Fiction

A mass-market paperback edition of The Last Battle, book seven in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, featuring cover art by Cliff Nielsen and black-and-white interior artwork by the original illustrator of Narnia, Pauline Baynes. During the last days of Narnia, the land faces its fiercest challenge--not an invader from without but an enemy from within. Lies and treachery have taken root, and only the king and a small band of loyal followers can prevent the destruction of al...

Meet Rose Wilder... the last of the Little House girls. Rose is turning nine years old, and it's an exciting time on Rocky Ridge Farm. The Wilders have settled into their new home in the Ozarks, and Rose is helping as all their Mansfield neighbors bring in the harvest. The year is filled with danger, excitement, and joy, as Rose battles an ice storm, starts her second year as the top student in her class, helps to build the family's new farmhouse, and celebrates her first real Ozarks Christma...

Robert Louis Stevenson's short novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, first published in 1886, became an instant classic, a Gothic horror originating in a feverish nightmare whose hallucinatory setting in the back streets of London gripped a nation mesmerized by crime and violence. Its revelatory ending is one of the most original and thrilling in English Literature. This new edition of Stevenson's most famous work includes three additional short stories, two short essays, and ex...

Frankenstein is the most celebrated horror story ever written. It tells the dreadful tale of Victor Frankenstein, a visionary young student of natural philosophy, who discovers the secret of life. In the grip of his obsession he constructs a being from dead body parts, and animates this creature. The results, for Victor and for his family, are catastrophic. Written when Mary Shelley was just eighteen, Frankenstein was inspired by the ghost stories and vogue for Gothic literature that fascinat...

Religious leaders do not teach about Hell to scare people to come to Church, though the fear of Hell often leads souls to turn back to God. Hell is the result of mankind's free will, not God's malice. French novelist Léon Bloy said: "The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint." Since only saints are in Heaven, the greatest tragedy, then, is to go to Hell.In these gripping pages, Dan Burke and Patrick O'Hearn present the most common r...

The Wedding of Magdeburg is no ordinary wedding. Germany, 1630: a world turned upside down by the Reformation. In the Free Imperial City of Magdeburg, one young bride is jilted on the eve of her nuptials, but as she waits for her groom to return, an even darker cloud looms: the Holy Roman Empire stands at the gates, ready to take the Protestant city as its own political "bride". Will Magdeburg accept the proposal for the sake of peace, or will she rebel--and risk losing the battle altogether?...

A young Roman soldier falls in love only to discover that his sweetheart belongs to a strange new cult--a group that meets in secret to worship their one and only god. The romance of Marcus Vinicius and Lygia unfolds amid the decadence of ancient Rome, where bloodthirsty crowds flock to gladiatorial contests and a mad emperor sets fire to his own city. With its captivating blend of fictional and real characters, this historical novel contrasts the worldly opulence of the Roman aristocracy wit...

The Plaque Journal by Michael D. O'Brien This is Michael O'Brien's fourth novel in the Children of the Last Days series, the third book in a trilogy. The central character is Nathaniel Delaney, the editor of a small-town newspaper, who is about to face the greatest crisis of his life. As the novel begins, ominous events are taking place throughout North America, but little of it surfaces before the public eye. Set in the not-too-distant future, the story describes a nation that is quietly shi...

What secrets lie behind the doors at Misselthwaite Manor? Recently arrived at her uncle's estate, orphaned Mary Lennox is spoiled, sickly, and certain she won't enjoy living there. Then she discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown garden, shut up since the death of her aunt ten years earlier. Mary soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty--unaware that she is changing too. But Misselthwaite hides another secret, as mary discovers one night. High in a dark room, away from the re...

As the Envoy of the Four Kingdoms, Wes has had his purpose decided since birth: sacrifice the treasures of the people to the dragon gods, and they will keep Kaveryth safe.For five years, he's been forced to watch his Kingdom fall into ruin while carrying an unbearable grief of his own. The Elders insist that they must continue to be faithful to the Dracodei, but Wes is beginning to doubt that their protectors are holding up their end of the bargain.Despite his misgivings, he continues to fulf...

