A Bookshop Crawl

Murders And Acquisitions by Thomas Dunne

About the book: From acclaimed publisher Thomas Dunne, Murders and Acquisitions (2026) is a gripping story of greed, rivalry, and revenge in the publishing industry. 

Entitlement

Greed

Rivalry

Revenge

It is just another day for the wealthy, privileged Maybachs - at least the few who still pay attention to the business.

Werther Maybach Myers was little known outside his primary businesses of media, publishing, and world-class money laundering. But with his death, his family's multibillion-dollar conglomerate - Omnium International - has to change. And his position as the major American stakeholder in the enterprise is now up for grabs.  

After five generations, few of the founders' descendants have any interest in the business as long as the money keeps gushing-assuming that even a fight within the family would likely sort itself out. Except sharks are now circling: oligarchs, criminal syndicates, foreign powers.  

What happens next will shake the world...

About the author: As an author, Thomas Dunne has written books on history, humour, and a novel that was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. He is best known, however, as the former head of Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St Martin’s Press / Macmillan, with fifty years’ experience in the publishing industry. As an editor and publisher, he put over one-hundred titles on The New York Times bestseller list, and his name and dachshund colophon have appeared on at least ten million books. His fiction list included, among many others, books by Dan Brown, Frederick Forsyth, Richard Condon, and Rosamunde Pilcher, as well as mysteries and thrillers from Anne Cleeves, Don Winslow, Steve Hamilton, and Hammond Innis.

Rating: 5/5

Start With 10 Pages A Day Of Something You Enjoy

Translation: Reading trains a capacity that we use less today: paying attention to one thing only. When you read without distractions, your brain follows ideas, connects sentences, and recalls what came before to understand what follows. If you get distracted or reread a lot, your attention needs practice. It is a reason to read more, not to stop reading. Start with 10 pages a day of something you enjoy, with no phone nearby. Reading is the gym where you train your attention.

Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias

About the book: Scivias (1990) is an illustrated work by Hildegard von Bingen (c 1098-1179), completed in 1151 or 1152, describing 26 religious visions she experienced. It is the first of three works that she wrote describing her visions, the others being Liber vitae meritorum and De operatione Dei (also known as Liber divinorum operum). 

The title comes from the Latin phrase Sci vias Domini ('Know the Ways of the Lord'). The book is illustrated by 35 miniature illustrations, more than that are included in her two later books of visions.

The work is divided into three parts, reflecting the Trinity. The first and second parts are approximately equal in length, while the third is as long as the other two together. 

The first part includes a preface describing how she was commanded to write the work, and includes six visions dealing with themes of creation and the Fall. 

The second part consists of seven visions and deals with salvation through Jesus Christ, the Church, and the sacraments. 

The third part, with thirteen visions, is about the coming kingdom of God, through sanctification, and increased tension between good and evil. 

The final vision includes 14 songs, plus a portion of the music drama which was later published as the Ordo Virtutum, the oldest surviving play.

In each vision, she first described what she saw, and then recorded explanations she heard, which she believed to be the "voice of heaven." (Source: Wikipedia)

Scivias was translated from the Latin/German by Mother Columba Hart of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, and Jane Bishop, Assistant Professor of Ancient and Medieval History at The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina. 

About Saint Hildegard of Bingen: Hildegard was an abbess, artist, author, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher, theologian - where to begin in describing this remarkable woman?

Born into a noble family, Hildegard of Bingen was instructed for ten years by the holy woman Blessed Jutta. When Hildegard was 18, she became a Benedictine nun at the Monastery of Saint Disibodenberg. Ordered by her confessor to write down the visions that she had received since the age of three, Hildegard took ten years to write her Scivias (Know the Ways).

Pope Eugene III read it, and in 1147, encouraged her to continue writing. Her Book of the Merits of Life and Book of Divine Works followed. She wrote over 300 letters to people who sought her advice; she also composed short works on medicine and physiology, and sought advice from contemporaries such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Hildegard of Bingen’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love, coming from God as daylight comes from the sun. Sin destroyed the original harmony of creation; Christ’s redeeming death and resurrection opened up new possibilities. Virtuous living reduces the estrangement from God and others that sin causes.

Like all mystics, Hildegard saw the harmony of God’s creation and the place of women and men in that. This unity was not apparent to many of her contemporaries.

