Fresh Off the Press
Voices in Ramah
NovelEmma Fernández lost her daughter in a school shooting in which a man with an assault weapon killed eleven children and their teacher plus the security guard. She copes with her loss by committing herself to the mission of getting Congress to ban assault weapons. She testifies before a House committee to support a bill that would ban such weapons, she joins two national organizations with gun-control missions, and she participates in a major demonstration in Washington to end gun violence. But Congress does nothing, and in the meantime there are almost two mass shootings per day in America. Finally, she devises a monstrous plot to get Congress to do something.
A Residue of Hope
NovelMarika Bonetti is preparing dinner when she gets a phone call from the police informing her that the EMS has taken her daughter, Jessica, to the emergency room of the local hospital. Dropping everything, Marika drives to the hospital, where she learns that Jessica is in a coma from a drug overdose. As she prays for signs of recovery she wonders what she did wrong as a mother that has made her daughter repeatedly get into trouble. After all that has happened she still loves her daughter unconditionally, and she has a residue of hope for her, but her faith is challenged.
Blind in Granada
NovelJim Wyatt, a prominent state senator from Minnesota, is kidnapped on a visit to New York City by an Islamic human rights group who mistakenly believe he is a CIA agent. They are followers of a Muslim cleric who was convicted and imprisoned for inciting violence, and they give Jim a deadline to persuade the government to release the cleric, or else they will kill him. Convinced that the cleric is innocent, Jim tries to get him released, and while in confinement he examines his life and develops a relationship with the leader of his captors, a young woman named Zoraya.