A New York Times best art book of 2022 New insights into the innovative multimedia work and early career of fourteenth-century Italian painter Simone Martini Painter to popes, princes, and scions of Renaissance dynasties, Simone Martini (ca. 1284-1344) transformed Western painting with his groundbreaking devotional images and masterful manipulation of gold. This beautifully illustrated book highlights the astonishing novelty of his paintings in terms of their construction, multimedia techniques, and imagery. A focus of the book-the first on Simone Martini in English in over thirty years-is the work that he produced for churches in the Umbrian city of Orvieto, a papal refuge and stronghold of the Guelph political faction. The publication sheds light on Simone's early career and technical accomplishments with extended catalogue entries for three Orvieto altarpieces and a painting of private devotion, including the results of new scientific analysis for the Gardner works. Leading scholars consider Simone's patrons, artistic accomplishments, and contributions to the development of the polyptych altarpiece. Distributed for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Exhibition Schedule: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (October 13, 2022-January 16, 2023)

An extraordinary spiritual memoir about the will to survive . . . one breath at a time
While traveling in Laos on a winding mountain road, the bus that award-winning journalist Alison Wright was riding in collided with a logging truck. As she waited fourteen hours for proper medical care-in excruciating pain, certain she was moments from death-Alison drew upon years of meditation practice and concentrated on every breath as if it would be her last.
Despite countless surgeries and a grueling recovery, Alison set herself the goal of achieving a new dream: to one day climb Mount Kilimanjaro-and she reached the summit on her fortieth birthday. Gasping for air once again, she stood at the highest point in Africa, determined to never again take a single breath for granted. Perfect for readers who love spiritual authors traveling abroad, such as Elizabeth Gilbert ("Eat, Pray, Love") and Greg Mortenson ("Three Cups of Tea"), this memoir is an amazingly inspirational tale of how a life-changing accident transformed one woman's faith.