Hildegard was no stranger to controversy. The monks near her original foundation protested vigorously when she moved her monastery to Bingen, overlooking the Rhine River. She confronted Emperor Frederick Barbarossa for supporting at least three antipopes. Hildegard challenged the Cathars, who rejected the Catholic Church claiming to follow a more pure Christianity.

Between 1152 and 1162, Hildegard often preached in the Rhineland. Her monastery was placed under interdict because she had permitted the burial of a young man who had been excommunicated. She insisted that he had been reconciled with the Church and had received its sacraments before dying. Hildegard protested bitterly when the local bishop forbade the celebration of or reception of the Eucharist at the Bingen monastery, a sanction that was lifted only a few months before her death.

In 2012, Hildegard was canonized and named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. Her liturgical feast is celebrated on September 17. (Source: Franciscan Media)

Our Lady Book

About the book: All to the Greater Glory of God and in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Originally published by Benziger Brothers in 1924 and again in 1945, this devotional prayerbook compiled by Fr Lasance is intended to cultivate among the faithful a tender and practical devotion to Our Lady.

The purpose of Our Lady Book is to cultivate among the faithful a tender and practical devotion to Our Lady, which consists, first of all, in having a right understanding of the sublime prerogatives of the blessed Mother of God; secondly, in honouring her, as she is worthy of being honoured, by means of mediation on her life and virtues, pious practices and devotions, not only in the month of May, on Saturdays, and on her festivals, but also every day in the year; thirdly, in following her example and imitating her virtues; finally, in having recourse to her in all necessities with the utmost confidence in her goodness and in the power of her intercession at the throne of Divine Mercy. 

Part I includes reflections on the Immaculate Conception, the Birth of Mary, Mary’s Espousal, the Death of St Joseph, the Assumption and so much more. 

Part II lists the calendar of Our Lady's Feasts, the most necessary of prayers, the Ordinary of the Mass in English and Latin, and a host of devotions and prayers. 

The Stations of the Cross, the Litanies, and devotions for Confession and Holy Communion are among the numerous treasures you will find in this beautiful prayer book.

Red Notice by Bill Browder

About the book: In November 2009, the young lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death by eight police officers in a freezing cell in a Moscow prison. His crime? Testifying against Russian officials who were involved in a conspiracy to steal $230 million of taxes.

Red Notice is a searing exposé of the whitewash of this imprisonment and murder. 

The killing has not been investigated. It has not been punished. 

Bill Browder is still campaigning for justice for his late lawyer and friend. This is his explosive journey from the heady world of finance in New York and London in the 1990s, through battles with ruthless oligarchs in turbulent post-Soviet Union Moscow, to the shadowy heart of the Kremlin.

With fraud, bribery, corruption and torture exposed at every turn, Red Notice is a shocking political roller-coaster.

Red Notice: A True Story of Corruption, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice (2015) was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

About the author: William Browder is the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and author of Red Notice (2015) and Freezing Order (2022). Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.

In 2008, Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured. He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009, leaving behind a wife and two children.

Since then, Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials. The United States was the first to impose these targeted sanctions with the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012, followed by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2016.

Since then, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Baltic states, the European Union and most recently Australia have passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act. Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed in other countries worldwide including New Zealand and Japan, to name a few.

The Smallest Restaurant In Paris: A Memoir by Rachel Khoo

About the book: In this warm, illustrated memoir, Rachel Khoo traces the path that took her from a secure London office job to a tiny bedsit near the Bastille, and ultimately to finding her voice through food in Paris. Written with humour and heart, the book captures her early adult life as a young Brit abroad, navigating independence, ambition and creativity in a city far from home. 

Drawing on her British, Chinese-Malaysian and Austrian heritage, Rachel offers a layered portrait of Paris in the noughties, far removed from postcard clichés, from cultural missteps and friendships to fashions, food obsessions and the realities of making ends meet.

As she studies at culinary school and supports herself through a patchwork of jobs, including au pair, tour guide, bookseller and recipe tester, Rachel experiments with pop-ups, bento boxes and picnic projects, all while questioning her direction and preparing to return to London.

