Fiction

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...

The chequered life of Ludolph the Carthusian (c. 1295-1378) found its spiritual contentment in the writing of his colossal work on the Vita Jesu Christi in Latin. The book on the Life of Christ occupied some forty years of Ludolph's life in a charterhouse in Mainz. It has been styled as a summa evangelica and as it contains a series of meditations, spiritual instructions and prayers, it has also served to many a medieval scholar as a collation of dogmatic and moral dissertations. These are st...

Stella Tęsknota was ready to marry Blake Yourrick, the troubled if earnest protagonist of Infinite Regress. In this stand-alone novel (and loose sequel), set after Blake abruptly-and inexplicably-breaks off their engagement, Stella throws herself into a tough South Chicago teaching assignment. There she meets Peter Clavier (P.C.), a psychologist-activist whose uncle-a pastor-has long prophesied for Peter a future of otherworldly greatness. As Stella draws out Peter's past, the novel follows P...

One of the most eminent poets and essayists of the last century in Italy, Tito Casini (1897-1987) devoted the last years of his life to a passionate protest against the desecration of the centuries-old Roman liturgy, the spiritual home of millions and a cultural treasure that could never be rivaled, let alone replaced. His defense of tradition was unique in mode, combining lampoon, lamentation, and lyricism in a philosophic poetry that transcends mere polemic. Perhaps the most unique of his w...

What is truth and what is fiction? In this optimistic play, of uncertain origin, Goobet enquires into the nature of truth, encountering a range of philosophical characters who happen to be passing by the village green. The play is upbuilding for Goobet, an unlettered bumpkin, but also for us in our own day. It turns out that a "walkynge-trewth" is one that is lived and performed in real time, rather than statically mirrored, which means that our work of reading is implicated in the general af...

Come and mend your broken hearts here. Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her--beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing--it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper like...

The Year of Thamar's Book is set in the months from the spring of 2015 to the summer of 2016. An elderly recluse living in a quiet village in Burgundy discovers he is not as alone in the world as he has for many years assumed. His grandson, well-educated but ignorant, comes to the village to help the old man make a book of the pile of chaotic manuscript that tells the story of a difficult, painful yet luminous life. As he writes, and listens, the young man learns a good deal, and begins to co...

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American ReadDon Quixote has become so entranced reading tales of chivalry that he decides to turn knight errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, these exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray--he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants--Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world togethe...

In the years since his graduation from St. Marquis University, Blake Yourrick has fled his family and Milwaukee, rotating from job to dead-end job-working the Bakken oilfields in Dakota and even signing on as the night caretaker of a rural abbey graveyard. Deep in student debt and estranged from his misanthropic, alcoholic father, Blake is haunted by the memory of his mother's death-and by his relationship with his college mentor, a defrocked priest named Theo Hape, who is known for his adven...

Home is where the heart is At twenty years old, Pat Gardiner has never regretted staying at her beloved home of Silver Bush. She has the wild stories of housekeeper Judy Plum to amuse her, a countess to entertain, a cat named Bold-and-Bad to keep out of trouble, and her younger sister Rae to care for. But she does miss her friend Jingle Gordon, who's away at college. He's the only boy who ever truly understood her, and their little spot called Happiness is much lonelier without him. Eventuall...

A beautiful clothbound edition of Anne Brontë's most enduring novel, to accompany her sisters' greatest books in Penguin Hardcover Classics Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young woman who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behaviour becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. For mor...

"'Better be without sense than misapply it as you do.'" Emma Woodhouse— "rich, handsome and clever"— is every bit that rich and that handsome, but perhaps not as clever as she believes. Residing in the quietness of rural England at the turn of the 19th century, the young heiress has as yet no intention of marrying, but enjoys playing the matchmaker among her acquaintances. Supposing she arranged her governess's marriage, she then takes for a protégé Harriet, a simple-minded girl of humble and...

