everyday life. 

In 2023, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing became a literary sensation of the year in China. The story of a worker doing odd jobs in various anonymous mega-cities, Hu AnYan’s voice hit a nerve with a generation of young Chinese who feel at odds with an ever growing pressure to perform and succeed.

Hu started posting essays about his experiences online during COVID lockdowns. His recollection of night shifts in a huge logistics center in the South of China went nights so hot that even drinking three liters of water does not require a toilet break; colleagues going for KTV instead of trying to get a few hours' sleep; where are the affordable rooms with proper air conditioning, and what is the best amount of alcohol in order to sleep but not feel drowsy a few hours later? 

The work is brutal, and there is no real sense of future in sight. But Hu is armed with a deadpan sense of humour and a strong idea of self, he moves on when he feels from logistics in the South to delivering parcels in Beijing, over to other odd jobs, all the while also discovering the power of reading and writing.

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is a bestseller in China in 2023 with over 160, 000 copies sold, 400,000 ebooks read, and 1,360,000 audio versions downloaded. Also sold for local publications in 15 territories. It will be released on 28 October 2025 and is available for pre-order now. 

The book is a unique first person portrait of a society we never hear from but everyone has opinions about and benefits from. Quietly radical, brimming with humanity and humour, this book asks: what does work really mean? What should it mean? And do any of us really know how to live?

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is translated from the Mandarin by Jack Hargreaves.

About the author: Hu AnYan was born in Guangzhou, China, in 1979. After graduating from secondary school he joined the workforce, moving between cities and odd jobs to make a living. In 2020, a blog post based on his experience as a delivery driver in Beijing went viral, leading to the publication of his first book, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (Insight Media, 2023). It has since become a major national bestseller in China and will be translated into fifteen languages.

About the translator: Jack Hargreaves is a Chinese-English translator. He has translated work by such writers as Li Juan, Lu Xiaoyu, Chai Jing, Shen Dacheng, Gu Qian, Wen Zhen and Chen Chuncheng, among others.

Some Days

The Next Supper: The End Of Restaurants As We Knew Them, And What Comes After by Corey Mintz

About the book: The Next Supper (2021) is a searing expose of the restaurant industry, and a path to a better, safer, happier meal.

In the years before the pandemic, the restaurant business was booming. Americans spent more than half of their annual food budgets dining out. In a generation, chefs had gone from behind-the-scenes labourers to TV stars. The arrival of Uber Eats, DoorDash, and other meal delivery apps was overtaking home cooking.

Beneath all that growth lurked serious problems. Many of the best restaurants in the world employed unpaid cooks. Meal delivery apps were putting restaurants out of business. And all that dining out meant dramatically less healthy diets. The industry may have been booming, but it also desperately needed to change.

Then, along came COVID-19. From the farm to the street-side patio, from the sweaty kitchen to the swarm of delivery vehicles buzzing about our cities, everything about the restaurant business is changing, for better or worse. 

The Next Supper tells this story and offers clear and essential advice for what and how to eat to ensure the well-being of cooks and waitstaff, not to mention our bodies and the environment. 

The Next Supper reminds us that breaking bread is an essential human activity and charts a path to preserving the joy of eating out in a turbulent era.

About the author: Corey Mintz is a freelance food reporter (New York Times, Globe and Mail, Eater, and others), focusing on the intersection between what we eat with business, politics, farming, ethics, land use, labor (or labour, as it is spelled in Canada), education and culture. He has been a cook and a restaurant critic. For his long-running column Fed, he hosted 192 dinner parties, featuring politicians, refugees, criminals, artists, academics, acupuncturists, high-rise window washers, competitive barbecuers, and one monkey. He is the author of two and a half books including How to Host a Dinner Party. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife, Victoria, and their daughter, Cookie Puss.