Purgatorian Manual

About the book: Why should we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory? Theologians assert that those who bestow mercy upon the suffering souls, shall themselves find great relief and assistance in Purgatory; they consider active charity towards the holy souls a mark of predestination to eternal happiness.

This beautiful pocket sized prayerbook is only 3" x 5" and less than 1/2 inch thick, yet it contains almost 300 pages of wonderful prayers. 

Purgatorian Manual contains every prayer, meditation, novena, and Mass for the Holy souls that you could imagine. It is a treasure for those who love the Holy Souls and wish to pray TO and FOR our dearly departed. 

Purgatorian Manual was the official Manual of the Purgatorian Society promoted under the auspices of the Redemptorists. 

This edition was published during the second world war in 1941 and was extremely popular among Catholic Americans during the war years.

The Freedom Of Obedience: Carthusian Novice Conferences by A Carthusian

About the book: Obedience is the submission of the person to the will of God, the fulfilment of a commandment whose value and meaning we cannot always see. This obedience is the fruit of faith that clings to God for himself and submits to every word of God, thus entering into the pattern which he weaves in the history of the world.

For many of us today, obedience is an unusual, even alien, notion. What can we learn from the members of the Carthusian order, for whom the vow of obedience, alongside poverty and chastity, is the most fundamental importance?  

Carthusian spirituality teaches that obedience is not a contradiction of liberty. Rather, it is the way of love and of true freedom. 

This fourth volume of the Carthusian Novice Conferences series (1998) illuminates the truth behind this paradox giving fascinating insights into how the vow of obedience is realised and lived out. The essence of liberty, we learn, is not the power to choose between good and evil, but simply to do good.

These spiritual reflections by a Carthusian novice master for those training for the life of silent love in the cloister show that in the obedience born of love, one responds to the all encompassing, deeply intimate and sustaining love of God.

The Freedom Of Obedience: Carthusian Novice Conferences is translated from the French by an Anglican Solitary. 

For My Sister Nicole (Biography, True Crime) by Denise Brown

About the book: From Denise Brown - older sister of Nicole Brown Simpson - comes a vital, trauma-informed book that illuminates intimate partner violence and the systems that enable it.

“We’re hearing so many stories now about domestic violence…The statistics are staggering. Denise Brown has been in search of some new things that might actually help save women’s lives.” - Diane Sawyer

About one in three women in the US experience domestic violence, and many incidents are never reported. Drawing on decades of work with domestic violence shelters and the aftermath of her sister’s death, Denise blends memoir and biography with passages from Nicole’s journals, centering the voices and lived experiences of survivors.

Denise teaches practical, evidence-based ways to recognize warning signs - because abusers often hide behind charm, wealth, or charisma - and explains how friends, family, and communities can respond safely and effectively. 

Compassionate and urgent, For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn't Hurt, What To Know About Domestic Violence (2026) is both a necessary survivor narrative and a call to action, helping readers to better understand what happened to Nicole and learn how to recognize and support other people in danger.

For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn't Hurt, What To Know About Domestic Violence is a Publishers Weekly Pick for Fall 2026 Fiction and Nonfiction Preview: Memoirs & Biographies.

About the author: Denise Brown was raised in a close-knit family in Orange County, California, and became known worldwide after the brutal 1994 murder of her sister Nicole Brown Simpson. Denise testified in front of the US Senate Appropriations Committee for increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act; President Biden and Senator Hatch cited her as “having done more for the issue of domestic violence than any other individual.” After three decades of advocacy, she is a sought-after speaker and educator on this critical public health issue.

In Light Of All Darkness (True Crime) by Kim Cross

About the book: Paced like a thriller and full of insider information on the history and science of Crime Scene Investigation, In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child embeds readers in one of the most famous true-crime stories of our generation - the kidnapping of Polly Klaas - a case as pivotal in the history of the FBI as the Unabomber or Oklahoma City bombing.

On 1 October 1993, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a sleepover with two friends, while her mother slept soundly in the room next door. This rarest of all kidnappings - a stranger abduction from the home - triggered one of the largest manhunts in FBI history.  

Many Americans remember Polly's face, which appeared on the national news every night, on the cover of People magazine, and on more than 8 million flyers distributed as far as China. The emotional gravity of Polly’s story touched every agent, police officer, and forensic technician who worked on her case. Many of these investigators have never shared their stories - until now.

New York Times bestselling author Kim Cross has written the first comprehensive account of what happened on that fateful night in October, as well as how the case forever transformed the Bureau’s approach to solving crimes. With unprecedented access to files, crime scene photos, a videotaped murder confession, and inside sources, In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child (2023) follows the investigators who pieced together the evidence that led to the arrest and conviction of the kidnapper - and made the victim a household name and a girl who will never be forgotten. 

About the author: Kim Cross is a New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and historian known for meticulously reported narrative nonfiction. Her stories have been recognized in “Best of” lists by the New York Times, the Columbia Journalism Review, The Sunday Longread, Longform, Apple News Audio, and Best American Sports Writing. She lives in Boise, Idaho.

Bibliothèque Intérieure

I Believe In Love by Jean du Coeur de Jesus d'Elbée

About the book: This spiritual classic has long been beloved by Catholics for its wondrous distillation of the teaching of St Thérèse of Lisieux into a reader-friendly set of meditations. It is perfect as a personal retreat when you have only a few moments to spare each day - and for spiritual reading anytime and anywhere. 

Father Jean C J d'Elbée, a French priest deeply imbued with St Thérèse's spirit, brings you St.Thérèse's teachings on God's love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence. I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat based on the Teaching of St Thérèse of Lisieux (1974) has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment!