"Jane Austen's brilliantly sophisticated teenage writings constitute her beginnings as a writer. We see in the works in this volume the sheer fun of her early sketches and their ridicule of human foibles, her parody of the absurdities of romance and sentimental fiction, her decision-making over choice of word and incident, her changing attitude towards character and style, and especially her early fascination with wordplay and hidden meanings that reveal her sprightly imagination." —From the ...

Barely out of college, Isaac trades the quiet of his family ranch for the excitement of the big city with his dream job at an up-and-coming advertising agency. Until his perfect new world is shattered by bad choices, a pretty girl, a moment's temptation-and a late night walk that quickly spirals out of control. Reeling with the horror of a mistake that can't be undone, Isaac struggles to get his soul in order. Can he forgive himself? Can he make things right with God? What about Rebecca? With...

It all happened one morning. It was as if the world had gone mad. Well, maybe not the whole world, but enough of it to get noticed. People were waking up as if possessed; suffering souls resorting to tearing at their skin, crying out loud to no one in particular, haunted by a sudden internal torment that no one around them could decipher. For investigative reporter Elijah, this news story was way bigger than a scoop. Unless he could unmask the truth behind the madness, how could he stop it, o...

Book 4 of Faith & Kung Fu Series Truth comes to light and love is revealed after Tanner confesses her devotion to Gabriel. But when a former fling and co-star offers his assistance on her debut movie, he's a constant reminder of all the ways Tanner has messed up. Add a crazed kung fu rival, paparazzi on the prowl, and a controlling stage mom, and things get ugly fast. Can Gabriel and Tanner find truth in the chaos? Or is their newly-found romance doomed before it's even begun?

Under the Sun of Satan, Georges Bernanos's powerful debut novel, throws the reader headlong into the mystery of evil and the drama of salvation. Saturated with dramatic intensity and marked with Bernanos's inimitable fitful style, the novel follows young Fr. Donissan, a man of fervent faith but limited intelligence, striving to serve the Lord in his rural ministry. The priest's ability to plumb the depths of his flock's inner lives, along with his awareness of Satan on the prowl, grant him fo...

This is a story about a coming, slowly creeping, once in a millennium climatological disaster event. Yet the residents of a small Pacific Northwest town, especially their Mayor, seem more concerned with the taking up of a homeless man and his cohort in downtown, a development threatening to ruin their idyllic self-perceptions. Even as the storm readies to deliver a direct hit, many view the homeless men as the true "plague" rather than a dust storm, acid spitting, Tornado funnel-front that ha...

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers GrimmPerhaps no other stories possess as much power to enchant, delight, and surprise as those penned by the immortal Brothers Grimm. Now, in the new, expanded third edition, renowned scholar and folklorist Jack Zipes has translated all 250 tales collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, plus twenty-nine rare tales omitted from the original German edition, as well as narratives uncovered in the brothers' letters and papers.Truly the most comp...

Don Giuseppe Pace, who wrote this novel under the pseudonym Walter Martin, takes on the excesses and inversions of the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council in this novel, with its host of lovable and infuriating characters and often surprising storyline. The new leader of the Church, a relative unknown who has been elected as a mere transitional pope, upsets the entire process of Reform that held sway over the Church up to his election. Opposed on almost all sides by shrewd careerists, he ...

There's no place like homeDo fairies really come for the dish of milk we leave them? Is Mrs. McClenahan really a witch? How is it possible to find a new baby in a bed of parsley? These are all questions Pat Gardiner wants to know. And it seems her Irish housekeeper, the incomparable Judy Plum, always has an answer...For Pat, there is no place more magical on earth than her home of Silver Bush, with its majestic birch trees and enchanting gardens. If it were up to her, nothing there would ever...

Father Francis Chisholm is a good priest-somewhat peculiar, perhaps, but a good priest all the same. Forged as a youth in the fires of suffering and tragedy, Francis accepts his vocation and strives to serve his people in humility and good humor, with compassion and courageous heart. After two spiritually eventful but conventionally unsuccessful assignments as a curate, Father Chisholm is sent as a missionary to China. Upon arrival, he finds his mission in ruins: the property deserted, the ch...

