Apostle of the Exiled: St Damien of Molokai (Christianity/Catholic/History/Inspiration) by Margaret Bunson and Matthew Bunson

Paperback: The world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. - Mohandas Gandhi

Azure skies, lush vegetation, and sugar-white beaches: Hawaii brings such idyllic scenes to mind. But Hell invaded Paradise when the incurable disease leprosy was discovered there. An 1865 law segregated lepers by forcibly exiling individuals - even children - to the island of Molokai. It was onto these forlorn shores that Father Damien de Veuster stepped in the spring of 1873. 

Saint Damien of Molokai: Apostle of the Exiled (2009) is the riveting account of how a humble Congregation of the Sacred Hearts priest found his vocation in caring for these outcasts. The poorly educated son of a hardworking, religious Belgium farm family, Damien was thought to be ill suited for the priesthood. However, the desire to serve God burned so fiercely in him that he took his vows at the age of twenty. 

A missionary to Hawaii, Damien soon volunteered to become the permanent chaplain to Molokai. There, victims of horrible disfigurement with the promise of a lingering death, the lepers led a harsh existence. Father Damien became their caregiver, companion, and champion. Through his selfless ministry, he brought hope to the hopeless, ironically losing his own life to leprosy.

In an age in when an ever-increasing number of people suffer their own personal exile on account of illness, handicap, or emotional distress, the shining example of Father Damien shows the true power of one person and how, when anchored in God's love, one person can impact individual lives - and indeed the world.

About the authors: Margaret R Bunson and Matthew E Bunson  have co-authored many authoritative reference works, including Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopaedia of Saints and John Paul II's Books of Saints. Apostle of the Exiled: St Damien of Molokai is dedicated to Stephen M Bunson, 1962-2008.

An Honourable Pact

The Road To My Daughter: A Mother's Experience Of The Transgender Journey by Elisabeth Spencer

Hardback: This book is written with great humility and gratitude for the lessons I learnt on the road to my daughter. - Elisabeth Spencer

Elisabeth Spencer’s daughter Milly came out as trans at the age of twenty-one. Just a few days later, in one of life’s perfect storms, Spencer’s husband was diagnosed with an advanced terminal illness – and so she was set on course to confront rebirth in the face of death.

In this compelling and poignant memoir, Spencer recalls her emotional journey over the course of her daughter’s life, as she struggles first with the mystery of Milly’s constant unhappiness, then with the revelation of her coming out, through a sense of bereavement, bewilderment and guilt, culminating in her determination to help her child become her true self.

Written with remarkable warmth, generosity and honesty, The Road to My Daughter (2021) is both a deeply moving meditation on motherhood and a nuanced and compassionate reflection on trans issues, illuminating not only how it feels to witness the physical and mental processes of transitioning, and the realities behind embarking on this journey together, but also what it means to be a parent.

About the author: Elisabeth Spencer enjoys a double life as a writer and professional musician. Embracing a lifelong love of all things French, Elisabeth now lives in south-west France, where she is currently writing her next book while continuing to work on a variety of musical projects. The Road to My Daughter is her first book.

Beverly Cleary (1916-2021), American Writer of Children's and Young Adult Fiction

Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity In North Korea And The Other's Fight To Bring Her Home by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

Hardback: On 17 March 2009, Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who were fleeing the desperate conditions in their homeland. While filming on the Chinese-North Korean border, they were chased down by North Korean soldiers, who violently apprehended them. Laura and Euna were charged with trespassing and "hostile acts," and imprisoned by Kim Jong Il's notoriously secretive Communist state.

Kept totally apart, they endured months of interrogations and eventually a trial before North Korea's highest court. They were the first Americans ever to be sentenced to twelve years of hard labour in a prison camp in North Korea.

When news of the arrest reached Laura's sister, journalist Lisa Ling, she immediately began a campaign to get her sister released, one that led her from the State Department to the higher echelons of the media world and eventually to the White House.

Somewhere Inside (2010) reveals for the first time Laura's gripping account of what really happened on the river, her treatment at the hands of North Korean guards and the deprivations and rounds of harrowing interrogations she endured. She speaks movingly about the emotional toll inflicted on her by her incarceration, including the measures she took to protect her sources and her fears that she might never see her family again.

