1940, Harper & Brothers Muriel Lester was born into a privileged English family of Baptist Protestants. Her religious and social convictions led her to give up her comfortable surroundings to live among and serve the poorest working-class people of London. She later became a pacifist and a friend to Gandhi, traveling around the world to speak against war and encourage peace. Learn more about her here . Dare You Face Facts? , published under the approaching bombs of WWII, dare

2023, Random House My brother says Prince Harry is annoying and entitled, but I've always found him kind of cute. I once purchased a mask of his freckled face, and wore it on a visit to my son at his UK university, hoping to get a laugh. I didn't. "Is that guy in the royal family?" was all he had to say. Undaunted, I added a Meghan mask to my collection and went out for tea in London with a friend. The other customers pretended not to notice us, but we could see they were sec

2009, Penguin Kamal Markandaya This book is beautiful in a subtle way. The writer is soft and gentle with her characters as they try to live their lives in the midst of difficulties and changes. The main characters are a couple who love each other, but don't see the world in the same way. The husband is desperate to help his wife who is ill, but for him help equals going to a doctor in a hospital. The wife prefers to seek wellness in traditional methods, like religious offer

The Bronzes from San Casciano dei Bagni 2025, Exhibit at the Staatliche Museum of Berlin This exhibit really was a sensation for me. In 2022 and 2024 a large group of bronze statues and other finds were unearthed from the mud of a thermal spring basin at the center of an ancient healing sanctuary dating back to the 3rd century BC in southern Tuscany, Italy. The exhibit doesn't let you see the statues right away. You have to wait. First are photographs of the bronzes still in