“A moving evocation of the Italian-American experience, told with grace, compassion, and uncompromising honesty” from the author of A Kiss from Maddalena (Tom Perrotta, New York Times–bestselling author of The Leftovers). It’s 1953 in the tight-knit Italian neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware. Maddalena Grasso has lost her country, her family, and the man she loved by coming to America; her mercurial husband, Antonio, has lost his opportunity to realize the American Dream; their new friend, Giulio Fabbri, a shy accordion player, has lost his beloved parents. In the shadow of St. Anthony’s Church, named for the patron saint of lost things, the prayers of these troubled but determined people are heard, and fate and circumstances conspire to answer them in unforeseeable ways. With great authenticity and immediacy, The Saint of Lost Things evokes a bittersweet time in which the world seemed more intimate and knowable, and the American Dream was simpler, nobler, and within reach. “Beautifully, and movingly, Castellani shows an uncanny empathy for the American immigrant experience.” —Julia Glass, National Book Award–winning author of Three Junes “A lovely novel filled with characters so fully realized that they . . . leave the fog of their breath on the page.” —Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of Butterflies “Those who appreciate clear-eyed, unsentimental fiction will find its realism fresh and moving.” —Kirkus Reviews

'One of the most arresting voices of her generation' OBSERVERFROM THE WINNER OF THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2022'Reading The Saint of Lost Things was one of those perfect reading experiences that come along very occasionally; it's moving, funny, tragic, triumphant, totally gripping, a pure gift of a novel' DONAL RYAN'Superb' FINANCIAL.

One of the few remaining men in the village of Santa Cecilia during the Second World War, Vito Leone falls in love with the daughter of the town's most powerful family despite their disapproval and seeks to prove himself when Germany seizes control.

Louisiana, 1965, and an unlikely, inevitable couple.Sammy Teague and Betsy Duplechain have grown up right next door to each other, but in different worlds, with expectations and circumstances that have always kept them separate. Now, as a powerful September hurricane bears down on the Louisiana coast, those worlds will come face to face.The choices they make will send them on an odyssey north and into the fall of 1965, as the brutal and envious sheriff Percy Parris pursues them. Along the way they meet an unusual and eclectic series of people who help them become more than what they were.As fall turns to winter, their lives will change forever in the wake of a storm named Betsy.The Saints of Lost Things is a story of love, hope, and perseverance, and envy and bitterness. And the remarkable power of kindness.

Tonight a king will be born, and all the stars in heaven are competing to see who can shine the brightest for him. But when the stars see the poor family huddling in the shabby stable, they begin to think that this baby couldn’t be a king after all! That is, all the stars except the smallest, loneliest star in the sky, Little Star. He recognizes the baby Jesus as the King of kings and understands His special message of love. Read on to discover the extraordinary way Little Star serves his King on that cold, dark night. Certain to become a Christmas classic, this delightful tale connects the star atop the Christmas tree to the true meaning of Christmas—the birth of Jesus.

Beginning with a brief explanation of the communion of saints, this book offers biographies of St. Anthony of Padua and St. Jude and a history of how devotion to these two saints became popular in the United States. The heart of the book presents real-life stories of prayers answered by both these "heavenly helpers."

In a 1953 Italian neighborhood in Delaware, Maddalena Grasso, her husband Antonio, and Guilio Fabbri live in the shadows of St. Anthony's Church, where their prayers are heard and fate and circumstances intervene to answer them in unforeseeable ways.

A magical mystery tour of the extraordinary historical characters that have defined the unique spiritual landscape of New Orleans. New Orleans has long been America’s most magical city, inhabited by a fascinating visible and invisible world, full of mysteries, known for its decadence and haunted by its spirits. If Salem, Massachusetts, is famous for its persecution of witches, New Orleans is celebrated for its embrace of the magical, mystical, and paranormal. New Orleans is acclaimed for its witches, ghosts, and vampires. Because of its unique history, New Orleans is the historical stronghold of traditional African religions and spirituality in the US. No other city worldwide is as associated with Vodou as New Orleans. In her new book, author and scholar Denise Alvarado takes us on a magical tour of New Orleans. There is a mysterious spiritual underbelly hiding in plain sight in New Orleans, and in this book Alvarado shows us where it is and who the characters are. She tells where they come from and how they persist and manifest today. Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints shines a light on notable spirits and folk saints such as Papa Legba, Annie Christmas, Black Hawk, African-American culture hero Jean St. Malo, St. Expedite, plague saint Roch, and, of course, the mother and father of New Orleans Voudou, Marie Laveau and Doctor John Montenée. Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints serves as a secret history of New Orleans, revealing details even locals may not know.

The future of the world’s ice is at a critical juncture marked by international debate about climate change and almost daily reports about glaciers and ice shelves breaking, oceans rising, and temperatures spiking across the globe. These changing landscapes and the public discourse surrounding them are changing fast. It is science wrought with mystery, and for Beth Peterson it became personal. A few months after Peterson moved to a tiny village on the edge of Europe’s largest glacier, things began to disappear. The glacier was melting at breakneck pace, and people she knew vanished: her professor went missing while summiting a volcano in Japan, and a friend wandered off a mountain trail in Norway. Finally, Peterson took a harrowing forty-foot fall while ice climbing. Peterson’s effort to make sense of these losses led to travels across Scandinavia, Italy, England and back to the United States. She visited a cryonics institute, an ice core lab, a wunderkammer, Wittgenstein’s cabin, and other museums and libraries. She spoke with historians, guides, and scientists in search of answers. Her search for a noted glacier museum in Norway led to news that the renowned building had set on fire in the middle of the night before and burned to the ground. Dispatches from the End of Ice is part science, part lyric essay, and part research reportage—all structured around a series of found artifacts (a map, a museum, an inventory, a book) in an attempt to understand the idea of disappearance. It is a brilliant synthesis of science, storytelling, and research in the spirit of essayists like Robert Macfarlane, John McPhee, and Joni Tevis. Peterson’s work veers into numerous terrains, orbiting the idea of vanishing and the taxonomies of loss both in an unstable world and in our individual lives.