Elizabeth Seton: American Saint by Catherine O’Donnell (Cornell University Press, 552 pages, hardcover, $37.44 on Amazon.ca)

WASHINGTON – Sr. Wendy Beckett has been widely described as both an unlikely art critic and television star, but that may have been what made her all the more likeable.

In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets by Fr. Patrick Desbois (Arcade Publishing, hardcover, 312 pages, $35)

OTTAWA – In a dog-eat-dog book publishing world where many houses fail or get gobbled up by conglomerates, the fact little Justin Press held its 10th annual book launch Nov. 7 is news.

In a first for Toronto’s St. Augustine’s Seminary, students, faculty and friends came together recently to celebrate four Catholic authors who happen to also be St. Augustine’s professors. Celebrating Catholic authors, Catholic books and Catholic publishing is important, said Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick because books build Catholic culture and add to a legacy of faith.

Catholic Register columnist Robert Brehl’s fifth book, Right Hand Man, published by Barlow Books, was released this month. It is a collaboration on the memoirs of businessman and philanthropist Phil Lind, who guided the genius of Rogers Communications founder Ted Rogers for 40 years. In 1998 Lind was felled by a massive stroke at age 54. He had to re-learn how to talk, walk, write with his left hand and more. But with dogged determination, Lind went on to some of his most important career victories — proving there can still be lots of life (and lots of obstacles to overcome) after a debilitating stroke. In this abridged excerpt, Lind and Brehl, who got to know Lind while reporting on business for the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, describe the immediate days after the stroke.

Leaving Christianity:Changing Allegiances in Canada since 1945 by Brian Clarke and Stuart Macdonald (McGill-Queen’s University Press, softcover, 304 pages, $35.00)

At 90, Jean Vanier is something more than an eminent man of great accomplishment, more than a national treasure who belongs to the Order of Canada, the Order of Quebec, France’s Legion of Honour and holds the 2015 Templeton Prize.