12-year-old Koichi, separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, begins to believe that the new bullet train service will create a miracle when the first trains pass each other at top speed, and enlists a group of friends on an improbable mission.

"Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who is said to be living without food, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl. As Anna's life ebbs away, Lib finds herself responsible not just for the care of a child but for that child's very survival. Haunting and magnetic, The Wonder is a searing examination of doubt,...

Garry Wills spent five years at a Jesuit seminary and nearly became a priest himself. After a lifetime of study and reflection, he now poses some challenging questions: Why do we need priests at all? Why did the priesthood arise in a religion that began without it and opposed it? Would Christianity be stronger without priesthood? Wills does not expect the priesthood to fade entirely away. He just reminds listeners that Christianity did without it...

A trial of faith unfolds at the apex of World War I, when secrets are revealed to three courageous Portuguese children through a series of apparitions, while their doubting family and aggressive government officials try to silence them. "In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to...