The acclaimed novel by the author of The Why of Things tackles “the Deep South during the Gothic worst of Jim Crow times . . . truly a bravura performance” (Geoffrey Wolff). “One of the finest writers of her generation,” and author of three previously acclaimed novels, Elizabeth H. Winthrop delivers a brave new book that will launch her distinguished career anew (Brad Watson). On the eve of his execution, eighteen-year-old Willie Jones sits in his cell in New Iberia awaiting his end. Across the state, a truck driven by a convict and his keeper carries the executioner’s chair closer. On a nearby highway, Willie’s father Frank lugs a gravestone on the back of his fading, old mule. In his office the DA who prosecuted Willie reckons with his sentencing, while at their gas station at the crossroads outside of town, married couple Ora and Dale grapple with their grief and their secrets. As various members of the township consider and reflect on what Willie’s execution means, an intricately layered and complex portrait of a Jim Crow era Southern community emerges. Moving from voice to voice, Winthrop elegantly brings to stark light the story of a town, its people, and its injustices. The Mercy Seat is a brutally incisive and tender novel from one of our most acute literary observers. “Artful and succinctly poetic . . . A worthy novel that gathers great power as it rolls on propelled by its many voices.”—The New York Times Book Review “A miracle of a novel, with rapid-fire sentences that grab you and propel you to the next page . . . It’s a breakout. It’s a wonder.”—Dallas Morning News

Set on September 12, 2001, THE MERCY SEAT continues Neil LaBute's unflinching fascination with the often-brutal realities of the war between the sexes. In a time of national tragedy, the world changes overnight. A man and a woman explore the choices now available to them in an existence different from the one they had lived just the day before. Can one be opportunistic in a time of universal selflessness? "There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil LaBute ... THE MERCY SEAT is ... the work of a master." --John Lahr, The New Yorker "An intelligent and thought-provoking drama that casts a less-than-glowing light on man's dark side in the face of disaster ... The play's energy lies in LaBute's trademark scathing dialogue." --Robert Dominguez, Daily News "Though set in the cold, gray light of morning in a downtown loft with inescapable views of the vacuum left by the twin towers, THE MERCY SEAT really occurs in one of those feverish nights of the soul in which men and women lock in vicious sexual combat, as in Strindberg's DANCE OF DEATH and Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?" --Ben Brantley, The New York Times "[A] powerful drama ... LaBute shows a true master's hand in gliding us amid the shoals and reefs of a mined relationship." --Donald Lyons, New York Post "Uncomfortable yet fascinating ... THE MERCY SEAT makes for provocative theater -- sharp, compelling and more than a little chilling." --Michael Kuchwara, Newsday "LaBute's intriguing [new play] is most compelling when it is daring to look into [a] character's heart to explore the way self-interest, given the opportunity, can swamp all our nobler instincts." --Charles Isherwood, Variety "In THE MERCY SEAT ... LaBute has given us his most compelling portrait of male inner turmoil." --Brendan Lemon, Financial Times "LaBute [is] the dark shining star of stage and film morality." --Linda Winer, Newsday "Sharply funny and incisive SEAT is not a response to September 11, but a response to the response to September 11 -- an emotionally jarring consideration of the self-serving exploitation of tragedy for personal gain ... Perhaps it's time we stop thinking of LaBute as a mere provocateur, a label that condescends to an artist of grand ambition and a nimble facility with language. With this gripping ... new drama, he probes deeper than he ever has before." --Jason Zinoman, Time Out New York "A nihilistic yet brutally honest work ... As complex and unfathomable as human motivations ... THE MERCY SEAT is haunting." --David A. Rosenberg, Backstage "LaBute risks offending contemporary sensibilities by using a historic tragedy as his turning point for a drama regarding a morally empty American ... [THE MERCY SEAT is] controversial and compelling." --Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger "LaBute ... is holding up a pitiless mirror to ourselves. We may not like what we see, but we can't deny that -- if only in some dark corner of our soul -- it is there." --Jacques le Sourd, The Journal News

A collection of poems by twentieth-century American poet Norman Dubie.

Expanding on his original book, 'The Mercy Seat', Nigel Bovey investigates the place of the mercy seat in Salvationist worship and witness.

A man lives through death and the terror of Golgotha, hell, the devil and the lake of fire and brimstone. Read how God saves him from these things and delivers him from the judgment seat of Christ. God then shows him His vision for the church, the bride of Christ. See the first sun rise of the new earth and witness the brides¿ marriage to the Lamb. Learn all the prophetic messages that proclaim; possess the vision.

From New York Times bestselling author Joseph Prince comes a book about living above defeat and experiencing breakthroughs in every area of life. GRACE REVOLUTION is about living above defeat and experiencing lasting breakthroughs in every area of life. It's about the explosive, inside-out transformation that occurs in the innermost sanctum of the human heart when a person meets Jesus personally. To help the reader live out this new perspective, the author gives five practical and powerful keys that, if understood and internalized, will become highly effective principles of success and living a victorious life.

Be encouraged by author Deborah Starczewski as she shares inspiring stories to show you how to see through the valley of darkness and treasure every single moment of your time with God.

“A fast-paced, entertaining summer read” (People), The Why of Things is a “keenly observed” and “richly drawn” (The New York Times) novel about a family fighting towards hope in the wake of a terrible tragedy. Since the loss of her seventeen-year-old daughter less than a year ago, Joan Jacobs has struggled to keep her tight-knit family from coming apart. But Joan and Anders, her husband, are unable to snap back into the familiarity and warmth they so desperately need, both for themselves and for their surviving daughters, Eve and Eloise. The family flees to their summer home in search of peace and renewal, only to encounter an eerily similar tragedy when a pickup truck drives into the quarry in their backyard killing a young local named James Favazza. As the Jacobs family learns more about the inexplicable events that preceded that fateful evening, each of them becomes increasingly tangled in the emotional threads of James’s story: fifteen-year-old Eve is determined to solve, on her own, the mystery of his death; Anders finds himself facing his own deepest fears; and seven-year-old Eloise unwittingly adopts James’s orphaned dog. For her part, Joan becomes increasingly fixated on James’s mother, a stranger whose sudden loss so closely mirrors her own. With an urgent, beautiful intimacy that her fans have come to expect from this “bitingly intelligent writer” (The New York Times), Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop delivers here a powerful, buoyant novel that explores the complexities of family relationships and the small triumphs that can bring unexpected healing. The Why of Things is a wise, empathetic, and exquisitely heartfelt story about the strength of family bonds. It is an unforgettable and searing tour de force.

This picture book celebrates one of the most important patriots in post-Revolutionary times -- Noah Webster. Most readers know Noah Webster for his dictionary masterpieces and his promotion of a living "American Language" that embraces words and idioms from all its immigrant peoples. But he was also the driving force behind universal education for all citizens, including slaves, females, and adult learners. Speaker of twenty languages, he developed the new country's curriculum, writing and publishing American literature, American history, and American geography. He published New York City's first daily newspaper. As editor, Webster conducted a study and linked disease with poor sanitation. He created the country's first insurance company, established America's first copyright law, and became America's first best-selling author.