Lire, c'est reconquérir sa liberté

Translation (Grok): Spending hours on social media scrolling through videos or on platforms binge-watching series is to surrender one's imagination to those who build their fortunes on captive minds. Only reading offers emancipation. To read is to reclaim one's freedom. 

Malachi Martin: In the Shadows Of The Vatican by Robert Marro Jr

About the book: Former CIA operations officer Robert Marro Jr pens a gripping memoir about his close friend and confidante, the famed enigmatic exorcist, bestselling author, and Vatican insider Malachi Martin.

In this riveting firsthand account, Robert Marro Jr pulls back the veil on the life of the mysterious and controversial Reverend Dr Malachi Martin. 

Over the course of their decade-long friendship, Martin revealed secretive details of the Vatican’s efforts to combat Stalinist Iron Curtain governments during the Cold War. Martin also revealed to Marro previously unknown details of the controversial Third Secret of Fatima, which to date has still not been fully disclosed, despite Vatican protestations to the contrary. 

Marro also sets the record straight on Martin’s status as an ex-Jesuit priest and alleged womanizer. Martin was not only a renowned exorcist who literally fought the demons of Hell — he was a Dead Sea Scrolls archeologist, Cold War Vatican spy, and advisor to three popes. 

In Malachi Martin (2025), Marro pulls back the curtain on the only priest who could legitimately be called “The Indiana Jones of the Catholic Church.”

About the author: Robert (Rob) Marro Jr is originally a native of Brooklyn, New York. Before his twenty-five-plus year Wall Street executive role fighting international financial crime, Rob began with a brief stint as a junior White House aide during the Carter/Reagan administrations. This transitioned into a career as a covert operations officer in the CIA. He has also consulted for US Special Operations Command’s Counter Threat Working Group. Rob graduated from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, with a BA in Soviet/Russian Studies. Active in the motion picture industry, he was an executive producer and featured in the 2016 Netflix acclaimed motion picture Hostage to the Devil about the late Malachi Martin. He has many other major Hollywood studio projects currently in development. Rob has been happily married to his lovely artist wife, Wendy, for nineteen years; he enjoys nature photography with his trusty Nikon, amateur astronomy, writing, and military history.

Worst Generation

Read Even In Difficult Times

The Friar Of San Giovanni: Tales Of Padre Pio by John McCaffery

About the book and the author: John McCaffery (d 1981) was lecturer in English at Genoa University and Director of the British Institute there, 1933-1940. During the war, he was Chief of SOE Italy, the underground organisation centred in Switzerland. After the war, he went into insurance, banking and business in Milan. In his early days, he was also a journalist and in that capacity, gave Fleet Street a famous scoop, revealing the identity of Lord Haw-Haw.

A fairly tough character of Scots-Irish extraction, McCaffery did not want to have anything to do with superstitious business of healings and signs and wonders; but friends kept pressing him to go and see a Franciscan Friar in the south of Italy. 

In the end, he went to see Padre Pio in his Monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo. He became a close friend of the man who was to become well known among Catholics for his miracles, clairvoyancy and bi-location. McCaffery set down in the form of many true stories the extraordinary phenomena connected with Padre Pio.

McCaffery wrote first hand and his tales are like travellers' tales from a very strange land. Yet, they all occurred in twentieth-century Italy. The stories are of interest for their sheer strangeness. But they deserve, perhaps, to be taken more seriously. 

McCaffery was a man of wide practical experience and proven integrity, as were the many public figures to whom he alludes. Students of extrasensory perception (ESP) and of the new understanding of the powers of the mind may find interesting subject matter here. But the stories press one for a further response.

The world we live in today seems to be increasingly in thrall to materialism and self-indulgence, and it is therefore more important than ever to bring the reality of Padre Pio's life and work to the fore, providing as it does, hope and clarity in our life's journey towards God.

The Friar Of San Giovanni: Tales Of Padre Pio was first published in 1978, ten years after Padre Pio's death. This new edition was published in 2020.

