Shawn Smucker

Everything Is Just Beginning

Fiction

“Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son and The Promise between Us “If you are the kind of person who finds meaning and life in the written word, then you’ll find yourself hidden among these pages.”

Rembrandt Is in the Wind

Arts & Literature

“Russ Ramsey was kind enough to give me an early chapter of this book a few years ago when I was preparing to go on a silent retreat and had asked him for a work of art I might meditate on. Thanks to Russ’s recommendation, I spent hours contemplating Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. I was shaken by the depiction of this scene and the disciples’ question to Jesus, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” Russ’s gentle shepherding of my understanding of the painting and the biblical story behind it was a balm in my life just when I needed it. I know this book will be the same for you.”

Shining like the Sun

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“I would follow Steve Wiens anywhere. In Shining Like the Sun, he asks us to follow him on a search for God. Sign me up.”

Stories That Bind Us

Fiction

“Well, Susie Finkbeiner has done it again, giving us a heartbreaking, heartwarming story so fixed in real time that reading it feels like visiting some familiar past. Her narrator is warm and genuine and brings us along at just the right pace. I’m left wishing I could spend time with the Sweet family in person, play with the boys, taste the pastries. Is there anything more wonderful than a story full of characters that take up residence in our own history? This story is a gift.”

The Beauty Chasers

Christian Living

“This book is a whimsical, meandering journey into a vast and (mostly) unexplored geography: the world of beauty. What is it? Why are we drawn to it? What are the ramifications for us as a society if we misrepresent or squander it? Tim Willard, willing and eager, ushers us into this vast expanse with stories and conversations and exposition, leaving us finally with the belief that there is so much more to the world than the material things we can see—and this is good.”

The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water

Fiction

“Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son and The Promise between Us “If you are the kind of person who finds meaning and life in the written word, then you’ll find yourself hidden among these pages.”

The Light Is Winning

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Zach takes the reader on a journey, first acknowledging the presence of these religious wounds, then gently leading us through a hopeful apocalypse to a place of transformation and healing.”

The Surface of Water

Fiction

“A poignant tale of power and mercy brought to life by characters we all recognize. Cynthia Beach hasn't only created a modern-day parable that should be read because of its subject matter—it stands on its own as a well-told, compelling story. I can't wait to read her next book.”

The Way of Belonging

Christian Living

“The epidemic of loneliness in our country is a real thing, and in her gentle and engaging fashion, Sarah offers the antidote: belonging. While so many in our world are concerned with self-preservation, this book encourages us to see the isolated among us and to extend a hand of love. Her words are a beautiful invitation into a different way of being.”

True You

Christian Living

“Pruning is a powerful metaphor for spiritual transformation, but our understanding of it is too often superficial. Michelle DeRusha gives depth and richness to a familiar theme, and the result is a book of rare wisdom and insight. True You is a book about the necessity of silence, solitude, and stillness, but it is written by someone with little natural affinity for those contemplative spiritual practices. The result is a compelling personal story shared with rare candor that reveals an accessible path toward deeper intimacy with God. This is a book for hungry, restless souls.”

You Are My Sunshine

History & Biography

“trail. With his characteristic humor, insight, and talent, Sean shows us what it means to keep going . . . through a cancer diagnosis, during a global pandemic, or just over the ridge in the next difficult climb.”