Fiction
Paul Guibeau has spent the winter at the Mission of Saint Ignace and now is anxious to set out with Father Marquette and Sieur Joliet on their voyage of discovery. More than anything, though, he wants his friend Red Bear to accompany them—not only to help protect them, but in the hopes that by spending the months ahead with the great Missionary, Red Bear may finally consent to become a Christian. But Red Bear fears Marquette and instead heads east with his people. Who, then, is encircling the camp each night with the marks of bear claws? Mystery and danger abound on this journey into the unknown…
The story of Père Marquette and his participation in the discovery of the Mississippi River was one that was dear to Father Spalding, for he had done much of his own research on the life of this great Jesuit. He used details from Volume 59 of the Jesuit Relations (which includes the actual journals kept by Marquette during his travels) to construct this story (though of course he added fictional elements as well). The result is a riveting tale of courage and faith valuable as much for itself as for its historic significance.
5.5" x 8.5" paperback 164 pages
The year is 1669. In French colonial Quebec, Paul Guibeau has won fame for his bravery in fighting the Iroquois, and now he hopes to turn this success into a military career. When he overhears Count Frontenac commissioning Louis Joliet to chart the location of a fabled island in Lake Superior containing a rich supply of copper, Paul is determined to achieve glory by being the first to return with news of this mineral wealth. He sets off in a race across the wilderness with his friend and ally, a Huron Indian named Red Bear, in search of this island…but he does not count on the incursions of the Miami Indians into the lands now vacated by the fierce Iroquois. An unexpected struggle for freedom and for life itself now stands between him and his dreamed-of glory...
This book is the first of a pair that follow the discoveries of Marquette and Joliet in the 17th century. In The Race for Copper Island, we find Joliet and his companions setting off westward into the upper Great Lakes, in search of rich copper deposits that had been reported by missionaries in that region. At a Jesuit Mission near Sault Sainte Marie, Joliet meets with Father Marquette, whose observations and detailed maps of the shores of Lake Superior prove invaluable to his quest. At the same time, Father Marquette tells Joliet of his great desire to explore the Great River the natives have told him of—a river they call the Mississippi—the fulfillment of which will follow in the next volume, The Marks of the Bear Claws.
5.5" x 8.5" paperback 150 pages
A horrific act of treachery. A hairbreadth escape. A decade of desperate hiding. And an encounter with Christ that changes it all!
When young Prince Cloud, grandson of the mighty King Clovis and heir to the Kingdom of Orleans, is suspiciously summoned to his uncle's castle, little does he know his world is about to implode. Hurled into a life of danger, where his royal identity must remain hidden at all costs, Cloud eventually stumbles upon the only Kingdom worth fighting for.
Nearly everyone has heard of St. Cloud, Minnesota, but few know the story of the inspiring saint whose name it bears. The time has come for Saint Cloud of Gaul to blaze forth from hiding!
The Song at the Scaffold is an historical novella based on the gripping story of these brave heroines who offered their lives as a witness to Christ. Written for adults, this 1931 classic has been supplemented with extensive study aids that make it suitable as well for high school students, including footnotes, questions for literary analysis, a glossary, an historical timeline, and an author biography.
Carol’s scream assaults my ears, even as I’m bringing the gun round… I fire, hitting the raptor in the tail as it darts away… No time to check on Carol, I turn again… the pack matriarch is busy ripping the grille back from Harry’s window…
One gun’s enough, is it, Dad? Really? We have so had it…
IN DARRYL’S WORLD, THE WILDLIFE IS RATHER……WILD!
When Darryl’s Dad suddenly remarries, she and her brother Harry are taken completely by surprise. Their new step-mom is a glamorous fashion designer who’s never been outside the city fence in her life. How will she cope with a life of dinosaur farming?
Still, they try to make up their minds to be welcoming.
But first, Darryl’s Dad needs to get his new bride safely to the farm.
And things don’t go quite to plan…
An explosion is heard off the coast of seventeenth-century England, and a woman washes up on the shore. She is barely alive and does not speak English, but she asks for a priest . . . in Latin.
She has a confession to make and a story to tell, but who is she and from where has she come?
Cast out of her superstitious, Maltese family, Warda turns to begging and stealing until she is fostered by an understanding Catholic priest who teaches her the art of healing. Her wilful nature and hard-earned independence make her unfit for marriage, and so the good priest sends Warda to serve an anchorite, in the hope that his protégé will discern a religious vocation.
Such a calling Warda never has the opportunity to hear. Barbary pirates raid her village, capture her and sell her into slavery in Muslim North Africa. In the merciless land of Warda's captivity, her wits, nerve, and self-respect are tested daily, as she struggles to survive without submitting to total and permanent enslavement. As she is slowly worn down by the brutality of her circumstances, she comes to believe that God has abandoned her and falls into despair, hatred, and a pattern of behaviour which, ironically, mirrors that of her masters.
Poor Banished Children is the tale of one woman's relentless search for freedom and redemption. The historical novel raises challenging questions about the nature of courage, free will, and ultimately salvation.
