The first installment in Pamela Aidan’s irresistible trilogy, An Assembly Such As This takes us into the world of Jane Austen’s Fitzwilliam Darcy. “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me.” So begins the timeless romance of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen's classic novel is beloved by millions, but little is revealed in the book about the mysterious and handsome hero, Mr. Darcy. And so the question has long remained: Who is Fitzwilliam Darcy? In An Assembly Such as This, Pamela Aidan finally answers that long-standing question. In this first book of her Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy, she reintroduces us to Darcy during his visit to Hertfordshire with his friend Charles Bingley and reveals Darcy's hidden perspective on the events of Pride and Prejudice. As Darcy spends more time at Netherfield supervising Bingley and fending off Miss Bingley's persistent advances, his unwilling attraction to Elizabeth grows—as does his concern about her relationship with his nemesis, George Wickham. Setting the story vividly against the colorful historical and political background of the Regency, Aidan writes in a style comfortably at home with Austen but with a wit and humor very much her own. Aidan adds her own cast of fascinating characters to those in Austen's original, weaving a rich tapestry from Darcy's past and present. Austen fans and newcomers alike will love this new chapter of the most famous romance of all time.

In his previous book, The Pastor: A Spirituality, Gordon W. Lathrop writes: "The most important symbol of Christ in the room is not the minister, not the altar, not even the bread and wine or the water of the font. It is the assembly, the Body of Christ, as the New Testament says" (page 27). This statement forms the central theme of this new book. Reflecting on the recent painful time of pandemic, when the wisest and most caring course was not to assemble at all, has illuminated the author's conviction and strengthened it. But as churches return to in-person worship and life in community, they will need to revisit formation in assembly practice. This book articulates why and how the assembly is so important in Christianity. Lathrop intends the book to assist Christian congregations and their pastors or priests to recover vital, participatory, and life-giving in-person worship after the pandemic. He further intends that participants will see and treasure the importance of assembly as the primary form of "church" and as a vital source of Christian daily life. Part 1 of the book looks in depth at the assembly, discusses why the sacraments are assembly events, and explores how the assembly forms Christians for daily living. Part 2 presents a critical catechism for the assembly, with emphasis on the sacraments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.