After acquiring Christ's Robe, Marcellus then sets forth on a quest to find the truth about the Nazarene's garment -- a quest that reaches to the very roots and heart of Christianity and is set against the vividly limned background of ancient Rome.Here is a timeless story of adventure, faith, and romance, a tale of spiritual longing and ultimate redemption.

In 1955, with the title story and others in this critical edition, Flannery O'Connor firmly laid claim to her place as one of the most original and provocative writers of her generation. Steeped in a Southern Gothic tradition that would become synonymous with her name, these stories show O'Connor's unique view of life--infused with religious symbolism, haunted by apocalyptic possibility, sustained by the tragic comedy of human behavior, confronted by the necessity of salvation. These classic ...

The Astounding Achievements of Mother Cabrini: A Novel Based on the Life of Mother Frances X. Cabrini Her passion became her reality. Children were her life, and God's messenger Mother Frances X. Cabrini dedicated her entire life to caring for poor Italian immigrants who sought refuge in the slums of New York City in the early 1890s. A devout champion of education and proper health care for the poverty-stricken, Cabrini forged a path of survival for young children by building schools, orphana...

1876, Philadelphia. Caroline Martin's life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn toward him. Gold Medal winner for Religious Fiction in the 2010 IPPY Awards. Parents Guide WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD...

Daughter of a noble Roman family, Agnella had heard tell of the vain beliefs and foul practices of the Christians. Everyone knew that they murdered infants and drank their blood from silver vessels. They venerated a criminal who died ignominiously on a cross. They worshipped a god with the head of an ass. What good person wouldn t hate such a vile sect? Yet Agnella s experiences of the rites of Aphrodite had given her reason to wonder why her own gods encourage such shameful behavior. When Di...

There is something different about Angelina. She is passionate and idealistic by nature, thanks to her Italian mother. But her German father's influence makes her stubborn and headstrong as well. With Europe embroiled in World War II and her father missing on the Russian front, Angelina journeys alone to seek out her mother's family in Italy. There she finds a kindred spirit--her cousin Giulia, two years her senior.Both girls are idealistic atheists and ardent Communists. With Fascist Italy r...

Book 5 of the Fairy Tale Novels Series Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyberthieves is a book written by Regina Doman. When his computer hacker dad discovers a secret website, Alex O'Donnell and his girlfriend Kateri become embroiled in a mystery that leads to sudden wealth, and murder. A modern retelling of the classic Arabian Nights tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." This book is a great read for anyone who loves suspenseful mysteries with a touch of the supernatural. Parents Guide Sexualit...

The fourth book in the Rose Year series, the story of the spirited daughter of the author of the beloved Little House series. On The Other Side of the Hill continues the story of Rose, Laura, and Almanzo as the young Wilder family struggles to overcome a series of natural disasters that beset their little farm.

The second book in the Rose Years series, the story of the spirited daughter of the author of the beloved Little House series. Rose Wilder, Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, is the last of the Little House girls. Going fishing for the first time, starting in a new school, saving the farmhouse from a fire--these are just a few things that happen during young Rose Wilder's first year at Rocky Ridge Farm. She and her parents, Laura and Almanzo, have moved to the Missouri Ozarks to begin a new lif...

The seventh book in the Rose Years series, the story of the spirited daughter of the author of the beloved Little House series. A whole new world opens up for Rose Wilder when she leaves Rocky Ridge Farm and moves to Louisiana to live with her aunt Eliza Jane. Rose is sixteen now, and she thrives in a city brimming with excitement and adventure. Rose even finds herself becoming an independent young woman with her own ideas, ambitions, and dreams.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall tells the story of Helen Graham, the estranged wife of a dissolute rake, desperate to protect her son from his destructive influence, in full flight from a shocking world of debauchery and cruelty. Drawing on her first-hand experiences with her brother Branwell, Anne Brontë's novel scandalized contemporary readers and still retains its power to shock today. The new introduction by Josephine McDonagh sheds light on the intellectual and cultural context of the novel,...

