In this month’s roundup of the best-reviewed BookLife titles, we highlight a handbook for readers searching for a spiritual path, a historical ghost story, and a book that examines the spirituality of the Boss.

The Haunting of Thores-Cross

Karen Perkins

Synopsis: Perkins’s suspenseful novel chronicles the ghostly tale of a wronged woman in an 18th-century Scottish village and the woman who tells her story 230 years later.

PW’s Takeaway: This gloomy ghost story provides page-turning chills and sympathy for scorned women.

Comparable Titles: Ghost Story, The Haunting of Hill House

Sample Line: “Darkness closed in—a total darkness now, no torches to light my way. I succumbed to it, my last thought a promise to bring my curses to pass. I would destroy this valley.”

Read the review.

The Eleven Questions

Mark Pitstick

Synopsis: Who am I? Why is there so much suffering? This short handbook aims to provide answers to 11 such questions via interviews with renowned experts on consciousness.

PW’s Takeaway: The interviews in this short book will be great for anyone searching for a new spiritual path.

Comparable Titles: Life After Death, How to Know God

Sample Line: These answers are very important as they form the very framework that allows you to live and die with peace, joy, clarity, and purpose.

Read the review.

Earthking

Christopher C. Hall

Synopsis: When the king’s advisor is found dead, an ancient evil reappears.

PW’s Takeaway: Hall creates a fast-paced and absorbing fantasy.

Comparable Titles: John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series

Read the review.

The Grace of God and the Grace of Man

Azzan Yadin-Israel

Synopsis: The book brings Scriptural scholarship to a study of Bruce Springsteen.

PW’s Takeaway: A fresh addition to the burgeoning scholarship on one of America’s most famous musicians.

Comparable Titles: Bruce

Read the review.

A Peace of My Mind

John Noltner

Synopsis: This collection of 136 portraits provides a revealing snapshot of what’s on the minds of everyday Americans.

PW’s Takeaway: A powerful political statement about the backbone of America—its citizens.

Comparable Titles: The Americans, Humans of New York

Read the review.