The second novel from the best-selling Argentine author of The Anatomist, The Merciful Women is a brilliant retelling of the birth of the Gothic novel. In the summer of 1816, Percy and Mary Shelley, Mary's sister, and Lord Byron hid themselves away in a Swiss villa, whiling away rainy afternoons with the Gothic novel contest that would produce Frankenstein. Andahazi's reimagining focuses on the fifth competitor: John Polidori, Byron's manservant, a talentless hack resentful of the ease of his master's life. Through a Faustian pact with an unseen intercessant, Polidori obtains the most compelling vampire story ever written. But "The Vampyre" has striking similarities to Polidori's benefactor and to what she asks of him in return. Opium, erotica, and decadence meld into a sly and stylish novel about literary ambition, talent, and inspiration. "A hoot ... a Voltaire-like skewering of the myth of genius. Andahazi can remind you of vintage Terry Southern." -- Richard Wallace, The Seattle Times "Playful, satiric, erotic, sometimes savage, sometimes slapstick ... something completely different, and well worth reading. -- San Francisco Chronicle "As a piece of mock-scholarly, wickedly ironic entertainment, it is an utter delight." -- Publishers Weekly "This literary tour de force cum vampire tale will leave the reader gasping-from laughter and horror by turns." -- The Baltimore Sun

Sixteen full-color paintings of compassionate women combine with enchanting prose to inspire readers to see and become the embodiment of mercy.

Noted author and speaker Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle has given modern women an important guide to letting the rays of Divine Mercy touch them, transform them, and flow from them to the world. Covering both blessings and burdens, Donna-Marie's survey of key moments in the lives of modern Catholic women will equip those looking ahead to these milestones and help guide the reflections of those pondering the past in their hearts to see all through the lens of Divine Mercy. Written with her usual loving, reassuring faith, Donna-Marie's book is the perfect gift for the women in your life.

Kirsten has spent her life trying to forget. But mercy begs her to remember. When she was in high school, a terrible accident fractured her family, and the only relief Kirsten could find was carving tiny lines into her skin, burying her pain in her flesh. The pain she caused herself was neat and manageable compared to the emotional pain that raged inside. She was coping. Or so she thought. But then, eight years later, on the night she expects her long-time boyfriend to propose, Kirsten learns he’s been secretly seeing her best friend. Desperate to escape her feelings, she reaches for the one thing that gives her a sense of control in the midst of chaos. But this time the cut isn’t so tiny, and it lands her in the psych hospital. Within hours of being there she knows she can’t stay—she isn’t crazy, after all. But she can’t go back to the life she knew before either. So when her pastor mentions a treatment program on a working ranch, Kirsten decides to take him up on the offer and get away from it all. But the one thing she can’t escape is herself—and her shame. The ranch is home to a motley crew, each with a lesson to teach. Ever so slowly, Kirsten opens herself to embrace healing—even the scarred places that hurt the most. Mercy begs her to remember the past . . . showing her there’s nothing that cannot be redeemed. “[St. James and Rue] tackle a tough topic with sensitivity and forthrightness in an intense novel about self-injury, self-esteem, and the numerous shades of love. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, starred review

Merciful Moments: A Devotional Journal for Moving Forward With Grace Each Day is designed to encourage, empower, and sustain you with uplifting scripture and practical strategies and actions to help you move courageously forward in God's grace every day, with greater clarity.Amidst life's ongoing challenges, disappointments, and seasons, how do we continue to walk in God's mercy each day? How do we maintain hope and vitality in our daily routines as we face life's challenges? When we don't "feel" God's presence, how do we maintain a heart of gratitude? As you read through each devotion, write down your thoughts, pray each suggested prayer, and begin to apply the practical strategies and action steps each chapter offers. You're invited to be renewed, refreshed, and reassured that God is with you and for you in every season of life.Whether you're in a season of waiting, transition, frustration, or needing hope, Merciful Moments is your resource for real encouragement to help you keep the faith and receive the richness of God's mercy every day.

When Jesus asked us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and visit the imprisoned, he didn’t mean it literally, right? Kerry Weber, a modern, young, single woman in New York City sets out to see if she can practice the Corporal Works of Mercy in an authentic, personal, meaningful manner while maintaining a full, robust, regular life. Weber, a lay Catholic, explores the Works of Mercy in the real world, with a gut-level honesty and transparency that people of urban, country, and suburban locales alike can relate to. Mercy in the City is for anyone who is struggling to live in a meaningful, merciful way amid the pressures of “real life.” For those who feel they are already overscheduled and too busy, for those who assume that they are not “religious enough” to practice the Works of Mercy, for those who worry that they are alone in their efforts to live an authentic life, Mercy in the City proves that by living as people for others, we learn to connect as people of faith.

A powerful tragedy distilled into a small masterpiece by the Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved and, almost like a prelude to that story, set two centuries earlier. Jacob is an Anglo-Dutch trader in 1680s United States, when the slave trade is still in its infancy. Reluctantly he takes a small slave girl in part payment from a plantation owner for a bad debt. Feeling rejected by her slave mother, 14-year-old Florens can read and write and might be useful on his farm. Florens looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at her new master's house, but later from the handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved, who comes riding into their lives . . . At the novel's heart, like Beloved, it is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother and a daughter – a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and a daughter who may never exorcise that abandonment.

Life-Changing Attitudes Mark the Lives of Inspiring Women from Yesterday to Today A godly woman is marked by a godly attitude. Dorothy Kelley Patterson looks to the Bible for the timeless principles of virtuous character sought by godly women today. BeAttitudes for Women is an interactive devotional commentary. - Interactive - You will be drawn to participate through appropriate charts, study maps, and opportunities to meditate on the meaning of the text. - Devotional - You will be richly blessed by the inspirational quotations, hymns, poems, and vignettes coupled with the experience of the many years Dorothy Kelley Patterson has spent living in a family and ministering to women. - Commentary - You will find the Bible comes alive through brief and readable commentary sections of explanation, including studies of key words, grammatical notes, historical allusions, and explanatory information. Virtues, from humility to courage, are carefully examined in the Bible and applied to today's culture, exploring the remarkable lives of some extraordinary women.

Kings become outcasts and lovers become foes in The Faithless Hawk, the thrilling sequel to Margaret Owen's The Merciful Crow. As the new chieftain of the Crows, Fie knows better than to expect a royal to keep his word. Still she’s hopeful that Prince Jasimir will fulfill his oath to protect her fellow Crows. But then black smoke fills the sky, signaling the death of King Surimir and the beginning of Queen Rhusana's merciless bid for the throne. With the witch queen using the deadly plague to unite the nation of Sabor against Crows—and add numbers to her monstrous army—Fie and her band are forced to go into hiding, leaving the country to be ravaged by the plague. However, they’re all running out of time before the Crows starve in exile and Sabor is lost forever. A desperate Fie calls on old allies to help take Rhusana down from within her own walls. But inside the royal palace, the only difference between a conqueror and a thief is an army. To survive, Fie must unravel not only Rhusana’s plot, but ancient secrets of the Crows—secrets that could save her people, or set the world ablaze.