Everything changes when she begins hosting intimate dinner parties in her 21-square-metre flat. With one table, a couple of chairs and a lot of determination, these evenings spark an idea that leads to what would become known as the smallest restaurant in Paris, quietly laying the foundations for her future work.

Each chapter is accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration and concludes with a recipe inspired by her time in Paris. Part memoir, part food writing, The Smallest Restaurant in Paris is an intimate account of resilience, cultural curiosity and the small beginnings that can lead to unexpected change.

The Smallest Restaurant In Paris: A Memoir will be released on 12 May 2026 (UK & Europe) and August 2026 (Australia & New Zealand).

About the author: Rachel Khoo is a Sunday Times bestselling British cook, author/food writer, podcast broadcaster, esteemed TV producer, presenter and global culinary consultant whose Malaysian-Chinese and Austrian heritage informs her inventive, design-led approach to food and storytelling. Her creative work spans television, books, brand collaborations and digital media, including series for the BBC, Food Network and Netflix. Her television work also includes judging roles on programmes such as The Great Australian Bake Off and Great British Menu.

She is the author of six books, translated into fourteen languages, and first gained global recognition with The Little Paris Kitchen (TV series), inspired by the one-table restaurant she ran from her tiny 21m² space in her Paris flat. Born in South London, Rachel now divides her time between London and Sweden, where she lives with her children.

His Wife by Marijana Dokoza

About the book: His Wife (2022) is based on true events: it is about a woman who was deceived and mentally and physically abused, and who, at one point in her life, learns that the father of her two children is accused of raping an underage girl during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Even though the names of characters have been changed in order to protect the identities of certain individuals, this remains a story of a Turkish girl's sincere love for a Bosniak, who is at all costs trying to avoid the punishment for his crimes.

"My name is Zehra Ozdemir. I am a religious woman, a Muslim. I carry both heaven and hell within me. I am a beloved mother to my children and a dead ally to my devil. I'm protecting my child, yet killing someone else's, by keeping some terrible happenings a secret because I am ashamed of the horrid truth. I try to convince people of the verity of the life I seemingly lead, but at times I myself cannot tell a lie from the truth."

"Every one of us gets one chance at life and no one has the right to take it away from us. And one more thing: no one should walk alone. All sins have come to be collected, and in the end, everything boils down to life and death. It was tense and scary: an unusual story of life, repentance and death, and in the background, all of human sins followed by the extinction of life."

"Every third woman in the world is a victim of violence, and in Bosnia, every 10 minutes, a woman is being abused. These data are not complete - the numbers are much higher since most of these cases remain unregistered. Some women do not want to admit this 'disgrace' for fear that they will not be able to walk the same paths as they used to. 25 November 2011 was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women." 

About the author: Marijana Dokoza was born in 1978 in Zadar, Croatia. She is a writer and a journalist and has worked in numerous Croatian media. She is currently living in Mainz, Germany. She is the editor of the Croatian emigration periodical Fenix Magazine and a member of the Croatian Cultural Community of Mainz and the German-Croatian Society of Mainz. She is the author of 3 poetry books and five novels in Croatian. Two of her fie novels reached bestseller status in Croatia in a very short time, and one of them was nominated for the Croatian literary award Kiklop in the year it was published. She is the winner of the Croatian Women of Influence Award which is given by The Croatian Women's Network in Toronto. In 2016, she was listed among 25 most successful women of migrant origin residing in Mainz. She also writes poems, in both Croatian and English, that are set to music. 

The Farmer's Wife by Helen Rebanks

About the book: The Farmer's Wife (2023) is a gorgeous portrait of life at Helen Rebanks’ Lake District farmhouse as well as a heartfelt and honest delve into the truth about the grind and the glory of keeping a home and raising a family today.

This honest and heartwarming memoir offers a portrait of the labour and glory of keeping a home and raising a family. Weaving past and present, Helen Rebanks shares her highs and lows, from the emotional journey to the birth of her first child, and the endless improvisation of each night's dinner, to the dog gobbling up her daughter's freshly-made birthday cake. These are days that have shaped her, and the ways she finds the quiet strength to keep going.

The Farmer's Wife was an instant Sunday Times bestseller (2 September 2023) and is Helen Rebanks' debut.

