Produced in collaboration with WWF Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office (MWIOPO), this beautiful book provides a fascinating introduction to one of the world's great biological treasures, the unique but highly threatened Spiny Forest. Lavishly illustrated with stunning images and including an authoritative, fully referenced text, the book begins by introducing the diverse endemic flora and fauna of the region before exploring how people have shaped today's landscapes and biodiversity. Continuing with a discussion of the varied conservation actions now being implemented to save this fragile region and an overview of its protected areas, this accessible book will appeal to wildlife lovers and conservationists the world over, and leave readers rushing to pack their suitcases.

From the thousands of personal letters by St. Francis de Sales comes this short, practical guide that will develop in you the soul-nourishing habits that lead to sanctity. St. Francis de Sales is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual advisors in the history of the Church, and we have drawn from his letters the wisest advice for those prepared to take the next step on their spiritual journey. As he did for saints and sinners in his own time, St. Francis de Sales will strengthen your resolve, help you gain small victories over unruly passions, and restore in you a trusting confidence in Jesus Christ. Soon you'll find yourself delivered from the chains of self-love as your soul opens to divine goodness and your heart shaped into a fitting place for Christ to dwell and reign eternally. If you find it difficult to live amid the clamor of the world with your eyes fixed on Christ alone, let St. Francis de Sales teach you how to live as a true rose among thorns

Gives the contrast of the cruelty and persecution of leadership in China and aims to display love, compassion and endurance among believers

A Thorn among Roses is a collection of poems that you will relate to. These poems signify the emotional turmoil every individual goes through during various phases of their lives. Here’s a book that will bring a smile to your face through self-realization and a “been there done that” feeling. There’s The Enchantment between Dawn and Dusk to start off with. There’s the lover’s eye in The Eyes that Follow, the hope of a new-born in The Tiny Cling, the whacky Sore Sonatas and the Anti-Social Me. So fasten your seat belts and get ready to experience this emotional rollercoaster ride towards oblivion.

A new way for Christians to think about sexuality Author Miguel De La Torre, a well-respected ethicist and professorknown for his innovative readings of Christian doctrine, rejectsboth the liberal and conservative prejudices about sex. He insteaddevelops an ethic that is liberative yet grounded soundly in theBible; a sexuality that celebrates God’s gift of great sex byfostering intimacy, vulnerability and openness between lovingpartners. In A Lily Among the Thorns, De La Torre examines theBible, current events, history and our culture-at-large to show howand why racism, sexism, and classism have distortedChristianity’s central teachings about sexuality. The authorshows how the church’s traditionally negative attitudestoward sex in general—and toward women, people of color, andgays in particular—have made it difficult, if not impossible,to create a biblically based and just sexual ethic. But when theBible is read from the viewpoint of those who have beenmarginalized in our society, preconceived notions aboutChristianity and sex get turned on their heads. Taking onhot-button topics such as pornography, homosexuality, prostitution,and celibacy, the author examines how “reading from themargins” provides a liberating approach to dealing withissues of sexuality.

Rose, a very attractive 20 year-old is the oldest child in her family. Circumstances force her to drop out of college to help her struggling family survive. But, moving from the upper class suburbs of Cherry Hill, New Jersey to West Philadelphia's West Park Housing Project is a culture shock. Her move introduces her to a world where crack addicts, rape, drugs and crime are everyday facts of life. Working at the post-office by day and at Philly's number one strip club at night is hard for Rose. During her night job, she meets a street hustler named Eric. The two share personal things and reveal truths about each other they have never told anyone. As their relationship grows, Rose and Eric find one of life's most import things-true love.

London 1815, just before Waterloo... After her noble father disowned her, Lady Serena Ravenshaw clawed her way from streetwalker to courtesan to prosperous innkeeper. Now she's feared and respected from one end of London to the other, by the lowest dregs of the city's underworld and the upper echelons of the beau monde, and she'll do anything to keep it that way. When mild-mannered chemist Solomon Hathaway turns up in her office, asking for her help, she immediately recognizes him from one fateful night years before. She's been watching and waiting for him for years-so she can turn the tables and put him in her debt, of course, and not because he looked like an angel and was kind to her when she needed it most. She's determined not to wonder what put that fresh grief in his eyes. But after a betrayal even Serena didn't expect, she must put aside her pride and work with Solomon to stop a ring of French spies and save her beloved inn, her freedom-and England itself.

A harrowing trio of murder, romance, and power propel the action forward in this story about little Jenny Waring. In a moment of dire crisis, she did something exceptional, and the authorities want to know how and why she killed three armed men like a seasoned agent. It's Kier McAllister's job to break Jenny Waring—he's asking a lot of questions, and he isn't asking nicely. However much McAllister thinks he's in control, the balance of power is shifting. Jenny's accusing eyes are starting to hold the whole world for him, and that isn't good—not when the people he works for aren't about to leave her alone. Jenny Waring started out as McAllister's job, how can she become his redemption?

A New York Times bestseller! “A bewitching gem...I absolutely loved every moment of this story.” —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series “If you loved the Hogwarts Library…you’ll be right at home at Summershall.” —Katherine Arden, New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale From the New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens comes an “enthralling adventure” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about an apprentice at a magical library who must battle a powerful sorcerer to save her kingdom. All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them. As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

A comprehensive, illustrated biography of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman of the 17th century known as the "Lily of the Mohawks."