The beloved children's classic with more than more than 10 million copies sold. From Newbery Honor and E. B. White Award-winning author Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting is a spellbinding modern-day masterpiece about immortality, friendship, and growing up that's sure to be an all-time favorite for every generation. Is eternal life a blessing or a curse? That is what young Winnie Foster must decide when she discovers a spring on her family's property whose waters grant immortality. Members of...

Six siblings awaken from a mysterious sleep to find themselves in a beautiful but perilous land called Undlar that is missing some important things. The residents of Undlar are missing from their villages and fields, cowering in fear from the menace that haunts their skies and woods. The Lord of the land is missing from his throne, and is presumed to be asleep in his tower. The jewels which brought order and harmony to Undlar are missing from the Lord's Crown, and are scattered and lost.Also ...

Adeline Rye adores books, history, and art but feels unseen in a society that values advance in medicine and technology above all else. With her father as the leader of their island civilization called Mirror, she has little room for error. To ensure peace and eliminate violence, the islanders are divided across three separate communities and commanded to abide by the 613 laws given to their leadership by The Originator. Forty years prior, The Originator guided the people to the safety of the...

"Nature and history, the Liturgy and the Kalendar, contemporary events both public and personal-all snake their way through the thickets of metaphor in these poems. And the relation between time and Eternity is never far away."-AIDAN NICHOLS, OP, formerly Pope John Paul II Memorial Lecturer in Roman Catholic Theology, University of Oxford"Anna Rist's second volume of poems is a joy to read. The collection exalts not just in the Body of Christ but in people and places of importance to her. All...

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. Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics...

The Eddan Collective is a campus novel, a prophecy of the university in the near future, and a reflection on intellectual pride. In the year 2016, one Annika Trent, scholar of the late Roman Empire, founds the Eddan Collective, a group of Marxist faculty planning for the imminent collapse of American society. Annika's memoir details her struggles with her Eddan collaborators, her chronic illness, and her ability to "send herself away" to fifth-century North Africa, where she converses with St...

This book invites the reader into a cloister of poems, there to look with eyes of faith through the arches of rhythm and rhyme onto the wide vistas, terrible chasms, and hazy mountains of Mystery, Beauty, and Love. Written by monks of Silverstream Priory, some poems let memory and imagination search the corners of the earth, there to glean the sorrows, hopes, and joys of men, and so present them to the Father. Others draw from the deep wells of tradition, with verse translations of ancient La...

(and A Young Poet's Elegy to the Court of God) A Traditional Play in Blank Verse The preternaturally great poet Orpheus has responded to the loss of his wife Eurydice to the Underworld by forsaking the society of his fellow men in Thrace, where he was a poet-king, and endlessly wandering through field and forest, using his poetic genius to lament his loss. Apollo, the god of poetry, urges him to give up his excessive mourning and return to Thrace and once more sing the deeds of the great hero...

The Little House books tell the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who, with her family, was among the early pioneers of the American west. Born in 1867 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods in Wisconsin, Laura traveled with her family by covered wagon through Kansas, Minnesota, and finally the Dakota Territory, where she met and married Almanzo Wilder. There was deprivation and hard work. Crops were ruined by storms and grasshopper plagues. But there were also happy times of love an...

A deceased art expert seemingly reappears in Japan, upsetting the plans of priestly diplomats. They fear that a ruthless schemer may have stolen his identity. How far will that possible super spy dare to go to subvert Church policy? The answer may be hidden in Vermeer's celebrated paintings. Against a Cold War backdrop, friendship, religion, the fine arts, and ideology intertwine. Loyalties are tested, leaving the only alternatives of betrayal or sacrifice. In the Church under attack, the wor...

