A ravishing first novel, set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all. New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs. Odile Church and her beautiful sister, Belle, were raised amid the applause and magical pageantry of The Church of Marvels, their mother’s spectacular Coney Island sideshow. But the Church has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in its ashes. Now Belle, the family’s star, has vanished into the bowels of Manhattan, leaving Odile alone and desperate to find her. A young woman named Alphie awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum—sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile, overbearing mother. On the ward she meets another young woman of ethereal beauty who does not speak, a girl with an extraordinary talent that might save them both. As these strangers’ lives become increasingly connected, their stories and secrets unfold. Moving from the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, a spectacular human circus to a brutal, terrifying asylum, Church of Marvels takes readers back to turn-of-the-century New York—a city of hardship and dreams, love and loneliness, hope and danger. In magnetic, luminous prose, Leslie Parry offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past in a narrative of astonishing beauty, full of wondrous enchantments, a marvelous debut that will leave readers breathless.

A ravishing first novel set in the vibrant, tumultuous world of turn-of-the-century New York, about four outsiders whose lives become entwined over the course of one fateful night. New York, 1899. It's late on a warm city night when Sylvan, a night soiler who cleans out the privies behind the tenement houses, pulls a terrible secret out from the filthy hollows: an abandoned newborn baby. An orphan himself, Sylvan can’t bring himself to leave the baby in the slop. He tucks her into his chest, resolving to find out where she belongs. Odile is the girl-on-the-wheel, target for the famed knife thrower, in a show that has long since lost its magic. Odile and her sister Belle were raised in the curtained halls of their mother's spectacular Coney Island sideshow, The Church of Marvels, but the sideshow has burnt to the ground, their mother lies dead in the ashes, and Belle has run away to Manhattan. Alphie wakes up groggy and confused in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum. The last thing she remembers is a dark stain on the floor, her mother-in-law screaming. She had once walked the streets as an escort and a penny-Rembrandt, cleaning up men after their drunken brawls. Now she is married, a lady in a reputable home. She is sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile mother, and will do anything to prove her own innocence. But then a young, mute woman is committed alongside her, and when she coughs up a pair of scissors from the depths of her agile throat, a plan is hatched to save them both. On a single night, these strangers’ lives will become irrevocably entwined as secrets come to light and outsiders struggle for acceptance. From the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, from a spectacular sideshow to a desolate asylum, Leslie Parry makes turn-of-the-century New York feel alive, vivid and magical in this luminous debut. In prose as magnetic and lucid as it is detailed, she offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past marked by astonishing feats of narrative that will leave you breathless.

This translation makes this fascinating text accessible for the first time to an English-speaking audience. A substantial introduction to Agnellus and his composition of the text is included along with a full bibliography

America’s got faith! You’ll find it in every state — in grand cathedrals and tiny chapels, in miracle shrines and underwater statues, and even in blessed dirt. Finding these sacred places hasn’t been easy, until now! Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles: A Traveler's Guide to Catholic America takes you to more than 500 of the country’s most intriguing holy sites, each with a riveting story to tell. Stories about: architecture (the interior of Guardian Angels Cathedral in Las Vegas resembles angel wings) religious history (at Maryland’s Old Bohemia, Jesuit priests lived and worked incognito during anti-Catholic persecution) artifacts (the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Philadelphia holds an original cast by Saint Catherine Labouré) answered prayer (from the Grasshopper Chapel in Minnesota to the Coral Miracle Church in Hawaii) healing places, beautiful places, hidden places, places where saints walked, and much more. Organized by state and region, Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles can help you easily plan your vacation or pilgrimage, and find sites close to you that you’ve never heard of. Chapters also include Catholic trivia and color photos. Websites, phone numbers, addresses, and other pertinent information are included. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Marion Amberg is an award-winning book author and freelance journalist. Her articles — mainly religion travel pieces and human-interest features — have appeared in more than 100 markets. She is known for her “nose for the unique and unusual” and for her engaging writing style.

Collects Marvels: Eye of the Camera #1-6. News photographer Phil Sheldon's back, with the man-on-the-street's perspective on the big events of the Marvel Universe, from the Avengers, the all-new X-Men and the Secret Wars to Dracula and the Werewolf By Night. But this time, Phil's world is going to be rocked not just by superheroes and super-villains -- but by something far more personal, as well.

In his Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and on into Asia, and the many wonderful and monstrous peoples and practices in the East. A captivating blend of fact and fantasy, Mandeville's Book is newly translated in an edition that brings us closer to Mandeville's worldview.

Three deaths in three years. His mother. His best friend. And now, his two-year-old daughter. In this moving story a Christian author goes to a retreat center to grieve and face the hard questions about God that he is asking in the wake of these losses. This expanded edition of the beloved book is a masterful, dream-like tale that speaks to the eternal in the midst of our most painful earthly losses.