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In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with 18-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Hilary Brand looks at the power of the small choices we make on a daily basis and the role of faith in enabling or inhibiting choice. Many of us feel that our lives are very small. It is for others to make the big statements, the noble sacrifices, the grand gestures of faith. But within our humdrum lives lie a million small choices - any one of which could have huge consequences for ourselves, for those around us, and for the world. In this lively and thought-provoking course, Hilary Brand looks at the power of the small choices we make on a daily basis.

An utterly unsentimental journey toward the end of life, Mala is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope, and survive in the moment. Grounded in Lopez’s distinctive emotional language and sharp humor, this powerful one-woman show dances between doctors and urgent 911 calls, a mother’s growing frailty, and a daughter’s quest for grace - all set during an epic Boston winter. Rather than depict a “right way”, the play opens the door for our universal struggle to support those we love in dying, especially when all we’ve ever focused on is surviving.

If the Bible isn’t a science book or an instruction manual, then what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she began a quest to better understand what the Bible is and how it is meant to be read. What she discovered changed her—and it will change you too.

Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters - young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe - in this intensely dramatic novel.

Today, women are striving for perfection more than ever - and feeling like failures for not meeting unattainable goals. Health and wellness expert Petra Kolber knows this intimately; as a dancer and fitness professional, she's experienced the ultimately dissatisfying quest for perfection. Her Perfection Detox program helps women to overcome the unhealthy, unproductive demands we place on ourselves - and others.

“Believe me” may be the most commonly used phrase in Donald Trump’s lexicon. Whether about building a wall or protecting the Christian heritage, the refrain is constant. And to the surprise of many, about 80 percent of white evangelicals have believed Trump. Historian John Fea is not surprised - and in Believe Me he explains how we have arrived at this unprecedented moment in American politics. In this audiobook, Fea challenges his fellow believers to replace fear with hope, the pursuit of power with humility, and nostalgia with history.

In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office.

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does - humans are a musical species.