The Walker clan, Vivi and Big Shep; their children Sidda, Little Shep, Lulu, and Baylor; Vivi's long-time girlfriends the Ya-Yas; and neighbors Cheney and Willetta, live out their lives in flamboyant and secretive style in the bayou of Thorton, Louisiana.

"A magisterial history of the centuries-long conflict between 'progress' and 'tradition' in the world's largest international institution. The story of Roman Catholicism has never followed a singular path. In no time period has this been more true than over the last two centuries. Beginning with the French Revolution, extending to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, and concluding with present-day crises, John T. McGreevy chronicles the dramatic...

Mexico, the late 1930s: A paramilitary group has outlawed the Catholic Church and been executing its clergy. Now the last priest is on the run, fleeing not just an unshakable police lieutenant but also his own wavering morals. As he scraps his way toward salvation, haunted by an affair from his past, the nameless "whiskey priest" is pulled between the bottle and the Bible, tempted to renounce his religion yet unable to ignore the higher calling he's...

"When John Blessing dies and leaves behind two small children, the loss reverberates across his extended family for years to come. His young widow, Lauren, finds solace in her large clan of in-laws, while his brother's wife Kate pursues motherhood even at the expense of her marriage. John's teenage nephew Stephen finds himself involved in an act of petty theft that takes a surprising turn, and nephew Alex, a gifted student, travels to Spain and considers...

Mrs. Ford leads a privileged life. Early one morning in the summer of 2014, the past pays a call to collect. The FBI arrives to question her about a man from Iraq--a Chaldean Christian from Mosul--where ISIS has just seized control. Sammy Fakhouri, they say, is his name and they have taken him into custody, picked up on his way to her house. Why is Sammy looking for Susan all these years later? And why is Mrs. Ford lying?

Since her mother's suicide, high school junior Marin has been able to see others' pain as colors and shapes, but what she sees in the head of classmate Cassie, who forced her to participate in a weird conjoining rite, is much more frightening and deadly.

"Discover the greatest teachers of the Faith as Pope Benedict XVI highlights their essential role during a time of scandal and strife in the Church. Focusing specifically on the thirteenth-century founding of the Franciscans by St. Francis of Assisi and the Dominicans by St. Dominic Guzmán, the pope said personal holiness led to the two saints to preach--and to help actualize--a return to Gospel poverty, a deeper unity with the Church, and a new...

"Blackwood, there's trouble in the old neighborhood! Murder in the sanctuary of the Church!" The church in question is St. Lucy's, a humble edifice at the heart of a venerable Chicago neighborhood now suffering the throes of gentrification. St. Lucy's has long stood as a bulwark against evil and change, which some in the community have often seen as much the same thing. Now three dead bodies have been left in the sanctuary, stripped, mutilated,...

Sister Agatha is an extern nun in the cloistered order at the Our Lady of Hope Monastery near a small New Mexican desert town. As such, Sister Agatha is the link between her cloistered sisters and the outside world. Usually this means running errands in the monastery's slowly dying car (dubbed the Anti-Chrystler) or their motorcycle, with Pax, the order's German Shepard, in the side car. But sometimes it means something a bit more -- like now when...

Brimming with pleasing plot twists, this heartwarming sequel to best-seller A Miracle for St. Cecilia's (K1034) demonstrates the power of prayer and the courage of compassion. Robbed by his construction partner, Barry struggles to complete a riverfront hotel and pay off menacing mobsters. But while he and dozens of other denizens of Dorsetville await God's help, a series of events helps transform the town forever. John McDonough strikes just the right...