Lisa writes about her unrelenting efforts to secure Laura and Euna's release. Offering insights into the vast media campaign spearheaded on the women's behalf, Lisa also takes us deep into the drama involving people at the highest levels of government, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senator John Kerry and Governor Richardson - intense discussions that entailed strategically balancing the agendas and good intentions of the various players. She also describes her role in the back-to-forth of North Korea's demands and the dramatic rescue by former President Bill Clinton.

Though the Ling sisters were thousands of miles apart while Laura was in captivity, their relationship became a way for the reclusive North Korean government to send messages to the United States government, which helped lead to Laura and Euna's eventual release.

Told in the sisters' alternative voices, Somewhere Inside is a timely, inspiring, and page-turning tale of survival set against the canvas of international politics that goes beyond the headlines to reveal the impact on lives engulfed by forces beyond their control. But it is also a window into the unique bond these two sisters have always shared, a bond that sustained them throughout the most horrifying ordeal of their lives.

About the authors: Laura Ling is an American journalist and writer. She worked for Current TV, which until 2013 was owned by former Vice President Al Gore, as a correspondent and vice president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit, which produced the Vanguard TV series. Prior to joining Current in 2005, Laura worked as a series producer for Channel One News.

Lisa Ling is an American journalist, television personality, and author. She is currently the host of This Is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN. Previously, she was a reporter on Channel One News, a co-host on the ABC daytime talk show The View (1999–2002), the host of National Geographic Explorer (2003–2010), and a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show. Ling later hosted Our America with Lisa Ling on OWN from 2011 to 2014.

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), Russian Poet, Novelist, and Literary Translator

 

In Terms Of Emotion

 

Logic

A Dividing Construct

The Butterfly

Did Pope Pius XII Help The Jews? by Sr Margherita Marchione

Paperback: Did Pope Pius XII Help The Jews? (2007) offers a summary of the life of the 262nd successor of Saint Peter, His Holiness Pope Pius XII. It helps us to understand why his contemporaries were convinced that the wartime Pontiff was a man of faith and of charity.

While examining the often-repeated arguments both for and against Pope Pius XII, the book reveals his holiness, courage, goodness, intelligence and concern for all humanity.

It summarizes for the reader the important elements of his life, well-illustrated in the sentiments contained in his "Ten Commandments for Peace", which are a legacy for all to follow as a way of life.

This book is affectionately dedicated to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

About the author: Sister Margherita Marchione (b 1922) is an American Roman Catholic sister, writer, teacher, apologeticist and a member of the Religious Teachers of Saint Lucy Filippini and professor emerita of Italian language and literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Throughout the years, she has enjoyed many titles including the Independent Nun, the Fighting Nun, the Literary Nun, and the Feisty Nun, but none pleases her more than the title "Defender of Pope Pius XII."

John Milton (1608-1674), English Poet and Intellectual

Future Perfect by Felicia Yap

Hardback: Is a perfect future possible in an imperfect world?

A bomb has exploded during a fashion show, killing a beautiful model on the catwalk. The murderer is still at large and he may strike again. Yet this is the least of Police Commissioner Christian Verger's worries. His fiancée Viola has left him. He has to keep his tumultuous past a secret. To make things worse, his voice assistant Alexa is 99.74% sure he will die tomorrow.

Moving from snowy 1980s Montana to chic 1990s Manhattan to a drone-filled 2030s Britain, Future Perfect (2021) is an electrifying race to solve a murder before it is too late. Yet it is also a love story, a riveting portrait of a couple torn apart by secrets, grief and guilt. A twisted tale of how the past can haunt a person's future and be used to predict if he will die... or kill.

About the author: Felicia Yap grew up in Kuala Lumpur. She read biochemistry at Imperial College London, followed by a doctorate in history (and a half-blue in competitive ballroom dancing) at Cambridge University. She has written for The Economist and the Business Times. She has also been a radioactive-cell biologist, a war historian, a university lecturer, a technology journalist, a theatre critic, a flea-market trader and a catwalk model. Felicia's debut thriller, Yesterday (2017), has been translated into multiple languages around the world. Future Perfect is her second novel.

Rating: 3/5

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