Saints & Heroes

In this updated anthology Ethel Pochocki (author of Once Upon a Time Saints books) has selected a mixture for older youth of "soldiers and sailors, kings and queens, doctors, lawyers, beggars, thieves, poets, diplomats, fools and cranks," and she has told their stories in her characteristic lively style. She shows how brave and generous such people were; how they challenged the society they lived in; and how they have since become light-bearers to enthral future generations of young people. Beginning with the Mexican Indian, Saint Juan Diego, born in 1474, and spanning 500 years, these 33 chapters include modern men and women, such as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and Jean Vanier, as well as old favorites such as SS Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri and Francis de Sales. The author shows us how human and attractive their lives are, whatever the century they lived in, as they spring to life in these pages.

Chapter head drawings are by Mary Beth Owens.