What do the novelists Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte M. Yonge, Rose Macaulay, Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Pym, Iris Murdoch and P.D. James all have in common? These women, and others, were inspired to write fiction through their relationship with the Church of England. This field-defining collection of essays explores Anglicanism through their fiction and their fiction through their Anglicanism. These essays, by a set of distinguished contributors, cover a range of literary genres, from life-writing and whodunnits through social comedy, children's books and supernatural fiction. Spanning writers from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, they testify both to the developments in Anglicanism over the past two centuries and the changing roles of women within the Church of England and wider society.

"You Got Anything Stronger? continues the project of unshackling. It's soul-baring work." - The Washington Post So. Where were we? Right, you and I left off in October 2017. When I released We're Going to Need More Wine, the response was so great people asked when I would do a sequel. Frankly, after being so open and honest in my writing, I wasn't sure there was more of me I was ready to share. But life happens with all its plot twists. And new stories demand to be told. A lot has changed in four years-I became a mom to two amazing girls. My husband retired. My career has expanded so that I have the opportunity to lift up other voices that need to be heard. But the world has also shown us that we have a lot we still have to fight for-as women, as black women, as mothers, as aging women, as human beings, as friends. In You Got Anything Stronger?, I show you how this ever-changing life presents challenges, even as it gives me moments of pure joy. I take you on a girl's night at Chateau Marmont, and I also talk to Isis, my character from Bring It On. For the first time, I truly open up about my surrogacy journey and the birth of Kaavia James Union Wade. And I take on racist institutions and practices in the entertainment industry, asking for equality and real accountability. You Got Anything Stronger? is me at my most vulnerable.

GOD CAN MEET YOUR NEEDS AS HE DID FOR WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Women are central to some of the most critical events, powerful encounters, and transformative moments in the Bible. They change the course of history. These extraordinary women rose above because God was their refuge, and now you can join them. Based on the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Women of the Bible Speak, this workbook connects the stories of old to each of our modern experiences. In these 16 lessons, you'll be challenged to consider the parallels between each woman's story and your own. You'll reflect on how God worked in their lives and uncover how He's working in yours, today. Each lesson in the workbook will take you through these exercises: REFLECT invites you to read key moments of each woman's life in the Bible and connect with her story. CONNECT asks you to consider how God in the Old Testament or Jesus in the New Testament responds to each woman and what this discloses about His character and how He responds to you. REVEAL provides an opportunity to identify specific character traits, responses to God, and acts of faith, as well as your similar traits, responses, and acts of faith. PRAY asks you to prayerfully consider how the woman's story ties into the work God is doing in your life right now. BONUS SECTIONS: PAIRS where you'll be asked to consider the women in pairs, finding the commonalities in their callings and challenges. Some of the women knew one another. Others were connected simply by a thread of common purpose, one that becomes clearer by studying the women side by side. Lessons include: Sarah Hagar Rachel Leah Tamar Ruth Deborah Jael Hannah Miriam Esther Rahab Mary Martha Mary, Mother of Jesus Mary Magdalene

Americans wrote fiercely during the Civil War. War surprised, devastated, and opened up imagination, taking hold of Americans' words as well as their homes and families. The personal diary-wildly ragged yet rooted in day following day-was one place Americans wrote their war. Diaries, then, have become one of the best-known, most-used sources for exploring the life of the mind in a war-torn place and time. Delving into several familiar wartime diaries kept by women of the southern slave-owning class, Steven Stowe recaptures their motivations to keep the days close even as war tore apart the brutal system of slavery that had benefited them. Whether the diarists recorded thoughts about themselves, their opinions about men, or their observations about slavery, race, and warfare, Stowe shows how these women, by writing the immediate moment, found meaning in a changing world. In studying the inner lives of these unsympathetic characters, Stowe also explores the importance-and the limits-of historical empathy as a condition for knowing the past, demonstrating how these plain, first-draft texts can offer new ways to make sense of the world in which these Confederate women lived.