Top 10 Catholic Fiction
Discover the Top 10 Catholic Fiction books that inspire faith and imagination. Explore timeless stories of devotion, redemption, and spiritual growth in this curated list for Catholic readers.
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The Third Testament
by John Eklund
Widower Fred Sankt is a professor at a small Catholic college who is not at all accustomed to dreaming. When he begins experiencing a series of profoundly vivid dreams that consistently awaken him at 3:00 a.m., he is not alarmed—simply curious. In the last of his dreams, Fred meets a faceless old friend who informs him that he has been chosen by God to record the next testament of the Bible. Fred decides that, even though it has been nearly two thousand years since the last passage in the Bible was written, if it is God's will for him to take on a project of this magnitude, he has no choice but to accept. But his entire world is turned upside down when his doorbell rings unexpectedly one evening. After he is served a summons, Fred thinks things can't get worse until he receives the news that his daughter Ellen's health is in jeopardy. Despite his personal hardships, Fred soon finds that writing is his only solace. As Fred continues on a spiritual journey to unlock the truth, he creates a treasure for all Christians that ultimately reignites the torch of the faithful.
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A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller
Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of twentieth-century literature -- a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future. In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. Seriously funny, stunning, and tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.
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The End of the Affair
by Graham Greene
An adulterous love affair turns into a relationship filled with hate and jealousy
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The Golden Legend
by Jacobo di Voragine
One of the central texts of the Middle Ages, The Golden Legend deeply influenced the imagery of poetry, painting and stained glass with its fascinating descriptions of saints' lives and religious festivals. By creating a single-volume sourcebook of core Christian stories, Jacobus de Voragine (c. 1229-98) attracted a huge audience across Europe. This selection of over seventy biographies ranges from the first Apostles and Roman martyrs to near-contemporaries such as St Dominic, St Francis of Assissi and St Elizabeth of Hungary. Here, witnesses to the true faith endure horrific tortures; reformed prostitutes win divine forgiveness; while other women live disguised as monks or nobly resist lustful tyrants. Lucid and compelling, The Golden Legend offers an enthralling insight into the medieval mind. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Mr. Blue
by Myles Connolly
J. Blue is a young man who decides to take Christianity seriously, not as a chore but as a challenge. He spends his inherited wealth almost as soon as he gets it. He lives in a packing box on a New York City rooftop. He embraces the poor as his best friends and wisest companions, distrusts the promises of technology (except for the movies), and is fascinated by anything involving the wide expanse of God's universe. He is the ultimate free spirit, it seems; but what is the source--and purpose--of his freedom? This novel about a contemporary St. Francis figure has delighted and inspired countless readers since it was first published in 1928.
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Death Comes for the Archbishop
by Willa Cather
In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour becomes Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico, and over the next forty years he faces the lawlessness and loneliness of the frontier as he tries to spread his faith.
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The Complete Father Brown
by G. K. Chesterton
Includes The Innocence of Father Brown and The Wisdom of Father Brown. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.
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Mariette in Ecstasy
by Ron Hansen
The highly acclaimed and provocatively rendered story of a young postulant's claim to divine possession and religious ecstasy.
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The Joyful Beggar
by Louis De Wohl
"Set against the tempestuous background of thirteenth-century Italy and Egypt, her is the magnificent and inspiring story of Francis Berardone, the brash, pleasure-loving young officer who was to become immortalized as St. Francis of Assisi." -- Back cover.