The author might not be Jewish, but City of Slaughter (Daniel and Daniel Publishers, Inc.) by Cynthia Drew is beautifully written from a Jewish perspective, with meticulous research that provides a powerful picture of the plight of women at the beginning of the 20th Century, and the obstacles they were forced to overcome. Already on Amazon’s list of Best Selling Jewish American Literature and Fiction, City of Slaughter is an exceptional work of historical fiction that is both exciting and inspiring and takes readers back in time to see the world through the eyes of another culture.

When fourteen-year-old Carsie Akselrod’s parents are murdered by Cossacks during a raid on the shtetl, Carsie flees with her younger sister, Lilia, touching off a turbulent journey that ends eight months later on New York’s Lower East Side. Plunged into the immigrant chaos of the most crowded square mile on earth, the two girls take sweatshop jobs – Carsie as a milliner’s apprentice and Lilia at the ill-fated Triangle Waist Company. It never occurs to Carsie that in her haste to live the life she strives for in America she hasn’t stopped to lament her parents’ deaths.

All too many of us create an outer persona or “ego self” in order to cope with the fear and anxiety of day to day life. This false identity normalizes these intense emotions, stops us from feeling anything at all, and drives us toward artificial goals of financial status and success. No one understands this better than Gregory Nicholas Malouf, a successful businessman and entrepreneur who became a workaholic at 19, earning triple figures each week, and throwing lavish parties and traveling around the world. He thought he was living the ‘perfect life’ until at age 50, his world collapsed and he realized he was living a lie.

Malouf suffered from anxiety and obsessive control disorder; two of the many addictions that had ruled his life because he had not been able to confront the truth of his past. When he wrote Silent: The Power of Silence (Morgan James Publishing) and founded Epsilon Healing Academy, he did so for those who believe what he needed to believe – YOU can release yourself from overwhelming and consuming life burdens, and YOU can access that which you truly desire and live the life you deserve.

Being a woman of faith, Jackie Carpenter thought her belief would easily overcome any obstacles life put in her way. She was wrong. It was when she needed her faith more than any other time in her life that she realized it did not even begin to measure up! Scheduled for release in the fall, A Cry for Justice by Triple Horse Studios is a poignant yet riveting movie that tells the true story of this loving mother’s nightmarish ordeal after her son is arrested for an accidental shooting and charged with felony murder.

Jackie Carpenter’s life changed in an instant when her phone rang on that unforgettable day in 2008. She never thought for a minute it could be something bad – why would she? Up to that point, Jackie’s life had been near-perfect. Nothing could have prepared her for what her daughter-in-law’s frantic voice brought forth. Her son had accidentally shot and killed a would-be thief while protecting his property and the police had arrested him. Jackie had no clue of the difficult journey ahead; not just in proving her son’s innocence but to restore her wavering faith.