You will learn:

a) How you can (and must) have confidence in God, not in spite of your sufferings, but because of them!

b) The secret that makes sense of the pain and trouble in your life no matter how great

c) One thing you must cherish in your soul, or you'll never learn to love as Jesus loves

d) God's love for you personally: are you really aware of its reality in every moment of your life?

e) How you can see it at work

f) The spiritual goldmine that is at your fingertips now if you know where to find it

g) What you must do before you speak about the Faith, or your words will be useless

h) Crosses: why you can't avoid them and why you should love the ones God sends you

i) How to deal with failures, reversals, and difficult moments of all kinds without losing your spiritual or emotional equilibrium

j) The Fall of Adam and Eve: how even it shows God's abiding love for every soul

k) The sin that destroys countless souls since few know how to recognize and fight it

l) Do you wish you had the love of God that the saints have but are discouraged by your weaknesses?Why you should take heart

m) Are you drawing on all the treasures of the Eucharist and the saints? How you can be sure

n) The comforting reason why our Lord at times chooses not to deliver you from trials

o) Much more that will show you how to live in the glorious love of God at each moment!

I Believe in Love was first published in French in 1969 under the title Croire à l'amour.

About the author: Fr Jean C J d'Elbee was a French priest who, in his book, I Believe in Love, beautifully conveys the spirit of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and her message of joyful confidence and total abandonment to the Heart of Jesus.

Definition: Chaophile

St Francis Of Assisi by Bret Thomas OFS

About the book: All Christians know his name. Few truly know the man.

Francis of Assisi was not even five feet tall. He was not well educated. And yet he is the one saint commonly recognized as Alter Christus, the “other Christ.” Francis is not just any saint - he is a saint for everyone, whatever your place or position in life. 

But do we really know him?

Who was this man at his core? 

What was it that thrust this little man from a little town to the heights of sanctity, into a place of high honour among the celestial court?

In this riveting biography, author Bret Thoman accomplishes what few biographers have. He pierces the inner life of Francis, revealing his deepest passions, his unquenchable love for poverty, and his unshakable grip on the core of the Gospel. The life of Francis, so often festooned with spectacle and miracle, is in reality the story of a soul yearning for God in every moment and glimpsing His presence in all creation.

If you want to see the hidden life of the greatest saint, if you want to hear his thoughts, if you want to feel the fervour that blazed within his soul, you must read St Francis of Assisi: Passion, Poverty, and the Man who Transformed the Catholic Church (2016). 

About the author: Bret Thoman, OFS, has been a member of the Secular Franciscan Order (Third Order of St Francis) since 2003. He has an MA in Italian from Middlebury College, a BA from the University of Georgia in foreign languages, and a certificate in Franciscan Studies. Bret has written and published three books and translated twelve books from Italian to English.

While working as an interpreter for CNN, he translated the papal conclave and announced the election of Pope Francis live. But his main activity is organizing pilgrimages for St Francis Pilgrimages, the company he founded in 2004. He is also an FAA-licensed pilot and has logged more than 3500 hours of flight time.

Bret is partial to Latin, Gregorian chant, and incense, and he spends his free time reading classics, hiking, or biking anywhere not on asphalt. He currently lives in Loreto, Italy, with his wife and two children.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

About the book: The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story (2019) tells the true story of one of the most sensational murder trials in American history. 

When Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892, the arrest of the couple’s younger daughter Lizzie turned the case into international news and her trial into a spectacle unparalleled in American history. Reporters flocked to the scene. Well-known columnists took up conspicuous seats in the courtroom. The defendant was relentlessly scrutinized for signs of guilt or innocence. Everyone - rich and poor, suffragists and social conservatives, legal scholars and laypeople - had an opinion about Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence. 

Was she a cold-blooded murderess or an unjustly persecuted lady? 

Did she or didn’t she?

The popular fascination with the Borden murders and its central enigmatic character has endured for more than one hundred years. Immortalized in rhyme, told and retold in every conceivable genre, the murders have secured a place in the American pantheon of mythic horror, but one typically wrenched from its historical moment. 

In contrast, Cara Robertson explores the stories Lizzie Borden’s culture wanted and expected to hear and how those stories influenced the debate inside and outside of the courtroom. Based on transcripts of the Borden legal proceedings, contemporary newspaper accounts, unpublished local accounts, and recently unearthed letters from Lizzie herself, The Trial of Lizzie Borden offers a window onto America in the Gilded Age, showcasing its most deeply held convictions and its most troubling social anxieties.

About the author: Cara Robertson began researching the Borden case as a Harvard undergraduate in 1990. She holds a PhD from Oxford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. She clerked at the Supreme Court of the United States, served as a legal adviser to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, and has written for various publications. Her scholarship has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center, of which she is a Trustee. The Trial of Lizzie Borden is her first book.

Holding Lightning by Emily Lordi

About the book: She was The Voice, and then she was a tragedy. Or so the story goes. 

Since her death in 2012, the life of Whitney Houston has been shaped by the popular imagination into a simplistic tale of angelic rise and pitiable fall. But as Emily Lordi argues in this magisterial new biography, such an assumption fails to convey just how hard Whitney worked to become herself, to share her gifts at the height of her powers and to passionately resist her own end.

In Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston (2026), Lordi reveals the dedication Houston applied to everything she did, from her encyclopaedic knowledge of music to the groundbreaking networks of Black creators that she worked so hard to create and uplift. This book fundamentally reappraises Houston’s life and art, shifting our perspective so we can finally see Whitney in all her real, imperfect, fallible, resilient humanity.

About the author: Emily Lordi is a writer, cultural critic, and professor of English at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of three books on Black literature and popular music, a writer-at-large for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and a contributor to NewYorker.com, The Washington Post, and others. She lives in Nashville, TN.

Empire of Orgasm by Ellen Huet

About the book: Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult (2025) is a cautionary tale of sex and salvation for the wellness generation: how orgasmic meditation turned into a cult.

OneTaste hoped orgasm would change the world. Emerging in the midst of the late-aughts for-profit wellness boom, the company was unwavering in its faith in orgasmic meditation, or OM, a fifteen-minute practice involving a woman being clitorally stimulated by a clothed, usually male partner. Nicole Daedone, the group’s magnetic and cunning founder, envisioned a world where OM was as widespread as yoga. But Daedone’s vision came at a price: behind the militant loyalty she inspired and the millions of dollars in sales was what former members describe as a cult of manipulation, abuse, and coercion driven by a relentless quest for control. 

And by the time the FBI showed up at her door in 2023 with an indictment alleging that she had conspired to commit forced labor, even Daedone herself was no longer safe.