About the author: Helen Rebanks was born and raised on a farm in the English Lake District. Her family have been farming for many generations. Her parents kept dairy cows, beef cattle and sheep. Her grandfather bred pedigree Clydesdale horses. She has a first class honours degree in Fine Art and she worked in Oxford before becoming a full time farmer’s wife and mother to four children in Cumbria. She regularly cooks for groups that visit the farm using homegrown ingredients and local produce. She and her family work as a tight-knit team that have made their farm globally important with their farming innovations. 

Helen runs the farm with her husband James who is also an author: The Shepherd’s Life (2015); Pastoral Song (2020); and The Place of Tides (2024). Together they keep Belted Galloway cattle and Herdwick Sheep on their farm near lake Ullswater. They are passionate advocates for the future of family farms and share their knowledge about regenerative and sustainable farming methods at international events, and on courses they run at their farm.

St Vincent Ferrer of the Order of Friar Preachers: Life, Spiritual Teaching, and Practical Devotions by Rev Fr Andrew Pradel (of the same Order)

About the book: A description of the marvellous influence exercised by St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) on his age is not the principal design of the work which we offer to the public. In an admirable biography of this great man, the Abbé Bayle has traced out the most salient points in his character; to reproduce therefore in the following pages the picture which he has drawn, would be foreign to our purpose. 

 Our intention, then, is rather to initiate the pious public, and especially the Dominican family, into the intimate life and heroic virtues of the man of God, in order that they may imitate him, according to the degree of perfection to which each soul is divinely called. 

Hence the division of the book into three parts. The first is historical. The abridged picture of the life of the Saint which we present to our readers, embodies in it all that we consider suitable to edify souls. The second part treats of the secrets of the interior life unveiled by the Saint in his "Treatise on the Spiritual Life," as well as of the particular methods which he taught, of sanctifying the essential acts of a Christian. The third part contains the principal exercises which may be performed in honour of St Vincent Ferrer: viz those of the Fridays before and after his Feast, those of his Novena, and some special prayers.

St Vincent Ferrer of the Order of Friar Preachers: Life, Spiritual Teaching, and Practical Devotions (1875) was translated from the French by the Rev Fr T A Dixon, Ord Præd. The French original received its imprimatur in 1863. 

* This edition is digitized by Google and contains missing pages and they are pages 144-145, 176-177, 208-209, 252-253, 284-285, 316-317, 364-365 and 380-381.

Abba Dorotheos Of Gaza: His Letters And Sayings

About the book: “My study of the desert Fathers, which I began more than fifty years ago, and my immersion into their writings, which I have been translating and publishing for almost four decades in both academic and devotional collections, always bring me back to the pivotal teachings and aphorisms of Abba Dorotheos of Gaza. The present book is a sequel of sorts to my earlier work, Our Holy Father Dorotheos of Gaza: Various Soul-Profiting Instructions to His Disciples. The spiritual advice that he proffers in both books, which is perhaps more familiar to Orthodox Christians, coming as it does from the roots of our Church’s monastic and mystical traditions, nonetheless promises rich inner nourishment for anyone seeking the secrets and delights of the life in Christ.” - The Translator 

Abba Dorotheos of Gaza: His Letters and Sayings was published in 2018 by the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies in Etna, California. It is translated from the Greek by The Most Reverend Chrysostomos, Metropolitan Emeritus of Etna.

About Abba Dorotheos: Dorotheus of Gaza (Ancient Greek: Δωρόθεος τῆς Γάζης), Dorotheus the Archimandrite or Abba Dorotheus, was a Christian monk and abbot. He was born at the beginning of the sixth century (possibly between 506–508) into a prosperous family in Antioch in Syria. He lived as a monk at the monastery of Seridus near Gaza and wrote instructions on the ascetic life that influenced both Eastern and Western monasticism. Dorotheus died either in the 560s or 580s. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The Boy Who Met Jesus: Segatashya Emmanuel Of Kibeho by Immaculée Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin

About the book: The Boy Who Met Jesus: Segatashya Emmanuel Of Kibeho (2011) is the greatest story never told: that of a boy who met Jesus and dared to ask Him all the questions that have consumed mankind since the dawn of time. His name was Segatashya. He was a shepherd born into a penniless and illiterate pagan family in the most remote region of Rwanda. He never attended school, never saw a Bible, and never set foot in a church. 