“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.” Irony, witty banter, and all the wisdom that defines Jane Austen's novels, pour forth from every page of Northanger Abbey. At the end of the 18th century, as Gothic literature was especially popular, an avid reader of such novels— young, affectionate, and unworldly Catherine Morland, the daughter of a country clergyman— sets off for the high society of lively Bath, thus to begin an adventure of her own...

The novel that first made Willa Cather famous--a powerfully mythic tale of the American frontier told through the life of one extraordinary woman One of America's greatest writers, Cather established her talent and her reputation with this extraordinary novel--the first of her books set on the Nebraska frontier. A tale of the prairie land encountered by America's Swedish, Czech, Bohemian, and French immigrants, as well as a story of how the land challenged them, changed them, and, in some cas...

"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...

In this #1 international bestseller, a young woman leaves everything behind to work as a librarian in a remote French village, where she finds her outlook on life and love challenged in every way. Prudencia Prim is a young woman of intelligence and achievement, with a deep knowledge of literature and several letters after her name. But when she accepts the post of private librarian in the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, she is unprepared for what she encounters there. Her employer, a book-lo...

"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...

"'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 ...

A Novel Based on the Life of St. Augustine of Hippo "You say, the times are troublesome, the times are burdensome, the times are miserable. Live rightly and you will change the times. The times have never hurt anyone. Those who are hurt are human beings; those by whom they are hurt are also human beings. So, change human beings and the times will be changed." -St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 311, 8 Growing up on the northernmost edge of the African continent, young Augustine had never known a ...

A Novel Based on the Life of Luca Pacioli An orphan from a small town in Italy, Pacioli came of age during the Renaissance seemingly destined for a life of struggle and obscurity. But Pacioli had the good fortune of meeting mentors who recognized his uncanny ability with numbers and introduced him to renowned artists and philosophers, royalty, and popes. At a time when many still used Roman numerals and colleges didn't even teach mathematics, Pacioli was determined to share his passion and ma...

A Novel Based on the Life of St. Francis of Assisi His neighbors thought he was spoiled and lazy. His teachers found him incorrigible. His own father believed he was crazy. His mother never doubted that he was a true son of God. Arrogant and grandiose, young Francis di Bernardone was an embarrassment to his family and a source of amusement to his community. He led a lavish, undisciplined life, squandering his father's fortune on the finest food, wine, and late-night parties with his coterie o...

A Novel Inspired by the Life of Guido d'Arezzo It was too big a secret to keep and too great a price to pay. Though few details are known of 11th-century Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo, he is widely recognized for inventing the language of music. Music's Guiding Hand offers a fictional account as to how an unlikely friendship between two medieval monks might have inspired one of the most important and enduring innovations of the Western world. When a fellow monk continually struggles to lear...

A Novel Based on the Life of Thomas Aquinas Entering the world with a burning desire for knowledge, Thomas Aquinas set out on a quest for truth that forced him into captivity. But his thirst for truth never wavered. Known today among many as the most brilliant light of the church, Aquinas was a Catholic priest and a Doctor of the Church. His influence on Western thought as he attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity is considerable. Aquinas is distin...

A Novel Based on the Life of Father Eusebio Kino Through a great and terrible wilderness, with serpents, scorpions, and thirsty ground, he sowed peace and sustenance and left an enduring mark on the New World. A celebrated teacher of mathematics and astronomy, Eusebio Kino's future promised to be comfortable and secure. Jesuit elders urged the young priest to continue his ministry in education. But a greater voice called, and Father Kino answered by pursuing a lifetime of danger and uncertain...

A Novel Based on the Life of Father Matteo Ricci The Forbidden City--home to the opium-addicted Ming Dynasty emperor and protected by thousands of ruthless eunuchs--no European had ever been inside. Would a simple Jesuit priest be the first? Armed with a homemade clock, a wealth of patience, and an uncompromising drive to share his faith with a new people, Father Matteo Ricci would overcome one barrier only to be met by another: treacherous seas, a complex language, and a culture with an unsh...