Books

Naomi Alderman's book has surely one of the most arresting names to appear in bookshops in the last year. However, the full title indicates why it is not just eye-catching but also has important things to teach us a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century: Don't Burn Anyone At The Stake Today (And Other Lessons From History About Living Through An Information Crisis). Her basic thesis ... Read More

Archbishop John Wilson begins this beautiful devotional book wondering whether people have picked it up because they love the holy Rosary or because they love St Oscar Romero or because, like Archbishop Wilson, they love both. I picked it up because I love St Oscar Romero. He played a major role in my decision to join the Roman Catholic Church in 1982, when I was 22. I had learnt about Oscar Romer... Read More

What forms a Pope? Who is Robert Francis Prevost, the until-recently relatively unknown Augustinian who now leads nearly 1.5 billion Catholics as Pope Leo XIV? A new concise biography: Leo XIV - An Augustinian Life in Context, by Brian Heffernan, an expert on Augustinian history, looks at the successive contexts in which Prevost lived and worked before his election as pope: Chicago, Peru, Rome, an... Read More

Too often in Britain might we encounter conversations where Abbots and Abbesses are assumed to be artefacts of the past - or Abbeys a form of institution consigned to noble ruin , in countryside outposts only cared for by English Heritage. As we move towards the New Year though a fresh biography of the founding Abbot of Worth Abbey in Sussex knocks such assumptions for six and points the way to... Read More

You know when a book finds you? That is exactly what happened to me this Advent when Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ beautiful spiritual Advent accompaniment book popped up on my Facebook feed, via her book launch at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge where she is a Senior Fellow and Director of Religious Life Institute. Our beloved mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer in October and I thought... Read More

Loving Yourself by Richard Frost, published by SLG Press. St Paul in Corinthians 13:13, teaches us that faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is love. While most people know that looking after ourselves is an important concept how many people really love themselves as they should? Many of us do our best to love others which is not always an easy task and while loving ourselves migh... Read More

My grandson recently had a shock when a sparrowhawk flew down into the garden and just failed to grab his budgerigar who was enjoying the afternoon sun. This incident underlined for me how comprehensive and yet how individual is God's love for all his creatures. Not even a pet budgie falls to the ground, or escapes from certain death, without His knowledge. Then along comes Anthony deStefano's ta... Read More

A much-loved Catholic priest has marked his retirement after 52 years of service to the Diocese of Middlesbrough by publishing his first book. Father Tom O'Neill has served parishes in Hull and Middlesbrough, where he was most recently parish priest of the Holy Name of Mary in Linthorpe for 15 years. Parishioners packed the parish hall for a special celebration evening after Father Tom's retiremen... Read More

Jonathon Porrit's latest book, Love, Anger & Betrayal (Anthony Eyre, Mount House Press, 2025) is a game of two halves. On the one hand it is the author's own testimony to the depth of the climate crisis which is already upon us, outlining the multiplicity of issues now coming to a head - taking us into the land of tipping-points, feedback loops and human chicanery (including the'political capt... Read More

A Million Reasons to Be Angry - Only One to Love by Deacon Sean Loone is a book about mental health, childhood trauma, and faith. Rev Loone is a Catholic Deacon working at Our Lady of the Wayside parish in the Archdiocese of Birmingham where he is also a Catholic Life governor. He has spent much of his career teaching in schools and colleges, and lecturing part-time at St Mary's Oscott, the semina... Read More

A massive best-seller in French for the past four years - God, The Science, The Evidence has just been published this week in English by Palomar - and looks set to attract a much larger audience. In this book, authors Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies distil insights from 62 Nobel Prize winners and more than 100 leading scientists from a wide range of disciplines - from cosmology to phys... Read More

The election of Pope Leo XIV signals a defining moment for the Catholic Church. As he steps onto the world stage, the first pontiff ever to hail from the United States inherits the throne of St Peter, the legacy of Pope Francis, and the challenges of a rapidly changing Church. In Pope Leo XIV, veteran Vatican National Catholic Reporter correspondent Christopher White delivers an authoritative acco... Read More

Have you ever wanted to deepen your prayer life and explore the treasures of Catholic spirituality? We are launching an online Book Club to share fellowship with others on the same journey by reading and discussing one of the lesser-known gems of the Church: 'How to Converse with God' by St Alphonsus Liguori. This short but powerful book offers timeless wisdom on prayer, full of practical tips to ... Read More

A new exploration of women's statues in London has been published this week. Juliet Rix is a writer and broadcaster who has written two children's books and two travel books. The book cover displays Rix's favourite statue of Bronze Woman, 2008, a celebration of Caribbean heritage in Stockwell Memorial Gardens, which she sees as a joyful representation of Universal Motherhood. On the reverse is the... Read More