Building on the viral Bloomberg article that exposed the dark sides of OneTaste and of Daedone, Ellen Huet’s Empire of Orgasm tells how a boundary-pushing wellness program became a cult that, according to dozens of witnesses, ruthlessly exploited its members. Huet, the undeniable authority on the group, reveals how, in demanding absolute fealty to Daedone on the path to enlightenment and healing, OneTaste pushed its followers past their limits - sexually, emotionally, financially - and left the lives of many in shambles. 

The story culminates in Daedone’s conviction in June 2025 after a five-week criminal trial.

A riveting saga and a nuanced exploration of the mechanics of manipulation, Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult is an extraordinary account of wellness gone wrong.

About the author: Ellen Huet is an investigative journalist who covers technology and Silicon Valley for Bloomberg News. She writes award-winning features for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, has hosted two seasons of the podcast Foundering, and holds a particular interest in writing about strange and complex subcultures. Previously, she was a staff writer at Forbes and a crime reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sometimes Well Written, Mostly Predictable

Grok Translation: Bookstores overflow with books, and yet very few inspire the desire to be read to the end. You open a novel, read three pages, and already something slips away. Not the interest, but the necessity.

It’s as if the book, scarcely begun, no longer has any reason to hold us back. It’s not the story that falls short. It’s that force which, in certain books, forbids us from setting them down.

Too many novels today seek merely to please us. They are sometimes very well written, but everything already feels predetermined, predictable. They validate us, or they spare us.

Great books, on the other hand, do not seek to seduce us. They impose their rhythm, their ideas, a presence that compels us. We continue reading them not because it’s enjoyable, but because something has begun to stir within us that refuses to stop.

Perhaps that is why so many contemporary novels slip from our hands. They have a reason to exist on a bookstore table, but not the one to survive within us.

Murder In The Dollhouse (True Crime) by Rich Cohen

About the book: Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story (2025) is a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and the aftershocks that rattled a wealthy suburb.

Rich Cohen’s Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story is the chilling, unputdownable story of Jennifer Dulos, a beautiful, rich suburban mother who dropped her kids off at the New Canaan Country School one morning on 24 May 2019 and vanished. 

Her body has never been found.

Dulos was in the midst of an ugly divorce - one of the most contentious in Connecticut state history. The couple, a beautiful, highly connected pair, met at Brown University, had five children, and led what appeared to be a charmed life. 

In the wake of her disappearance, Dulos’s husband and his girlfriend were arrested. He killed himself on the day he was supposed to report to court; she was tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. 

A gripping story of status, wealth, love, and hate, Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story peers beneath the sparkling veneer of propriety that surrounded the Duloses to uncover the origins and motivations of a crime that has become a national obsession.

About the author: Rich Cohen is the New York Times-bestselling author of Tough Jews, Monsters, Sweet and Low, The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones, The Chicago Cubs, and The Last Pirate of New York, and, with Jerry Weintraub, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead. He is the cocreator of the HBO series Vinyl, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, and a writer at large for Air Mail. He has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. Cohen has won the Great Lakes Book Award, the Chicago Public Library’s 21st Century Award, and the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He lives in Connecticut.

"Even Sin Has Become Fashionable," said the Saint

Freedom Under Grace by Pope Leo XIV

About the book: In his first book of original, never-before-seen writings, Pope Leo XIV offers readers around the world a window into the spiritual foundation that would lead him to the papacy - in his own words before his election.

Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost had never published a book. But shortly after his election to the papacy, Leo chose these previously unpublished texts to become his first published collection of writings: Freedom Under Grace: Reflections On The Spiritual Tradition That Formed Me. This wide-ranging book captures the heart of his spirituality, forged by the conviction that “man is not defined by what he possesses or what he knows, but rather by what he loves.”

This collection comes from Prevost’s time overseeing the Order of Saint Augustine, distilling his understanding of the Christian life today for individuals, local communities and churches, and the whole Catholic Church. 

Drawing on the rich tradition of Saint Augustine, Prevost advances an inspiring vision rooted in community and solidarity, commitment to social justice for the poor and marginalized, and the confidence that the gospel of Jesus Christ is what the world most desperately needs to face today’s challenges.

For anyone looking to Pope Leo for wisdom and pastoral guidance, Freedom Under Grace: Reflections On The Spiritual Tradition That Formed Me (2026) is essential reading, delivering profound spiritual depth, penetrating theological insight, and unwavering moral courage.

About the author: Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was born on the South Side of Chicago in 1955, the son of a school superintendent and a librarian. After studying mathematics at Villanova University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Prevost made solemn vows in the Order of Saint Augustine and was ordained as a priest in Rome in 1982. He became a missionary in Peru in 1985. Prevost served as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, was consecrated bishop in 2014, and made a cardinal in 2023. On May 8, 2025, he was elected to the papacy, becoming the first-ever American pope.

What's A Snow Leopard To You? by Chen-Fu Hsu

About the book: What's A Snow Leopard To You? is a captivating fusion of travelogue, fiction, and cultural meditation that journeys deep into the heart of Tibet.

Chen-Fu Hsu’s debut novel begins with a young Taiwanese naturalist on an arduous quest for the elusive snow leopard, weaving in excerpts from translated entries from a left behind diary of a fictional Japanese monk, which bears witness to the seismic transformations of Tibet across the decades under Chinese rule.

Following his deeply spiritual connection to Tibet, the protagonist sets off on multiple journeys to the region, describing in brilliant detail the vast beauty of the Tibetan plateau and the wildlife that has existed since time immemorial. 

However, on his third visit to the region, he is harassed at every turn by the Chinese police who confiscate his belongings, including his books, eventually forcing him to leave for Taiwan. One book overlooked by the Chinese police is the long-lost diary of Udagawa Ekai, a Zen monk who traveled to Lhasa in the postwar years. The diary tells the monk's story up until his death as a recluse, and paints a picture of a Tibet that has a diverse and deeply religious culture that has fought against invaders on multiple fronts. 

Hsu laces excerpts from Ekai’s diary within his narrative, tracing the changes sparked from the horrors of the Chinese military annexation in the 1950s through the Cultural Revolution and into the contemporary age of forced economic development. 