- An award-winning European novelist presents a powerful story of mystery, adventure, peril, suffering, faith, and courage
- A thrilling historical novel that explores the life and cultures of 17th century England, Malta and Africa
- A challenging work that tells the story of one woman's relentless search for freedom and redemption amidst great suffering, loneliness and despair
hardcover
This is the exciting tale of the boy who would become King Richard the Fearless. After suddenly losing his father, King William of the Long Sword, a very young Richard experiences many hardships and sorrows. However, with the help of his loyal friends, Richard overcomes capture and many other obstacles in his quest to succeed his father. The Little Duke is an inspiring story for all Catholic youth, and therefore, an excellent addition to any family library. Along with Outlaws of Ravenhurst and Men of Iron, The Little Duke ranks among younger readers as one of the best ever.
Hardcover, 240 pages.
The novel Do No Harm exposes the dangers faced by conscientious doctors in Britain. Dr. Kemble's decision to treat a patient in defiance of her Living Will pits him against English Law, public opinion and his own profession. The legal and personal battles he faces raise many questions about the role of the physician in the modern world, contemporary beliefs about autonomy and human rights, and the increasingly bitter clash of values in twenty-first century Britain.
Set in and around London, the story explores the interrelated stories of a physician facing ruin and imprisonment at the height of his career, his old friend and doggedly determined lawyer, Jonathan Kirkpatrick, and Maria, a passionate, dedicated but intensely lonely young campaigner who while working for the defense proves incapable of staying out of trouble herself.
The beloved G.K. Chesterton presents a well-crafted and joyous work of political fantasy about a small group of rebels who rail against the government’s attempt to impose prohibition in England.
Humphrey Pump, a pub owner, accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a flamboyant giant with a tendency to burst into song, take to the road in a donkey cart with a cask of good rum, a large block of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn. The two men bring good cheer to an increasingly restless populace as they attempt to evade the law. In a journey that becomes a rollicking madcap adventure, the two travel round England, encountering revolution, romance, and a cast of memorable characters.
Bishop Edmund Forester, looking out over his little diocese of Stamford, was distressed at what he saw. The renewal promised from the Second Vatican Council had produced… disaster. Father Sludge was putting on “Eucharists” with nuns in slacks reading porn from Beardsley and revolution from Marx. Pastors were gutting their sanctuaries and selling off church heirlooms. A cabal of modernist priests was purging diocesan schools of traditional Catholics. It was time, decided the bishop, for his Bomb: a letter to the clergy of the diocese, in which he authorizes the Old Mass to be celebrated regularly, corrects the worst abuses of the New Mass, mandates kneeling for the reception of Communion, and bans Communion in the hand. The Bomb sets off blast and counterblast—all the way to Rome. Opposing forces maneuver for the confrontation.
How the issue gets resolved provides the theme of a novel unique in the annals of Catholic literature. It takes the form of letters from the bishop himself: a tough infighter—and a saint; a man of humility and charity—with a nose for humbug and an eye for the absurd. What emerges from these remarkable letters is a bishop for the ages—not the sort we meet these days. But along with this extraordinary man we are treated to what may be the most incisive analyses of the crisis in the Catholic Church ever to see print. What duller writers take chapters and books to say, Bishop Forester declaims in a few pages. And unforgettably.
272 pp, paperback
An ill-fated journey, a long-lost uncle, and a mysterious cathedral mark the next chapter in the life of Xan, an orphan in search of his destiny. For a year, he has lived in the care of Benedictine monks at Harwood Abbey. Now he learns that he has an uncle, said to live in the far-off city of Lincoln.
Will Xan survive the trip alongside the prisoner Carlo and his cruel guards?
Will he find Uncle William?
And why is Xan drawn to the spirit that haunts Lincoln Cathedral—could a ghost reconnect Xan with his dead parents?
Join Xan and his friends to solve the mystery of The Haunted Cathedral.
In this next book in the Father Gabriel mystery series, the priest detective tries to solve the riddle behind the disappearance of the most hated woman in town.
Enid Jennings, a retired headmistress and an embittered war widow, has a talent for causing conflict and distress wherever she goes. When Enid's daughter sees her vanish into thin air, she is widely assumed to have been mistaken or to have lost her mind – or worse, to have committed an act of foul play.
Enter Father Gabriel. Working on the principle that some stories are too strange to have been made up, the priest sets out to discover the whereabouts of the missing woman. With help from the town's physician, and hostility from the irascible Inspector Applegate, Father Gabriel delves into Enid Jennings' past, and he digs up the recent past of the whole village during the days of the Phony War, when invaders lay in wait across the Channel and crimes were just a little easier to hide.
246 pp, paperback
Five boys. Five weeks camping in the pine forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. What could go wrong?
Walter Stanley’s eccentric bachelor uncle has offered to take him and a chosen friend on the adventure of a lifetime. Only it’s too hard to choose just one friend! So along come Ferdinand Eggert with his wireless radio, a persistent John Newell (who insists on paying his own way) and the perennially cheerful Carroll Cage…plus a newcomer to tag along as cook. But before they’ve even arrived at their destination, it becomes clear that one of the boys is a thief…how will they discover the culprit?
5.5" x 8.5" paperback 154 pages
When the doctor declares that Florian Bell’s health is in serious danger, he is sent from his home in Milwaukee to stay with his cousins Hunter and Leo on the banks of Withrose Creek in Kentucky. There he learns how to fish, hunt, and lay snares…but the boys’ favorite pastime is trying to unravel the mystery of the old mill...what will its secrets unfold? What is Bob Lindon hiding there? And will the mysterious night riders manage to make good their threats against the Bell farm? Only time will tell...
5.5" x 8.5" paperback 200 pages