Front cover drawing of Padre Pio was by Moira McCaffery.

Two Sisters in the Spirit: Thérèse of Lisieux & Elizabeth of the Trinity by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

About the book: Balthasar's unique volume on Thérèse of Lisieux and Elizabeth of the Trinity presents a theological biography of each of these holy Carmelite sisters. In Two Sisters in the Spirit: Thérèse of Lisieux & Elizabeth of the Trinity (1970, 1992), he gives profound insights into their spirituality, showing that their differences actually complement one another as two aspects of the life of contemplation.

Von Balthasar probes the depths of the contemplative mission and spirituality of each of these young Carmelites, who both died in their twenties, and shows how their lives give powerful witness to the critical importance of contemplation as a means to holiness. Each woman is clearly shown as a daughter of her Carmelite heritage with her own emphasis: Thérèse's discovery of the "little way of love" and Elizabeth's focus on the indwelling of God in the soul.

With so much confusion today about the meaning of the contemplative life, the lives of Thérèse and Elizabeth are a strong re-affirmation of the primacy and importance of the contemplative vocation in the life of the Church.

Two Sisters in the Spirit: Thérèse of Lisieux & Elizabeth of the Trinity is translated from the German (Schwestern im Geist: Therese von Lisieux & Elizabeth von Dijon) and published with ecclesiastical approval in 1970.

Therese von Lisieux is translated by Donald Nichols and Anne Englund Nash.

Elizabeth von Dijon is translated by Dennis Martin.

About the author: Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. With Joseph Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac, he founded the theological journal Communio. Over the course of his life, he authored 85 books, over 500 articles and essays, and almost 100 translations. He is known for his 16-volume trilogy on beauty (The Glory of the Lord), goodness (Theo-Drama), and truth (Theo-Logic). He died in his home in Basel on 26 June 1988 and is buried in the cemetery of the Church of St Leodegar im Hof (Hofkirche) in Lucerne. (Wikipedia)

The Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story by Robert Hardman

About the book: On the centenary of her birth, Elizabeth II is a delightful, intimate new portrait of the late Queen from bestselling biographer and royal commentator Robert Hardman, which is full of fresh details about this extraordinary woman.

As daughter, wife, mother and Sovereign, Elizabeth II lived fascinating parallel lives, both in private and in public. But she remained something of a mystery – beloved, even revered, modest yet daunting, naturally shy but globally recognizable, inscrutable and also authentic. She was grand but so familiar that we felt we knew her. 

Yet we would always be left asking the same question: ‘What’s she really like?’ No one has written more authoritatively on Elizabeth II than Robert Hardman. Who better to answer that question?

The only biographer to have interviewed all the senior members of the Royal Family, some of them several times, Hardman has crafted a gripping story of drama, devotion, triumph, tragedy, humour and conflict; of an outwardly stoical, inwardly complex woman whose love of family, love of country and duty to the Crown might pull her in different directions but never derailed her; a global stateswoman who wielded her great authority with charm and understatement.

Authoritative, poignant and gloriously entertaining, Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story (2026) will explain why she was not merely the most famous woman in the world. She was one of history’s all-time greats.

Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story will be on sale from 9 April 2026.

About the author: Robert Hardman is an internationally renowned writer and broadcaster, specialising in royalty and history for three decades. His 2024 biography, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, was an instant No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller; a new and fully updated edition was published in November 2024. His previous 2022 biography, Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II (published by Macmillan) was an international bestseller, acclaimed for its exclusive access to world leaders, to unseen family papers and documents in the Royal Archives and to those who know the Queen best. Hardman’s previous books include Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work, Our Queen and Queen of the World. All have been accompanied by prime-time television documentaries of the same name. Among other television credits, Hardman wrote and presented the BBC documentary ‘George III – The Genius of the Mad King’ and wrote the BBC One series, ‘The Queen’s Castle’.