Through encounters with the people of Tibet and their stories, What's a Snow Leopard to You? spans the divide between an intimate portrait of a land in flux and a philosophical inquiry into humanity’s fraught yet enduring bond with nature. This richly layered work braids history with myth, environmentalism with art, and creates a single story of change in one of the world’s most sparsely inhabited regions.

What's a Snow Leopard to You? is the winner of the 2021 Taiwan Literature Award and will be on released on 22 September 2026.

Chen-Fu Hsu will attend three events at the Taipei Cultural Center in New York including one with Brooklyn Book Festival where he will share his creative process and personal experiences. All three events are free but RSVP is required. Please check the prospective websites for more information. 

About the author: Chen-Fu Hsu ( 徐振輔) was born in Taipei in 1994. He holds a BS in Entomology and an MA in Geography from National Taiwan University. His works have been selected four times in the Chiu Ko Publishing Annual Prose Selection and won several awards such as Taipei Literature Annuity. While having no ambitions in photography, he dreams of photographing snow leopards, narwhals, birds of paradise, and other creatures that some believe are myths. Serving as a Canon lecturer, he has held a solo exhibition of Wildlife Photography titled “Wings over and over, and light covers light. ” What’s a Snow Leopard to You? is his debut novel that has already won many literary awards in Taiwan.

About the translators: Howard Goldblatt translates fiction from China and Taiwan, including novels by Nobel laureate Mo Yan, five of whose works are published by Arcade (The Garlic Ballads; The Republic of Wine; Big Breasts and Wide Hips; Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out; Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh). He has also translated works by Chiang-Sheng Kuo (The Piano Tuner) and Liu Zhenyun (I Did Not Kill My Husband; The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon; Remembering 1942, all with Sylvia Li-chun Lin and published by Arcade). 

Sylvia Li-chun Lin, a former teacher and scholar of modern and contemporary Chinese literature and culture, is a full-time translator and seasonal gardener. She and Howard Goldblatt live in Lafayette, Colorado, with their sometimes surprising cat, Domino.

Rating: 5/5

Justice For The Forgotten Families Of 9/11 by Tom McMillan

About the book: Twenty-five years after 9/11, the families of the victims are still waiting for justice.

The president of the United States said in a dramatic speech at the White House that the families of those killed on September 11, 2001, "should have to wait no longer" and that "we have a duty to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice." But that was not Joe Biden in 2022, or Donald Trump in 2017, or even Barack Obama in 2012 - it was George W Bush in 2006.

While most of America has moved on through four presidential administrations while images of those devastating attacks fade from memory, the families of 9/11 are still waiting for some kind of accountability.

Since that devastating day, there has not been one conviction of anyone involved in planning or facilitating the attacks. Five “high value detainees” with direct connections to the plot have been at Guantanamo for years, but all they’ve had are preliminary hearings and delays. Part of the challenge is that many of their confessions were obtained under torture at CIA “black sites” overseas between 2002–2006.

Moreover, there has been no true assessment of Saudi complicity, even though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and it is clear that several Saudi operatives in the US assisted some of the hijackers when they got here. Did they do so officially? Under orders? That is still undetermined, but there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence. The families are so exasperated that they have filed a lawsuit against the kingdom.

Justice for the Forgotten Families of 9/11 (2026) is about the quest for justice by the families of the victims a quarter-century after the worst terrorist attack in US history.

About the author: Tom McMillan, a retired sports PR executive and lifelong student of history, has served on the board of trustees of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center, the board of directors of Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, the board of directors of the Antietam Institute, and the marketing committee of the Gettysburg Foundation. McMillan has written four books on U.S. history—ranging from the Battle of Gettysburg to September 11th to the Star-Spangled Banner - and regularly gives book talks throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

After graduating with a journalism degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, McMillan worked for forty-three years in media and communications, including ten years as a sportswriter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and twenty-five years as VP/Communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (his name is on the 2009 Stanley Cup, and he has three championship rings). Tom and his wife, Colleen, reside in Pittsburgh and Gettysburg, PA. They also volunteer as ambassadors at Antietam National Battlefield.

I Will Follow You Anywhere by John Feal

About the book: Twenty-five years after the attacks that shook the nation, discover the untold story of an American hero who proved that one person can turn trauma into heroic action - from the wounded construction worker who became a relentless champion of the 9/11 responders.

On 11 September 2001, John Feal rushed to Ground Zero to assist with the recovery and cleanup in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. 96 hours later, his destiny was forged by steel when an 8,000-pound beam crushed his left foot. As he adjusted to a partial amputation and went broke paying medical bills, he watched his fellow responders suffer and die from cancer and other ailments caused by the dust in the air they were told was safe to breathe.

Forgotten by a broken healthcare system and lawmakers who had promised to #NeverForget, Feal knew it was time to fight.

Now, in I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took On Congress (2026), he shares his “recipe” for getting things done. Accompanied by stories from his fellow responders in their own words, Feal lays out his rogue approach to the ground game of representative government, empowering readers in all walks of life to take on the system and win.

While working to get the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and healthcare bill passed, Feal caught the attention of comedian Jon Stewart, who joined the cause and became a valuable ally and dear friend. In 2019, Stewart’s testimony before Congress went viral, placing a much-needed spotlight on the frustration and grief of those long abandoned by their government - and the bill was finally signed into law. In the years since, Feal, Stewart, and his team have championed the PACT Act for veterans exposed to burn pits and lent their expertise to other worthy causes.

John is now a “hired gun” for activists fighting to get legislation passed. With I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took On Congress, he shares his hard-won wisdom and expert strategies that will enable underdogs everywhere to stand up against a mighty system.

About the author: John Feal is a native New Yorker and Army veteran who worked as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero until a disabling injury five days into the cleanup. He lobbied Congress to pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which he fought to defend and expand in 2015 and 2019 with the help of dozens of his fellow 9/11 responders, post-9/11 illness survivors, and comedian Jon Stewart. He has since gone on to pass 19 pieces of legislation and is working on number 20.