The eighth and final installment in the Rose Years series, which tells the story of the spirited daughter of the author of the beloved Little House series. Rose Wilder has become an independent young woman. She leaves Rocky Ridge Farm, first for Kansas City to learn how to be a telegrapher, then for San Francisco. Her dream is to work for a year or two, save a little money, and then marry Paul Cooley, her childhood sweetheart. But the big city has all sorts of surprises in store for Rose, and...

The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Ántonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America's early pioneers.

Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Académie Française and adapted into a classic film by Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest has long been recognized as a literary masterpiece. In this acclaimed new translation by Bernanos scholar Michael R. Tobin, the full, unabridged work is made available to English-language readers for the first time. Set in rural France, the novel recounts the joys and travails of a young parish priest, tormented by illness and afflicted by awkwardness, a...

The tale of Heathcliff's and Cathy's ungovernable love and suffering, and the havoc that their passion wreaks on the families of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, shocked the book's first readers, with even Emily's sister Charlotte claiming, "Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is."  Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectib...

The tale of Heathcliff's and Cathy's ungovernable love and suffering, and the havoc that their passion wreaks on the families of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, shocked the book's first readers, with even Emily's sister Charlotte claiming, "Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is." In this edition, a new preface by Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, looks at the ways in which the novel has been interpreted, from Charlotte...

Dust on the King's Highway tells of Francisco Garcés, the Spanish Franciscan friar whose missionary efforts brought the Catholic faith to the peoples of the Pápago, Yuma, Pima, and Apache tribes. In the summer of 1771, Fray Garcés concludes his offering of Holy Mass and is met by a delegate of four men of the Yuma nation. Having heard of the generosity and good deeds of the "Old Man," they request his presence among their people, the Yumas of the great rivers, that they might give him welcome...

Father Christopher Hart, a young New York priest and classic film buff, is unwittingly drafted by the mob to hear the confession of a man slated for execution. This was not one of the duties he expected when he became a first-time pastor. Learning how to balance the books and safely navigate parish politics, yes; but playing a key role in the White Death--a mafia ritual in which a person condemned to death is allowed to confess his sins before he's killed--was not included on the Parish Leade...

Charlotte Brontë's first published novel, Jane Eyre, was immediately recognized as a work of genius when it appeared in 1847. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime of Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges from this harsh childhood unbroken in spirit and integrity. She goes on to take the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, where the main adventure of her life will unfold. For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made avai...

"'For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?'" Set in the English countryside at the turn of the 19th century, Pride and Prejudice opens upon the excitement of the Bennet family of Longbourn Estate when a rich, eligible, and unsuspecting gentlemen has taken residence at nearby Netherfield. In the interest of financial security, little can deter Mrs. Bennet from doing all she can to encourage a marriage between amiable Mr. Bingley and one her five ...

Dr. Francisco Marquez, a devout Catholic and Cuban-American educator, leaves a lucrative career in the Florida Keys to become principal of a struggling school on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. In a poor, insular rural community, his charm, political instincts, and ability to compromise quickly turn a failing institution into an unexpected success. But progress brings scrutiny. As Marquez gains influence, a faction within the local Catholic community, led by the rigid and uncompromising Mr...

"I wish as well as everybody else to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else it must be in my own way." Following the death of Mr. Dashwood, a beloved father and noble squire, his widow and three daughters look to John Dashwood, a son by Mr. Dashwood's first wife, to ensure their financial security now that he is to come to Sussex to inherit Norland. But as an avaricious man under the influence of a manipulative wife, John soon convinces himself he is not betraying his father's dying wis...

Best-selling novelist Michael O'Brien returns to the theme of people of faith striving to find their way through a societal collapse during the rise of new dimensions of totalitarianism. Set in the near future, all of North America is plunged into crisis as basic communications and other services suddenly and inexplicably fail. As the tension mounts, a disparate group of people come together from several directions, apparently by coincidence. Many of them are strangers to each other, and some...

