This week, we feature a contemporary, female spin on C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” and a nonfiction chronicle explaining how the Ancient Greeks laid the foundation for science.
Fiction
By Tilly Dillehay
A spinoff of C.S. Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters,” this novel replaces the male protagonist, who was tempted by evil, with a female one instead. Recording their plots and deeds via a series of letters, Madame Hoaxrot and her minion, Hemlock, aim to corrupt every corner of a young Christian woman’s heart, from female friendships to marriage to motherhood. Their insidious assaults cast a light on the struggles many women face today, including how feminine virtues can conceal faults or become vices. Highly recommended.
Canon Press, 2024, 198 pages
Thriller
By Mark Greaney
Court Gentry, the Gray Man, has returned. The fast-paced thriller “Midnight Black,” the 14th installment in this series, begins where the last book, “The Chaos Agent,” ended. After a harrowing experience in Cuba, Gentry finds himself faced with one of his most formidable tasks: saving the woman he loves from inside a Russian penal colony. In Greaney’s usual violent and gritty manner, he places Gentry in tight spaces where his only option is to shoot his way out.
Berkley, 2025, 528 pages
History
‘The Genesis of Science: The Story of Greek Imagination’
By Stephen Bertman
Who invented science? This book argues that the Ancient Greeks can claim that laurel. However, it doesn’t claim that other ancient civilizations neglected study of the physical world; Bertman cites important contributions by other ancient civilizations. Yet he argues that specific characteristics of Ancient Greek culture created an environment that transformed the study of nature into the analytic process we call science. As intriguing as the topic it examines, this book seeks the why behind science’s development.
Prometheus, 2010, 293 pages
Fantasy
By Martin Fajkus and Jakub Marik
Larry Correia’s “Monster Hunter” series is highly popular among fantasy readers in the Czech Republic. After a multi-author international “Monster Hunter” anthology was published in 2020, Czech writers wanted to do an anthology. With Correia’s approval and participation, this is the result. Set in the Monster Hunter universe, these stories are rooted in the myths, legends, and folklore of Czechia, written by Czech authors. Fans of this series will find them first-rate entertainment with an Old World twist.
Baen, 2025, 448 pages
Classics
By W. Somerset Maugham
While in London in the 1920s, bacteriologist Walter Fane becomes enamored of Kitty Garstin. Garstin, wishing to escape the marriage maneuverings of her socialite mother, marries him. Maugham then takes readers to China, where after an adulterous affair, Kitty accompanies Walter into a cholera epidemic. She slowly abandons her self-centered ways and comes to admire self-sacrifice and compassion as virtues. Maugham’s insights into human nature and his mastery of the English language shine in this novel.
Vintage, 2004, 246 pages
For Kids
By Jan Brett
This classic winter picture book is a retelling of a Ukrainian folktale featuring Brett’s recognizable illustrations throughout. When a young boy named Nicki asks his Baba to make him white mittens, he loses one in the white snow. His lost mitten soon becomes a cozy haven for a mole, then a rabbit, then more forest creatures, as the mitten expands.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2009, 32 pages
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