Through the FealGood Foundation, he continues to advocate for the health needs of first responders nationwide. His appearance on Fox News with Jon Stewart has gone viral. John has spoken at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Princeton University, and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. His story has been covered by Vanity Fair, NPR, The Daily Beast, The Wall Street Journal, and all major news networks, and in two documentaries.

John is a Pat Tilman Foundation honoree, a recipient of the New York State Liberty Award and the New York State Medal of Honor for Civilians, the founder and chairman of the 9/11 Responders Remembered Park, and a kidney donor.

About the contributor: Charles Daly is the coauthor of Make Peace or Die: A Life of Service, Leadership, and Nightmares, which has been featured on Jocko Podcast. He has worked as a developmental editor on bestselling military memoirs, including From Lawyer to Warrior and Civil: Life After the Foreign Legion. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, We Are the Mighty, Kokatat, and Thought Catalog. Charlie lives in a cottage on the west coast of Ireland with his wife, a Swiss crime novelist; their baby boy; and a black cat. He serves as a maritime first responder on his local lifeboat.

Saint Elizabeth of The Trinity: The Complete Works, Volume 3

About the book: Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880–1906) became a Discalced Carmelite nun in Dijon, France, at the age of twenty-one and died five years later. Her spirituality is marked by attentiveness to the indwelling Trinity and her call to become a “praise of glory” for God. The writings gathered in this final volume reflect the mature Carmelite spirit found in the first two volumes while introducing us to the young Elizabeth as that maturity takes shape.

This third and final volume of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Complete Works brings together, for the first time in English, four collections of the saint’s writings:

The Diary, written when Elizabeth was eighteen and nineteen, records her prayer, sacrifices, vocational struggles, apostolic desires, and reflections on sermons and spiritual counsel with candour and immediacy;

The Intimate Notes, dating from before and after her entrance to Carmel, open into the inmost depths of her prayer and include such treasured writings as “To be a bride” and “O my God, Trinity whom I adore,” the latter included in the Catechism of the Catholic Church;

The Letters of Her Youth offer vivid snapshots of daily life, revealing Elizabeth’s warmth, humour, gift for friendship, delight in music, travel, and nature, and unwavering response to God’s call;

The Poems, composed from 1894 to 1906, serve as Elizabeth’s spiritual diary in verse: expressions of longing, suffering, joy, gratitude, and an ever-deepening desire for union with the Trinity.

Taken together, these texts form a portrait of an exuberant young woman as her loves are gradually gathered into a wholehearted love of Christ. Each collection is introduced and critically annotated by Elizabeth’s biographer and editor, Father Conrad De Meester, OCD. Based on the expanded and revised 2023 French critical edition, this volume includes three texts discovered after the earlier French editions, as well as five indexes covering all three volumes of the Complete Works. Read alongside the first two volumes - or encountered on its own - this concluding volume allows readers to follow the formation of a saint from within, as the spirited “Sabeth” Catez becomes Elizabeth of the Trinity.

Saint Elizabeth of The Trinity: The Complete Works, Volume 3: Diary – Intimate Notes – Letters of Her Youth – Poems is translated from the French by Gillian Leslie, OCD.

Saint Elizabeth of The Trinity: The Complete Works, Volume 3: Diary – Intimate Notes – Letters of Her Youth – Poems is now available for preorder only. Preorders are expected to ship by 12 October 2026.

Early Mornings At The Laksa Cafe by Janet Tay

About the book: Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe is a mouthwatering and uplifting story about honouring tradition and finding your own way in life, set in family-run restaurants between Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Every morning before sunrise, Lim Ah Hock opens the shutters of his small kitchen on Carpenter Street, lights an incense stick and prepares the best laksa soup in all of Kuching. 

According to Lim family legend, the laksa’s secret ingredient – their ancestral broth – was gifted to them by a deity, who promised the family prosperity as long as the broth is passed down through the generations.

But Ah Hock is aging, and the broth’s quality is fading. His only son, Wei Ming, has no interest in the family business, having spent eight years in Hong Kong trying to prove himself as a chef. 

Now, he is struggling with gambling debts, embroiled in a love triangle, and the restaurant he has been left to run has lost its Global Restaurants Guild star.

Invited home to Malaysia for his father's 60th birthday, Wei Ming sees a chance to escape his troubles. But when old conflicts resurface and a local businessman threatens to destroy the family legacy, father and son are forced to ask themselves what truly matters.

Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe (2026) is a Straits Times bestseller.

About the author: Janet Tay is a Tin House Winter Workshop alum whose short stories have appeared in various journals and collections including New Writing Dundee 4, Short Story America Anthology, Vol 1 and Black and Whites and Other New Stories from Malaysia. She has also written journalistic pieces on literature, food and parenting for various magazines and websites. The first act of her full-length play, Reunion, was longlisted for The Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her husband and son.

Rating: 4/5

Café. Waiting. Love. by Giddens Ko

About the book: Bestselling translator Shanna Tan teams up with renowned Taiwanese author and filmmaker Giddens Ko to bring readers a nostalgic 2000s classic about coming of age and finding love, for the first time in the English language.

'Dreams that are laughable when said aloud are often the ones most worth pursuing. Even if you fall . . .'

In a small café in Hsinchu, Taiwan, everyone is waiting for something. Whether it is love, a second chance or a sign of something greater. More than just an ordinary coffee shop; this is a place for serendipitous encounters.

Si-ying, a young woman working at the café, harbours a secret crush on the handsome Tse-yu, who regularly visits with a new girlfriend in tow. However, her life takes a turn when she befriends the quirky and earnest Ah Tuo. He takes her on adventures and introduces her to an eclectic mix of people who are not what they seem to be - a triad boss who is a cinephile and a laundrette owner who whips up exquisite dishes worthy of Michelin stars (but only on a Sunday!).

Feelings are complicated, Si-ying learns.

Within the café's walls, moments of reflection reveal profound truths. Amidst the wait for someone else, Si-ying makes her most significant journey: the one to discovering herself.

Cafe. Waiting. Love. is translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Shanna Tan. 

The book will be released on 20 May 2027.