Historical in substance, romantic in spirit, heroic in scale, A Distant Trumpet is a novel of the American West. At its center is Matthew Carlton Hazard, born in 1857 at Fox Creek, Indiana; raised by his mother after his father's death in the Battle of Chickamauga; and designated, at the solemn age of seven, by President Abraham Lincoln himself to the Army of the United States. Commissioned in 1880 as second lieutenant of cavalry, Matthew reports for duty to Fort Delivery, Arizona, where he w...

Emily Starr was born with the desire to write. As an orphan living on New Moon Farm, writing helped her face difficult, lonely times. But now all her friends are going away to high school in nearby Shrewsbury, and her old-fashioned, tyrannical aunt Elizabeth will only let her go if she promises to stop writing! All the same, this is the first step in Emily's climb to success. Once in town, Emily's activities set the Shrewsbury gossips buzzing. But Emily and her friends are confident -- Ilse's...

Once a long time ago a little girl named Laura Ingalls lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little house made of logs. She grew up and wrote nine books about her childhood - the famous Little House stories. Laura had a daughter of her own named Rose, who grew up in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, also in a little house made of logs. "Little House on Rocky Ridge" is the beginning of Rose's story, which starts where the book "The First Four Years" ends.

Fascinating for Latin learners and for Tolkien fans of all ages, The Hobbit has been translated into Latin for the first time since its publication 75 years ago. In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus. ('In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.') The Hobbit, is one of the world's most popular classic stories, appealing to adults as much as to the children for whom J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote the book. Translated worldwide into more than 60 modern languages, now Hobbitus Ille is finally pu...

Philip Lawler, one of America's most respected Catholic writers and cultural critics, bursts onto the fiction scene with a riveting debut novel that plunges readers into the hidden battles of the Church in the 1980s. Lawler exposes beneath the surface of parish life and chancery politics a world of secrets, compromises, and spiritual warfare -- where the faithful struggle to survive and a young priest discovers that he has a special mission -- and powerful enemies. At the center is Fr. Andy M...

Meet Rose Wilder...the last of the Little House girls. Hard times at Rocky Ridge Farm force Rose and her family to move into the little town of Mansfield, and Rose wonders how she will ever survive. In town everything seems so different. Noisy trains race by at all hours, the streets are crowded with people, and the town folk seem so much fancier. Will Rose and her family learn to enjoy town life, far away from Rocky Ridge Farm?

"She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older— the natural consequence of an unnatural beginning." Eight years ago, Anne Elliot drew back her consent to marry Fredrick Wentworth, the headstrong and spirited naval commander of a yet-certain career or established fortune, in the conviction that she acted for his own good. Forbearing, selfless, and pensive, she would as yet have married him against the wishes of her vain and rank-obsessed father, Sir Walt...

"She was not often invited to join in the conversation of the others, nor did she desire it. Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions; and, in observing the appearance of the country, the bearings of the roads, the difference of soil, the state of the harvest, the cottages, the cattle, the children, she found entertainment that could only have been heightened by having Edmund to speak to of what she felt." In early 19th century England, Fanny Price, at ten years ol...

The gates of Drancy Internment Camp in the northeast suburbs of Paris served as a holding pen for thousands of Jews during the German occupation of France in World War II. Jean Wahl, philosophy professor, poet, bachelor at the top of Parisian society before his arrest, was among those very few who escaped. In this searing historical novel by W. C. Hackett, the story is told in Wahl's own voice, from the moment he passed beyond the gates of the camp to his harrowing flight for the Free Zone in...

Dante Alighieri's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a timeless epic rooted in the history and culture of the early Italian Renaissance. Now available in a sparkling new translation, The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno captures all the power and meaning of Dante's original work. This comprehensive edition features Mark Musa's celebrated translation into blank verse that perfectly preserves Dante's simple and natural style, allowing readers to fully appreciate the richness of this classic poem...

Enthusiasm, in the religious sense, is more akin to fanaticism than fervor. As Monsignor Ronald Knox describes, it is that recurring situation in Church history in which men and women, seek to be less and less "of the world" and more and more attentive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Their assumption is audacious yet simple: grace does not perfect nature; it destroys and replaces it. The inevitable result: separation, secession, schism. In twenty-three informative and entertaining chapter...