She is Elaine of Ascolat, the Lady of Shalott. At sixteen, Elaine is beautiful and brave, with a temperament as fiery as her long red hair. She lives on Arthur's army base with her father and brothers, the sole girl in a militaristic world of men. As she mends torn battle garments and heals wounds, Elaine often slips into daydreams, wishing the handsome Lancelot would see her as more than a tomboy. Then a new girl arrives, and Elaine is thrilled-- until Gwynivere proves to be cold and cruel. But when the two of them are thrown into a situation of gravest danger, they must band together in order to survive. Can Elaine find the strength to fight for the kingdom she has always believed in? This highly acclaimed novel is a beautiful contribution to the Camelot canon.

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end. Praise for The Sparrow “A startling, engrossing, and moral work of fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review “Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them.”—Entertainment Weekly “Powerful . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Provocative, challenging . . . recalls both Arthur C. Clarke and H. G. Wells, with a dash of Ray Bradbury for good measure.”—The Dallas Morning News “[Mary Doria] Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense.”—USA Today

The story of a sensitive, gifted African American girl who tells us with mordant humor what it feels like to spend every day wishing so hard that you could fly away from it all Sparrow has always had a difficult time making friends. She would always rather stay home on the weekends with her mother, an affluent IT executive at a Manhattan bank, reading, or watching the birds, than play with other kids. And that's made school a lonely experience for her. It's made LIFE a lonely experience.But when the one teacher who really understood her -- Mrs. Wexler, the school librarian, a woman who let her eat her lunch in the library office rather than hide in a bathroom stall, a woman who shared her passion for novels and knew just the ones she'd love -- is killed in a freak car accident, Sparrow's world unravels and she's found on the roof of her school in an apparent suicide attempt.With the help of an insightful therapist, Sparrow finally reveals the truth of her inner life. And it's here that she discovers an outlet in rock & roll music...

Still on a mission to find the legendary Sword of Cortâes, the crew of the Barnacle becomes entranced by an ethereal song that pulls them away from their mission, leaving Captain Jack Sparrow to find the source behind the dark spell.

Teenage stowaway Jack Sparrow and his band of hoodlums are on a mission to find the legendary Sword of Cortâes which will grant them unimaginable power, but first they have to survive the power of the sea, vicious pirates, and ancient curses.

I hope these words are still sparrow-song, more ragged at the edges, perhaps, but filled with gratitude. This new Song of the Sparrow tries to sing on like an aging bird whose voice is less insistent, less knowing, a bit intermittent, but still reaching for a full-throated song. —From the Introduction Thirty years after his groundbreaking and popular Song of the Sparrow, Murray Bodo revisits this prayer journal. With new insights and a seasoned perspective, he highlights the spiritual path for those new to it and those who, like him, are always rediscovering it. His musings, meditations and messages are a font of inspiration for those seeking new ways to pray.