About the author: Giddens Ko is an award-winning and highly popular Taiwanese writer and filmmaker. He writes under the pseudonym JIUBADAO 'Nine Knives' and has authored more than sixty books, primarily novels spanning a diverse range of blended genres including thriller, speculative fiction, horror, fantasy, romance and more. At his peak, he published one book per month for more than a year. Since 2009, he has also become a well-known figure in the film industry, having directed, produced and wrote several blockbuster Taiwanese films, including adaptations of his novels. You Are the Apple of My Eye, a 2011 Taiwanese coming-of-age romance film based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Ko, was a box office hit, winning several awards, and inspiring several film and drama remakes in Thailand and South Korea.

About the translator: Shanna Tan is a Singaporean literary translator working from Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Thai into English. Among her translations are a number of heartwarming cosy novels, which include the bestselling Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum and Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee Hye.

The Prince And The Nanny by Odell M Bjerkness

About the book: The Prince and the Nanny (2009) chronicles the life of Prince Harald, now the late King Harald V (1937-2026), as told in historical context and through the journal of his Nurse, Inga Berg. 

The Norwegian Royal Family has remained very close to the hearts of Norwegians for over a century. Inga Berg's well-written journal chronicles in great detail the early life of Prince Harald. The author has translated the document into English with commentary and built a case for the monarchy's close relationship to the people. 

While Nurse Inga Berg was living in the royal household, she was in a unique position to observe and take part in the life of the Royal Family. She recorded in her diary the young Prince's development. She also described her everyday experiences with the royal family, providing a rare glimpse into the private lives of Crown Prince Olav, Crown Princess Martha, King Haakon, Queen Maud, Princesses Astrid and Ragnhild, and young Prince Harald. 

It also gives a portrait of Inga herself, an extraordinary woman who was raised in humble surroundings, overcame adversity, studied to become a nurse, and eventually came to serve in the most prestigious house in Norway to help raise the first prince to be born on Norwegian soil in almost 600 years. 

The Prince and the Nanny (2009) is a fascinating story illustrated with hundreds of photographs throughout.

Cash Cow by Alev Scott

About the book: Cash Cow: How the maternal body became a global commodity – and the hidden costs for women (2026) is a thought-provoking deep dive into the global fertility industry and the commodification of the maternal body.

Should surrogacy be a paid service, an altruistic act – or even legal at all?

Is it right that you can pay more for ‘VIP’ egg donors – and to view their photos?

How much, if anything, should breastmilk cost – and who should be allowed to buy it?

The global fertility industry is rapidly growing, hugely profitable and morally complex. This an industry where one person’s biological bad luck can be another person’s financial gain. From egg freezing to black-market breastmilk, the maternal body has never been more commodified, yet the ethical, emotional and economic implications are rarely considered.

Through a combination of undercover reporting and detailed first-hand accounts – including a surrogate of 12 children, an international embryo courier and a man who buys breastmilk for his IBS – Alev Scott exposes how the IVF, surrogacy and milk industries operate around the world and who is profiting. 

In doing so, she considers the blurred line between exploitation and empowerment. Who should make money from the maternal body: only the women themselves, anyone or no one?

Timely, thought-provoking and compelling, Cash Cow: How the maternal body became a global commodity – and the hidden costs for women is an unmissable investigation into how desire, desperation and commerce intersect, and the impact the fertility industry has on individuals.

About the author: Alev Scott was born in London in 1987 to a Turkish mother and a British father. She studied Classics at Oxford before working in London as an assistant director in theatre and opera. In 2011, she moved to Istanbul, where she taught Latin at the Bosphorus University. Her first book, Turkish Awakening, was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Book Awards, Debut Political Book of the Year in 2015. Her second book, Ottoman Odyssey, was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award in 2019. Her third book was Power & the People, written with Andronike Makres.

Alev writes for numerous publications, including the Financial Times, Guardian, Newsweek, Harper’s Magazine, Politico Europe, New Statesman, Prospect, the BBC, Huffington Post, The Times, Sunday Times, New Humanist, the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. 

Profession Of Catholic Faith of The Society of Saint Pius X

About the booklet: The Society of Saint Pius X published the following “Profession of Catholic Faith: To Enlighten Souls in the Face of Modern Errors” on 24 June 2026, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. 

Addressed amid renewed tensions between the SSPX and the Holy See, the statement sets out the Society’s doctrinal position on divine revelation, the Church, the papacy, the liturgy, the sacraments, ecumenism, religious liberty and what it describes as modern errors affecting Catholic life. 

The original statement can be read on the SSPX website (Source: The Catholic Herald, 25 June 2026).

About the author: The Society of Saint Pius X is an international priestly society of common life without vows, whose purpose is the priesthood and all that pertains to it. Since its foundation by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, the Society has formed priests according to the immemorial teachings of the Catholic Church.

By teaching the traditional doctrine of the Church, by organising apostolates throughout the world, and by sanctifying souls with the traditional Latin rite of mass and the traditional Sacraments, the Society's priests continue the apostolic work of two millennia for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls. Deo gratias.

Portraits In White by Kaori Lai

About the book: After the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang imposed authoritarian rule on Taiwan in the name of anticommunism. 

The White Terror, as martial law and state repression were known, would last for decades, casting a pall of uncertainty and fear over Taiwanese society - and its legacies still haunt Taiwan today. 

The book is composed of three novellas, each telling the story of an ordinary person. Mr Ch’ing-chih, a schoolteacher, keeps his head down and avoids harming others despite pressure to do intelligence work. Ms Wen-hui, an old woman who had served as a housekeeper for elites of different backgrounds since the Japanese occupation, faces death alone in the digital age. Ms Casey, discriminated against for not being of mainlander descent, moves to Europe and must navigate the politics of diaspora. 

Even if only alluded to obliquely, the White Terror always hovers in the background, shaping the characters’ experiences and inner worlds. 

Elegantly written and keenly observed, Kaori Lai's Portraits in White provides a panoramic view of the ways authoritarianism seeps into daily life and explores everyday life under the White Terror, illuminating how the violence of martial law pervades even the most mundane moments.

Portraits in White is translated from the Mandarin by Sylvia Li-chun Lin and Howard Goldblatt.

