Posts with the custom taxonomy term Catholic

Wake of Malice by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

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1908 – Ireland

When Father Michael Walsh, a Jesuit priest on the western coast of Ireland, faces a charge of embezzlement, a London newspaper sends expatriate Irish reporter Hugh Buckley home to deliver a story—or else. Buckley and his photographer colleague Frederick Jones arrive in the village of Doolin to find themselves embroiled in a tangled mess of parish politics, occult practices, and bloody murder. By night, as wicked things rise from the earth, Buckley faces his own long-repressed struggles with his country, his abandoned faith, and his dead family. By day, he finds help, both professional and personal, from English Dominican friar Father Thomas Edmund Gilroy, OP, who has come to Doolin to support his friend Father Michael and to aid in the spiritual battle against the occult.

Can Hugh and Freddie save their employment—and their skins—as the grotesque violence intensifies? Or will they and the rest of the village of Doolin be consumed by dark powers lurking within the mysterious landscape of Ireland?

Muldoon’s Misfortunes by E. V. Sparrow

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1866 – Minnesota

A cursed widower forsakes his faith to ensure his hope.

On a verdant island beset by poverty and death, Mick Muldoon dares to escape his misfortunes. Is working a farm and raising a family such an impossible thing to ask? Wasn’t God supposed to answer prayers—not turn a deaf ear?

After surviving the treacherous voyage to America, Mick discovers the rumors of ample opportunity aren’t exactly true. His defective body hampers employment and keeps him dependent upon his peculiar sister. However, an unexpected invitation to move to the heartland guarantees his dreams.

Mick’s own dreadful choices hamper his hopes when he accepts work as a widow’s farmhand. Unbeknownst to him, there’s deception afoot. Mick’s inattention to love causes catastrophe as single fatherhood cruelly shatters his family. Will God miraculously hear his prayers this time?

The Oystercatcher of Southwark by Erica Colahan

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1897/Present – Pennsylvania

On the shores of the Delaware River, Italian Catholic Mary Paragano dreams of a happily ever after. However, when she defies her family and runs away to marry Jakob, a Jewish boy, her fairy tale takes an unexpected turn. Disowned by her father, abandoned by Jakob, and pursued by a jealous gangster, Mary’s life spirals into tragedy, culminating in accusations of attempting to harm her own children and a harrowing end in an asylum.

Philadelphia, present day—Bella, Mary’s great-great-granddaughter, grapples with the aftermath of her recent divorce. Amidst her pain, a mysterious stranger named Sophie enters her life, claiming to be related to Jakob, the man who left Mary to her devastating fate over a century ago. Together, Bella and Sophie unravel the layers of Mary’s haunting past, question the stories they’ve been told, and uncover the impact of these historical secrets on their modern-day lives.

 

Muldoon’s Minnesota Darling by E. V. Sparrow

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1867 – Minnesota

A heartsore widower with hidden fears and little faith…
The naïve daughter of a farmer guarding a repulsive secret…
A township unaware of the hidden menace amongst them…

Heartbroken from losing his family and his farm, Mick Muldoon is hopeful as he emigrates to America with his siblings. All he finds is despair and no work. Were America’s rumored promises of plenty all lies? Would God ever hear and answer his prayers?

Seventeen-year-old Shauna McGann is determined to marry Mick Muldoon despite her mother’s objections. His past and his limp might repulse others, but not her. What burdens Shauna is her terrible secret—a secret she promised her friends she would keep. Now Shauna needs help and protection. Could she trust Mick, or will she lose everything by telling him?

Will Mick finally be free of loss and find success in America? Will Shauna overcome her fears and finally feel safe?

Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

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1906 – At Sea

For Athene Howard, the only child of renowned cultural anthropologist Charles Howard, life is an unexciting, disillusioned academic project. When she encounters a clairvoyant Dominican postulant, a stern nun, and a recusant English nobleman embarked on a quest for a feral Franciscan werewolf, the strange new world of enchantment and horror intoxicates and delights her—even as it brings to light her father’s complex past and his long-dormant relationship with the Church of Rome.

Can Athene and her newfound compatriots battle against the ruthless forces of darkness that howl for the overthrow of civilization and the devouring of so many wounded souls? In this sister novel to A Bloody Habit, the incomparable Father Thomas Edmund Gilroy, O.P. returns to face occult demons, gypsy curses, possessed maidens, and tormented werewolves, accompanying a charming neo-pagan heroine in her earnest search for adventure and meaning.

