This book also explores Sophie Barat's spiritual journey, from her dark Jansenistic roots to her belief in a loving, warm and tender God, as expressed in devotion to the Sacred Heart."--BOOK JACKET.

Meet Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, a courageous woman who founded the Society of the Sacred Heart. From a young child born in Joigny, France, to becoming a nun in Paris, she devoted her life to God, educating young girls and helping the poor. This inspirational children's story is beautifully illustrated.Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat was born in Joigny, France. She came from a simple family that taught her to work hard and be a good person. Her brother, Louis, helped shape who she became and helped her realize that God had a great mission for her. Together with other religious, Sophie founded a congregation consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart, had as its objective the formation of young girls so that they might one day be good mothers to their families and be good Christians in order to better Society. This path was not an easy one but with tenacity and love, her labours paid off and her objectives were met.

Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in the wake of the French Revolution to provide educational opportunities for girls. The manner of life was to be simple without the prescribed austerities of the older orders, which would be incompatible with the work of education.

In the midst of a raging fire on a winter night in 1779, a Burgundian woman went into early labor and delivered a child who never should have survived. Instead, the tiny infant-Madeleine Sophie Barat-went on to thrive in a France wracked and torn by revolution, terror, Napoleonic domination, and all that followed in their wake. Possessed of a vision of a world dedicated to generosity and love, she founded a religious order and an international network of schools that still flourish today: the schools of the Sacred Heart. In 1925 she was declared a saint. Passionate, brilliant, politically savvy, and aware of the powerful potential of women to reshape society, Sophie is a role model for our own times. This is a book for lovers of European history, gender politics, and Roman Catholic Church history and spirituality. The nineteenth century saw the birth of modern Europe as absolute monarchies and small principalities gave way to nation states, and as the power of the Catholic Church was seriously tested. Sophie Barat was threatened, directly or indirectly, by figures as disparate as Napoleon Bonaparte, the Archbishop of Paris, the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, and key members of the Vatican hierarchy. All of these colorful figures find a place in the novel, which sweeps the reader from the politically charged years just before the French Revolution up to the year 1852. Journalist and writer Cokie Roberts, a Sacred Heart alumna, writes, "Though this is a work of fiction, there's nothing imaginary about the attempts to sabotage the young woman and her mission that Solari so perfectly portrays." Professor Robert Pogue Harrison of Stanford University adds that the book is "an exquisite tapestry that brings alive . . . Barat's inner spirituality, her formidable intellect, her institutional activism, and the geopolitics of her historical age." Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, a past Superior of the U.S. Province, assures readers that "those who know Sophie's life will delight in fresh insight; those encountering her for the first time will be amazed that such a thoroughly contemporary woman began her life's work two hundred years ago and continues to influence hundreds of thousands today." For more information on the book, Sophie herself, and the historical and intellectual world in which she lived, visit sophiesfire.com.

A gold digger woos a widower in a “modern day novel of manners . . . [with] memorable characters . . . as unpredictable and multifaceted as they are stylish” (Publishers Weekly). Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella, and The Gatecrasher is just as delicious as her internationally bestselling Shopaholic series. Everything’s coming up roses for Fleur Daxeny, as she goes through more rich men than she does designer hats. Beautiful and utterly irresistible, her success at crashing funerals to find wealthy men is remarkable. Fleur wastes no time in seducing her latest conquest, the handsome and rich widower Richard Favour. His children are caught up in a whirlwind as their father’s new girlfriend descends on the family estate. Fleur is not one to wear her heart on her Chanel sleeves, but she soon finds herself embracing Richard and his family. But just as Fleur contemplates jumping off the gold-digger train for good, a long-buried secret from her past threatens to destroy her new family. “Witty and deeply biting. . . . Wickham’s characters move with the studied grace of Jane Austen’s upper class. . . . Readers will be both touched and entertained.” —Library Journal “An observant and engaging storyteller.” —Kirkus Reviews “An enjoyable read.” —Booklist

Madeleine Wickham, who writes the internationally bestselling Shopaholic series as Sophie Kinsella, has penned an irresistibly dishy and entertaining novel about three savvy young women and the secrets they share over monthly drinks. Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover--a married man Maggie: capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with--motherhood Candice: honest, decent, or so she believes--until a ghost from her past turns up At the first of every month, when the office has reached its pinnacle of hysteria, Maggie, Roxanne, and Candice meet at London's swankiest bar for an evening of cocktails and gossip. Here, they chat about what's new at The Londoner, the glossy fashion magazine where they all work, and everything else that's going on in their lives. Or almost everything. Beneath the girl talk and the laughter, each of the three has a secret. And when a chance encounter at the cocktail bar sets in motion an extraordinary chain of events, each one will find their biggest secret revealed. In Cocktails for Three, Madeleine Wickham combines her trademark humor with remarkable insight to create an edgy, romantic tale of secrets, strangers, and a splash of scandal.

45 saints, beati, and other holy people of the past 200 years, and their pictures; most are actual photographs. Includes the Cure of Ars, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Therese the Little Flower, St. Pius X, Vens. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, Dom Columba Marmion, St. Elizabeth Seton, Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Sr. Josefa Menendez, St. Joseph Cafasso, Therese Neumann, and many more. Shows there are people living today who will one day be canonized Saints.

"The Encyclopedia of Saints offers thorough and fascinating accounts of familiar and little-known holy men and women of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Drawing from documented accounts and supplemented with additional extensive research

From the author of the sensational bestselling Sophie Kinsella novels and the New York Times bestsellers The Wedding Girl and Sleeping Arrangements, comes a wicked comedy of adultery, angst, and modern marriage The asking price for this house includes a stunning renovation of hearts and dreams....Liz and Jonathan Chambers were stuck with two mortgages, mounting debts, and a miserable adolescent daughter. Then realtor Marcus Witherstone came into their lives—and it seemed he would solve all their problems. He knew the perfect tenants from London who would rent their old house: a glamorous PR girl, Ginny, and her almost-famous husband, Piers. But soon Liz is lost in blissful dreams of Marcus, Jonathan is left to run their business, and neither of them has time to notice that their teenage daughter is developing an unhealthy passion for the tenants, Piers and Ginny. Everyone is tangled up with everyone else, and in the most awkward possible way. As events close in, they all begin to realize that some deceptions are just a bit too close to home. A Desirable Residence is sure to continue the phenomenal success of the Sophie Kinsella/Madeleine Wickham franchise.