About the author: Kaori Lai is an acclaimed Taiwanese writer, now based in Berlin, who has received numerous honours including the Taiwan Literature Award and the Taipei International Book Exhibition Prize. Her previous works include the novel Afterwards, the short story collection Island, and essays on Taiwanese history and culture.

About the translators: Sylvia Li-chun Lin is a former professor at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Representing Atrocity in Taiwan: The 2/28 Incident and White Terror in Fiction and Film (Columbia, 2007).

Howard Goldblatt is the translator of more than sixty works in Chinese, including the novels of Nobel laureate Mo Yan, for which he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Lin and Goldblatt have collaboratively translated nearly two dozen books by writers from China and Taiwan, including Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu T’ien-wen (Columbia, 1999).

Rating: 5/5

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

About the book: Homeseeking is an epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years (from WWII to 2008) as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.

A single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen, it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighbourhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking (2025) follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.

At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.

Homecoming is a Good Morning America Book Club Pick, a Book of the Month December Pick, a Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick, a Roxane Gay Book Club Pick, an Amazon Editor's Pick and an Apple Books Best of the Month. It is recommended by New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, People, Vogue, Oprah Daily, Harper's Bazaar, Today.com, LA Times, Book Riot, LitHub, Bookbub, Debutiful, Kirkus Reviews, Readers Digest, Goodreads, Bookshop, Electric Lit, theSkimm, Chicago Review of Books and more.

About the author: Karissa Chen is a Fulbright fellow, Kundiman Fiction fellow, and a VONA/Voices fellow whose fiction and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Eater, The Cut, NBC News THINK!, Longreads, PEN America, Catapult, Gulf Coast, and Guernica, among others. She was awarded an artist fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as well as multiple writing residencies including at Millay Arts, where she was a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellow and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, among others. She was formerly a senior fiction editor at The Rumpus and currently serves as the editor-in-chief at Hyphen magazine. She received an MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and splits her time between New Jersey and Taipei, Taiwan.

Rating: 5/5

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid by Kazumasa Hayami

About the book: Kyoko Tanihara still loves books. Just about.

But life at the Musashino Bookstore is starting to get her down. Instead of promoting her favourite stories, she finds herself distracted, tearing her hair out at the mere sight of her infuriating manager, who cannot seem to do anything but get in her way of success.

From his obsession with self-help books to his "inspirational" speeches at staff meetings, everything about Takeru Yamamoto seems designed to set her teeth on edge. As the store lurches from crisis to crisis, facing criticism from customers and authors alike, only the prospect of changing a life by handing over the perfect book keeps her going.

Until one day she is handed a book that speaks to all her frustrations, and opens her eyes to an alarming possibility. What if there's actually more to Yamamoto's obnoxious antics than meets the eye? What if, just maybe, her manager is not so stupid after all?

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid (2026) is the perfect read for anyone who has felt that they cannot even . . . with the idiots that walk among us.

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid is translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell.

About the author: Kazumasa Hayami is a writer and screenwriter, born in 1977 in Kanagawa Prefecture. His debut novel, 108, was a bestseller and later made into a manga and a film. He won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for his novel Innocent Days, and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize for The Royal Family. His novels are almost all adapted for screen.

About the translator: Haydn Trowell is an Australian translator of Japanese literature whose work has appeared in Granta, Electric Literature, and Words Without Borders. He has translated fiction by major prize-winning authors such as Yasunari Kawabata, Maki Kashimada, and Rie Qudan, and he has worked extensively with publishers in Australia, Japan, the UK, and the US. Haydn holds a PhD in translation studies from Monash University and has a background in both translation and creative writing.

Rating: 5/5

St Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of the Message (Volume 2) by Joanne Mosley

About the book: Among the Church's many saints and blesseds, Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906) is one of the most attractive and encouraging for our times. 

Author of the classic prayer, "O my God, Trinity whom I adore', she was a shining example of these words which she wrote at the age of twenty: 'even in the midst of the world one can listen to Him in the silence of a heart that wants to belong only to Him!"

Elizabeth was known for her sparkling vitality, her vibrant social life, her skill at the piano, and especially her love of prayer. She had many close friends, but the passion of her life was Jesus and it was this love that led her to the Carmel of Dijon where, after many trials but also profound joys, she died at the age of only twenty-six: a witness to the Trinity dwelling within each of us, and to God's call for us to be with him at every moment - both now and in eternity.

Here, in the first volume of this informative, engaging and inspiring book, we are introduced to the very human face of Elizabeth in the world and in the cloister as she listened to God's word in silence and in Scripture, and penetrated ever more deeply into the mystery of God.

Joanne Mosley's extensive biography, Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of Her Message, offers a detailed examination of the life and spiritual teachings of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun whose insights into the divine presence within each individual are presented as a significant development in Christian spirituality. Through two volumes rich in historical context and personal anecdotes, Mosley not only narrates Elizabeth's life experiences, including her early struggles and eventual sanctification, but also highlights the efforts to promote her posthumous legacy. 

St Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of the Message (Volume 2 - In the Infirmary & After her Death) was published in 2012. 

About the author: Dr Joanne Mosley is an editor, writer, retreat leader, and speaker who specializes in Carmelite spirituality. She is assistant editor of Mount Carmel, the spiritual review published by the Teresian Carmelites and frequently lectures and leads sessions on Carmelite mystics and saints for organizations like the Carmelite Friars in Britain. She is also the author of Edith Stein: Woman of Prayer (2004). 

St Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of the Message (Volume 1) by Joanne Mosley

About the book: Among the Church's many saints and blesseds, Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906) is one of the most attractive and encouraging for our times. 

Author of the classic prayer, "O my God, Trinity whom I adore', she was a shining example of these words which she wrote at the age of twenty: 'even in the midst of the world one can listen to Him in the silence of a heart that wants to belong only to Him!"

Elizabeth was known for her sparkling vitality, her vibrant social life, her skill at the piano, and especially her love of prayer. She had many close friends, but the passion of her life was Jesus and it was this love that led her to the Carmel of Dijon where, after many trials but also profound joys, she died at the age of only twenty-six: a witness to the Trinity dwelling within each of us, and to God's call for us to be with him at every moment - both now and in eternity.

