Fiction

Having just confessed his sins to his priest--more sins than a kid his age should have--Jarret jumps in his Chrysler 300 and races to the outskirts of town. Emotion overwhelming him, he pulls off the road and flings himself face down behind an outcropping of rocks. Ever since that life-changing night in the canyon, Jarret has felt the presence of the Lord in his soul. Now that presence is fading. Is it his fault? How will he remain faithful without it when he still struggles against the same temptations? ​​Meanwhile his twin brother, Keefe, questions whether he has a calling to religious life. He's gone along with Jarret's bad schemes for years. Is he worthy of such a calling? What would he have to give up to pursue a vocation? Keefe reads everything he can about St. Francis and the Franciscans, but he’s afraid to talk to his father about the Franciscans' upcoming discernment retreat because his father seems closed to faith. Is he ready to go all in? ​Follow the West brothers in this contemporary teen fiction as they struggle through temptations and trials down paths they can barely see, toward goals they desire in the depths of their hearts. ​Softcover, 331 pp

1st-place winner of the 2017 Catholic Press Association Teen & YA Book Awards Awarded the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval ​ Jarret West, a rich teenage boy, has been accustomed to having control over others and getting his way. So when his life begins to fall apart, his guardian angel Ellechial hopes now is the time for his conversion. He must be freed from the deep clutches of Deth-kye, the demon bent on seeing him in hell. The fate of several others depends upon Jarret’s conversion. Jarret's twin brother has joined a new prayer group and their prayer before the Blessed Sacrament has made Ellechial strong. Still, Deth-kye wins victory after victory. His weapons: emotions, vices and memories. Who will win the battle for Jarret's soul? ​Softcover, 316 pp

Ever since he could remember, Bennet wanted to become a knight. No matter that he was the son of an armorer on the estate of Lord Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine; no matter that a peasant's son could never see the realization of such a fantastic dream. In his few spare moments, Bennet practices a rigorous training routine, hoping that somehow he might be selected as a castle squire - the first step toward his goal. Then one day Peter the Hermit rode through Lorraine, describing atrocities commited by infidels in Jerusalem and calling for an army of Christians to march to Palenstine. Bennet's chance had come at last, for when Godfrey took the crusader's cross, he asked Bennet to accompany him to the Holy Land as his squire. With the blue gonfalon flying at the head of the French troops, Bennet began the long journey to Jerusalem - toward adventure, danger, and the possibility that a courageous deed would make his dream of knighthood come true. A panorama of Europe in 1099 unfolds in Margaret Ann Hubbard's thrilling story of the First Crusade.