Then, one summer day in 1982, while the 15-year-old was resting beneath a shade tree, Jesus Christ paid him a visit. Jesus asked the startled young man if he would be willing to go on a mission to remind mankind how to live a life that leads to heaven.

Segatashya accepted the assignment on one condition: that Jesus answer all his questions - and all the questions of those he met on his travels - about faith, religion, the purpose of life and the nature of heaven and hell. Jesus agreed to the boy's terms, and Segatashya set off on what would become one of the most miraculous journeys in modern history.

Soon, this teenage boy who had never learned to read or write was discussing theology with leading biblical scholars and advising pastors and priests of all denominations. He became so famous in Rwanda that the Catholic Church investigated his story. His words and simple truths converted thousands of hearts and souls wherever he went. The answers to these and many other momentous, life-changing questions are revealed in this riveting book, which is the first full account of Segatashya's remarkable life story. 

Written with grace, passion, and loving humour by Immaculée Ilibagiza, Segatashya's close friend and a survivor of the Rwandan holocaust herself, this truly inspirational work is certain to move you in profound ways. No matter what your faith or religious beliefs, Segatashya's words will bring you comfort and joy, and prepare your heart for this life... and for life everlasting.

About the authors: Immaculée Ilibagiza was born in Rwanda and studied electronic and mechanical engineering at the National University. She lost most of her family during the 1994 genocide. Four years later, she emigrated to the United States and began working at the United Nations in New York City. She is now a full-time public speaker and writer. In 2007, she established the Left to Tell Charitable Fund, which helps support Rwandan orphans.

Immaculée holds honorary doctoral degrees from The University of Notre Dame and Saint John’s University, and was awarded The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace 2007. She is the author, with Steve Erwin, of four books: Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (also available in Spanish and as an audio book); Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide; Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa; and The Rosary: The Prayer That Saved My Life.

Steve Erwin is a Toronto-born writer and award-winning journalist working in the print and broadcast media. Since moving to the United States in 2000, he worked several years as the New York correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and as a news/feature writer for People magazine. He co-authored the New York Times best-selling memoirs Left to Tell and Led by Faith with Immaculée Ilibagiza, as well as Our Lady of Kibeho. He has co-authored The Gift of Fire with Dan Caro. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, journalist and author Natasha Stoynoff.

Too Many Books?

The Hobart Hotel by Mary-Lou Stephens

About the book: December 1939: The grand opening of Australia's most glamorous and talked about hotel, the Wrest Point Riviera.

The equally glamorous Sabine Winters, recently arrived in Hobart from the Continent, anticipates a safe port from the storm that rages in Europe along with a few select items of jewellery to add to her (stolen) collection. What she doesn't expect is to be blackmailed into becoming a spy, torn from the safety of Tasmania and taken to the viper's nest of intrigue and plots that is South America during the rise of Nazi power. Her instincts and charms will only get her so far.

February 1973: The grand opening of Australia's most glamorous, talked about and controversial hotel, the Wrest Point Hotel Casino.

Jenny Davies anticipates a night surrounded by dizzying decor and thrilling action. What she does not expect is an invitation to become a Ladybird, one of the casino's croupiers. But Jenny's choice to pursue this exclusive career creates a devastating chain of events that could destroy her life as she knows it. Can a mysterious letter and the gift of a key from a relative Jenny has never heard of somehow be the answer to all of her problems?

The Hobart Hotel (2026) is a dual-time, glamorous story of intrigue, spies, trust, deceit, friendship, daring, luck and two women who will gamble their lives to survive from a bestselling Australian author.

About the author: Mary-Lou Stephens was born in Tasmania, studied acting at The Victorian College of the Arts and played in bands in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney. Eventually she got a proper job - in radio, where she was a presenter and music director, first with commercial radio and then with the ABC. She received rave reviews for her memoir Sex, Drugs and Meditation (2013), the true story of how meditation changed her life, saved her job and helped her find a husband. The Australian called her debut novel, The Last of the Apple Blossom (2021), 'an outstanding historical novel about women and the secrets and burdens they carry'. She is also the author of the bestselling novel The Chocolate Factory (2024).

Mary-Lou has worked and played all over Australia. Now she travels the world with her husband, slowly, and writes, mostly.

Rating: 5/5