He has conducted many interviews with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, together with most members of the Royal Family. Other royal interviewees include the Queen of Denmark, the King of Norway and Emperor Akihito of Japan. Most recently, Hardman wrote and co-produced BBC One’s ‘Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers’, which included interviews with all the Queen’s children and grandchildren. He is also an award-winning newspaper journalist for the Daily Mail in London.

The Simplicity Of Love by Jennifer Moorcroft

About the book: While Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity is a well-known figure and spiritual writer in the Church, few people know much about her married sister, Marguerite (Guite) Chevignard (1883-1954), who was arguably as holy in the world as Elizabeth was in the cloister.

In this fascinating biography – the first book on Guite to be published in English – we first see the close relationship between the two sisters, as well as some of the spiritual guidance which Elizabeth wrote for Guite from the Dijon Carmel. 

Following Elizabeth’s death, we witness Guite’s spiritual maturity, which was especially remarkable in the years when she was left as a widow with nine children and facing extreme poverty, wartime deprivation and personal tragedy.

Known in her parish and neighbourhood for her outstanding charity and prayerfulness, she embraced the will of God in all that happened to her. 

As this book, The Simplicity of Love: A Biography of Marguerite Chevignard (Guite), Sister of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (2021) convincingly shows, Guite is a sure model for Christians in married and secular life, and an inspiring example of the transformative effects of the teachings of Elizabeth of the Trinity which are accessible to all, whether in the cloister or leading a busy life in the midst of the world.

About the author: Jennifer Moorcroft belongs to the Third Order Carmelites, and was for several years a catechist with the RCIA programme. Many of her books and articles reflect her interest in Carmelite Spirituality but her output also reflects her wide interest in Catholic subjects, especially the lives of the saints. She has written a series of booklets for the CTS and is the author of He is my Heaven, a biography of St Elizabeth of the Trinity; God is All Joy, a biography of St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, St Therese of Lisieux and her Sisters, The Hidden Light, a Biography of St Dominic, and A Catholic Response to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. When Silence Speaks, published by Gracewing, was her first biography of Elisabeth Leseur.

She is now retired - and still writing! - after working as a clerical officer in her local hospital, and lives with her husband in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, in the UK.

Libraries Open Till Midnight

The Arrest Of Christ (Kiss of Judas) by Giotto

Good Friday

In The Human Soul

Well-Read

Kutchinsky's Egg by Serena Kutchinsky

About the book: When she was ten years old, Serena Kutchinsky’s father Paul was consumed by a wild dream. Heir to the legendary jewellery company House of Kutchinsky, he longed to create a jewelled egg more beautiful than any of Fabergé’s masterpieces. It would be the largest and most spectacular in the world.

Standing two feet tall, made of solid gold, dripping with rare pink diamonds and housing a tiny enamelled library, the egg was astonishing. 

But when he failed to sell it, everything started to unravel. 

The House of Kutchinsky collapsed, Paul’s marriage fell apart, and within ten years he was dead. The egg was seized by its creditors and disappeared without trace.

For thirty years its location remained a mystery, until it began to obsess Serena, too. Why did her father risk everything for this outlandish creation, and where in the world was it – valued by now at £30 million? 

Intent on finding answers, she traces a story that begins in London’s East End, with the arrival of her great-great grandparents as Polish-Jewish immigrants, and takes her to the other end of the world in her first book, Kutchinsky's Egg: A Family Story of Love, Loss & Obsession (2026). It is a journey that transforms her understanding of her father, her childhood and herself.

About the author: Serena Kutchinsky is an award-winning journalist who has held senior editorial roles at Sky News, BBC News, the Sunday Times and Newsweek. She is now Head of News at the i Paper, where she oversees reporting at the intersection of politics, society and power. A seasoned public speaker, she regularly hosts festival panels and serves as a judge for leading media awards. She lives in London with her husband and two children, and curates an Instagram account devoted to the legacy of the House of Kutchinsky.