Dr. Lisa Theus

Historical Fiction Editor

Lisa Theus thinks one of the best ways to get to know somebody is their favorite books, and she credits Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi with helping her fall in love with her now husband. Her favorite works include (listed chronologically!): The Epic of Gilgamesh, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Mary, the poetry of John Donne, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, and Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth.

She has spent most of her life training herself how to think like an ancient Roman (she earned a PhD in Classics at Rutgers University and taught college courses for several years). Eventually, she left academia for something more stable–working first as a church secretary for her local Catholic parish and now as an assistant for a financial advisor. She can’t keep her head out of history or rich worlds, however, and she loves reading about noble heroes and the difficult pursuit of virtue–however that may manifest. Bonus points for an engaging cast of characters and strong worldbuilding.
When she isn’t working for her paycheck, she’s pursuing the life of a freelance writer and editor; building her own worlds; volunteering in her community; or playing video games with her husband.

Corinna Turner

Fantasy Editor

Carnegie Medal Award nominated author Corinna Turner has been writing since she was fourteen and likes strong protagonists with plenty of integrity. She has an MA in English from Oxford University, but has foolishly gone on to work with both children and animals! Juggling work with the disabled and being a midwife to sheep, she spends as much time as she can in a little hut at the bottom of the garden, writing.

She is a Catholic Christian with roots in the Methodist and Anglican churches. A keen cinema-goer, she lives in the UK. She used to have a Giant African Land Snail, Peter, with a six inch long shell and an even larger foot, but now makes do with a cactus and a campervan! 

When We Were Eve: Uncovering the Woman God Created You to be By Colleen C. Mitchell

Remember Eve before the fall, remember the good inside you. A book for those who have forgotten, or are tempted to forget.

Three Last Things or The Hounding of Carl Jarrold, Soulless Assassin by Corinna Turner

The last day of a convicted murderer’s life: Can he save his soul in time?

The Fisherman’s Bride by Catherine Magia

The wife of Peter takes up her pen to tell her side of the story, and forces us to examine our ideas of perfection and holiness.

Someday by Corinna Turner

Ordinary schoolgirls face a terrible fate: abuse, forced marriages, and even death at the hands of Islamic extremists.

Where to begin with J. R. R. Tolkien?

Beyond the adventure, the way to read The Lord of the Rings is not as an allegory but as a meditation on the human Story we are each caught up in, and in which we each have our part to play, our temptations to resist, and our task to accomplish.

The City Mother By Maya Sinha

She didn’t believe in good and evil, until she became a mother…

The Glaston Secret by Donal Anthony Foley

Can three modern teens and a little black dog rescue a group of fleeing refugees in Nazi-occupied France?

A Life Such As Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer

A chance encounter with an amnesiac soldier leads Brigid to discover the realities of the Civil War.

September Books to Pray With: For the Cry of the Earth

Let us pray that each of us listen with our hearts to the cry of the Earth and of the victims of
environmental disasters and the climate crisis, making a personal commitment to care for the world
we inhabit.

Live and Let Bite Review by Declan Finn

The battle with the demons of San Francisco left Marco broken and now Amanda isn’t answering his messages.

Books to Pray with: January The Gift of Diversity

Every month in 2024 Pope Francis has a monthly prayer intention. Every month we will release a book list that will draw your heart and soul deeper into prayer on these topics.
January starts the year off with praying for and in thanks of the gift of diversity to the church.

The 1st Catholic Reads Readers Choice Award

The list of books that won by popular vote for 2024, with a Honorary Mention section for notable past year’s books.

The Rescue Sisters Series Adventures by Karina Fabian

Kickass Catholic Nuns in Space- what more do you need?!

Cinderella by Charles Perrault

The true story of the Catholic saint who inspired the myth of Cinderella

The Fruit Tree by Mark Restaino, Illustrations by J.P. Alcomendas

This children’s fable will teach the whole family Biblical literacy and the Christian symbolic language.

Night by Ellie Wiesel

One of the most famous and horrifying first-hand accounts of the Holocaust

Sisters of the Last Straw Book 1, 2 & 3: by Karen Kelly Boyce

Exploding kitchens, runaway goats, and ghosts in the chapel. Life in the Little Sisters of the Last Straw is never boring.

Bullet Proof Vestments by Jane Lebak

Fr. Jay left his criminal past behind him, but it’s coming back for vengeance and it might take his parish down with him.

Old Man & The Void by Karina Fabian

When Dex decides to catch the treasure of a century, he is pulled into a black hole and must fight the robotic ghosts of an alien war.

King of the Shattered Glass by Susan Joy Bellavance

An orphan maid braves the wrath of the King when she breaks his precious glassware but realizes true beauty of forgiveness and broken glass.