Here, in the first volume of this informative, engaging and inspiring book, we are introduced to the very human face of Elizabeth in the world and in the cloister as she listened to God's word in silence and in Scripture, and penetrated ever more deeply into the mystery of God.

Joanne Mosley's extensive biography, Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of Her Message, offers a detailed examination of the life and spiritual teachings of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun whose insights into the divine presence within each individual are presented as a significant development in Christian spirituality. Through two volumes rich in historical context and personal anecdotes, Mosley not only narrates Elizabeth's life experiences, including her early struggles and eventual sanctification, but also highlights the efforts to promote her posthumous legacy. 

St Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of the Message (Volume 1 - In the World & In Community) was first published in 2012 and reprinted in 2016. 

About the author: Dr Joanne Mosley is an editor, writer, retreat leader, and speaker who specializes in Carmelite spirituality. She is assistant editor of Mount Carmel, the spiritual review published by the Teresian Carmelites and frequently lectures and leads sessions on Carmelite mystics and saints for organizations like the Carmelite Friars in Britain. She is also the author of Edith Stein: Woman of Prayer (2004). 

The Seven Mansions Of The Soul by Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582)

Fair Son, Set Thine Heart To Love GOD

Photo credit: Humble Flow on X.com

Saint Louis (1214-1270)

Photo credit: Memento Mori on X.com

The Woman Who Lived 60 Years On The Eucharist by Virtus et Veritas

About the booklet: Can faith suspend the laws of biology? 

Discover the fascinating story of Floripes Dornelas de Jesús, known as Lola, who defied science by living for six decades without consuming food or water, sustained solely by the Sacred Host.

In this book, science and theology come together to investigate one of Brazil's greatest mystical phenomena. 

Through medical reports and the insights of the great saints of the Church, delve into the enigma of a life that became a living miracle. 

An essential read for those who seek to strengthen their faith and understand the true power of the Eucharist.

Floripes Dornellas de Jesús (1913-1999) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic mystic. She is now a Servant of God after the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints issued the nihil obstat ("nothing against") in November 2005. Her home, known as Recanto Sítio de Lola in Rio Pomba, is a place of pilgrimage, welcoming the faithful from across Brazil on the first Friday and third Sunday of every month for Masses and prayer. The room where Lola lived for over 60 years remains preserved and can be viewed through a glass partition.

The Woman Who Lived 60 Years on the Eucharist was independently published on 3 January 2026.

The French Illusion by John Grisham

About the book: Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about a Paris honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows.

Paul and Chelsea Tanner are riding a euphoric high after their fairytale wedding. But when they fly to Paris for their honeymoon, they are very quickly brought back down to earth. While on a day trip to the idyllic French countryside, they are suddenly and brutally kidnapped. Both of their families are in shock: who would target them - and why?

It quickly becomes clear that this is not the first crime of its kind. The search for answers soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA and French intelligence working together to solve the puzzle. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation.

Propulsive and surprising, The French Illusion is an unmistakable Grisham thrill ride - gripping and impossible to put down.

The French Illusion will be on sale on 29 September 2026.

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 The Widow, Framed, and Camino Ghosts. 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

Wife Of The Chef by Courtney Febbroriello

About the book: Wife of the Chef: The True Story of a Restaurant and a Romance is at once a no-holds-barred memoir of restaurant life and a revealing look at married life. 

For Courtney Febbroriello, the two are intertwined. She and her husband own an American bistro in Connecticut. He is the chef, so naturally he gets all the credit. She has the role of keeping things running, but she is the wife, so she remains anonymous or invisible or both.

Febbroriello comes front and center here, detailing the everyday challenges she faces - taking over dish-washing duty, bailing waiters out of jail, untangling the immigration laws, cajoling lazy suppliers, handling unreasonable customers, and a host of other emergency duties. 

She pokes fun at people who take food and wine - and the chef - too seriously, with witty comments on everything from "chef envy" to the much-ballyhooed James Beard Awards.

Spiced with a healthy spoonful of feminism and enriched with a cup of humour, Wife of the Chef: The True Story of a Restaurant and a Romance (2010) is the tastiest "dish" of the season.

About the author: Courtney Febbroriello and her husband, Christopher Prosperi, opened Metro Bis in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1998. This is her first book.

More Things In Heaven And Earth (A Novel of Watervalley) by Jeff High

About the book: Tucked away in the rolling Tennessee countryside is the charming community of Watervalley, whose inhabitants are quirky and captivating and more surprising than you might expect…

As an ambitious young doctor with a penchant for research, Luke Bradford never wanted to set up practice in a remote rural town. But to pay back his student loans and to fulfill a promise from his past, he heads for Watervalley, Tennessee - and immediately stumbles into one disaster after another.  Will he be labeled the town idiot before he is even introduced as the new doctor? 

Very quickly he faces some big challenges - from resuscitating a three-hundred-pound farmer who goes into cardiac arrest to not getting shot by a local misanthrope for trespassing. He expects the people of Watervalley to be simple, but finds his relationships with them are complicated, whether he is interacting with his bossy but devout housekeeper, the attractive schoolteacher he consistently alienates, or the mysterious kid next door who climbs trees while wearing a bike helmet. 

When a baffling flu epidemic hits Watervalley, Luke faces his ultimate test. Whether the community embraces him or not, it is his responsibility to save them. And he will soon discover that while living in a small town may not be what he wants, it may be just what he needs…

For stories, recipes, and anecdotes from your favourite Watervalley characters, visit watervalleybooks.com.

About the author: After growing up on a farm in rural Tennessee, Jeff High attained degrees in literature and nursing. He is the three-time winner, in fiction and poetry, of an annual writing contest held by Vanderbilt Medical Center. He lived in Nashville for many years, and throughout the country as a travel nurse, before returning to his original hometown, near where he now works as an operating room RN in open-heart surgery. He is the author of the first Watervalley Novel, More Things In Heaven and Earth (2013). The other books in the Watervalley novels are Each Shining Hour (2014); The Splendor of Ordinary Days (2015) and The Fullness Of Time (2019).

Rating: 5/5