Gods grace takes many forms and comes to us in many wayssome easily recognizable, some by means not always readily apparent or comprehensible. For Tracy Carmichael, despondent over being forced into early retirement by a corporate takeover, Divine Grace settled over her with the sudden intrusion into her life of a musically talented, smart aleck, fun-loving, irresistible twelve-year-old boy named Brogan. Abruptly, her existence became filled with complications and circumstances that, to her, were both vexing and exhausting, yet nonetheless always enjoyable. Then, as suddenly as he appeared in her life, Brogan disappeared. Having become inexplicably dependent upon his presence, Tracy fell into depression and subsequently sought the help of a psychiatrist. Through counseling she was encouraged to try something adventurousto get away; far away from those things that only served to remind her of what had been, for a woman of total dedication to her career, a tragic blow to her self-esteem. Without faith and morosely despondent, she was hardly prepared for the incredible circumstances that followed next. During a nature-trail photo shoot at a resort in Arizona, she became lost: broke a leg, met a priest, and began a most incredulous journey of renewed interest in life and people. Remarkably, Father Bertelli shared a similar connection with the boy, Brogan. At first, what she had assumed was simply coincidence was hardly Father Bertellis interpretation. Theirs became a remarkable friendship, leading to a completely newfound life for Tracy. From her relationship with the mysterious young Brogan, certain music would continue to haunt her, baffle the priest, and subsequently lead to a way of life she never imagined possible.

The German victory in France at the onset of the Second World War was sudden, brutal and brilliant; by contrast the British and French preparations were miserable, faulty, badly carried through and fraught with mistrust. In the midst of these Allied responses was the eminent liaison officer Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, sent by the new prime Minister Winston Churchill to be his representative to the French Prime Minister. Spears was very well suited to his role as he had seen much military service and he had served in a senior liaison capacity between the British and French armies during the First World War. Keenly observant, well connected, urbane and respected by many of the French politicians and generals, his two volume memoirs are justly famous.

The first of two prequel novels in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION It is the year 12,020 G.E. and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, forty billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who would see him fall—those whom he would destroy if only he could read the future. Hari Seldon has come to Trantor to deliver his paper on psychohistory, his remarkable theory of prediction. Little does the young Outworld mathematician know that he has already sealed his fate and the fate of humanity. For Hari possesses the prophetic power that makes him the most wanted man in the Empire . . . the man who holds the key to the future—an apocalyptic power to be known forever after as the Foundation.