A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

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1900 – England

It is 1900, the dawn of a new century. Even as the old Queen’s health fails, Victorian Britain stands monumental and strong upon a mountain of technological, scientific, and intellectual progress. For John Kemp, a straight-forward, unimaginative London lawyer, life seems reassuringly predictable yet forward-leaning, that is, until a foray into the recently published sensationalist novel Dracula, united with a chance meeting with an eccentric Dominican friar, catapults him into a bizarre, violent, and unsettling series of events.

As London is transfixed with terror at a bloody trail of murder and destruction, Kemp finds himself in its midst, besieged on all sides―in his friendships, as those close to him fall prey to vicious assault by an unknown assassin; in his deep attraction to an unconventional American heiress; and in his own professional respectability, for who can trust a lawyer who sees things which, by all sane reason, cannot exist? Can his mundane, sensible life―and his skeptical mind―withstand vampires? Can this everyday Englishman survive his encounter with perhaps an even more sinister threat―the white-robed Papists who claim to be vampire slayers?

At Home in Persimmon Hollow by Gerri Bauer

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athomeinpersimmonhollowAt Home in Persimmon Hollow

1886 – Florida

At Home in Persimmon Hollow is the first book in a series chronicling the world of Agnes Foster and the people of frontier-era Florida. In 1886, Agnes is forced to leave the Catholic orphanage in New York where she grew up to start a new life as a teacher in Persimmon Hollow, a small Florida town she has seen only in a newspaper ad. With nothing but her strong Catholic faith to sustain her, she leaves behind the only home she’s ever known and the little girl she hopes to adopt, and encounters a wild and beautiful new landscape, and a town full of hardworking, faith-filled people. She also meets the difficult, yet handsome and hard-to-ignore Seth Taylor, a man whose heart has been hardened to God after a terrible loss. Just as Agnes starts to feel Persimmon Hollow could be a good home for her and her daughter, and that Seth could be her love, tragedy strikes in the form of a trio of evil men from both their pasts, intent on doing them more harm. Will their fragile new love survive? Will Seth return to his faith? Can Agnes finally escape her dark past and find a bright future? 

The Sound of Diamonds by Rachelle Rea

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 1566 – The Netherlands

Her only chance of getting home is trusting the man she hates.

With the protestant Elizabeth on the throne of England and her family in shambles, Catholic maiden Gwyneth seeks refuge in the Low Countries of Holland, hoping to soothe her aching soul. But when the Iconoclastic Fury descends and bloodshed overtakes her haven, she has no choice but to trust the rogue who arrives, promising to see her safely home to her uncle’s castle. She doesn’t dare to trust him…and yet doesn’t dare to refuse her one chance to preserve her own life and those of the nuns she rescues from the burning convent.

Dirk Godfrey is determined to restore his honor at whatever cost. Running from a tortured past, Dirk knows he has only one chance at redemption, and it lies with the lovely Gwyneth, who hates him for the crimes she thinks he committed. He must see her to safety, prove to the world that he is innocent, prove that her poor eyesight is not the only thing that has blinded her—but what is he to do when those goals clash?

The home Gwyneth knew is not what she once thought. When a dark secret and a twisted plot for power collide in a castle masquerading as a haven, the saint and the sinner must either dare to hold to hope…or be overcome.

The Iron Lance by Stephen R. Lawhead

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1095 – Scotland

While his father and brothers follow Pope Urban II’s call to win Jerusalem from the infidels, Murdo Ranulfson stays behind to guard his family’s interests. But when his home is confiscated by greedy usurpers, Murdo is forced to follow the Crusades himself. Hoping to find his father and redeem his family’s land, Murdo sets off on a journey that leads him to the Mediterranean—the heart of civilization now threatened by barbarian hordes—and on to the fabled city of Constantinople and beyond, to the Holy Land. Amidst brutality and ambition, Murdo discovers what he seeks—and obtains a relic that will guide him and his descendants for centuries.

Rich in heroism, treachery, and adventure, The Iron Lance begins an epic trilogy of Scottish noble family fighting for its existence and its faith during the age of the Crusades—and of a secret society whose ceremonies will shape history for a millennium.

Glimpses of Truth by Jack Cavanaugh

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1380s – England/Italy

An extraordinary intellect, the love of a beautiful woman, and a remarkable mission — life holds great promise for Thomas Torr. Chosen by the illustrious John Wycliffe to assist in translating the Latin Vulgate into English, the young peasant senses God calling him to an incredible destiny.

And danger. By order of the Roman Church, possession of an English Bible is punishable by death. Yet now, the Vatican itself seems willing to grant Thomas an audience.

His hopes high for defending Wycliffe’s translation, Thomas journeys from his home in rural England to the grandeur of Rome — and thus begins an incredible adventure, leading from the catacombs of Rome to the hinterlands of Britain. So, too, commences a baptism by fire that threatens to consume all he holds dear — his life, his reputation, and his future with the woman he loves.