A Nursing Madonna

This beautiful picture of a nursing Madonna was drawn by James Hrkach. It was inspired by Andrea Solari's painting Virgin with Green Cushion


Thank you to Ellen Gable Hrkach for permission to share this drawing on our blog.


Ellen is a freelance writer from Ontario, Canada. She is the author of three novels, Emily's Hope, In Name Only and Stealing Jenny. She has also written Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship.


Emily's Hope

Emily's Hope is the gripping story of one young woman's physical, emotional, spiritual journey from high school to adulthood. Interspersed throughout the story are flashbacks to Emily's great-grandmother's troubled life, with a climax culminating in the surprising revelation that Emily and her great-grandmother are connected more deeply than by ancestral ties alone. Emily's Hope won an Honorable Mention Award for Religious Fiction in the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards and in 2009, received the Catholic Writers' Guild Seal of Approval.


In Name Only

Caroline Martin's life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn towards Him. Gold Medal Winner in Religious Fiction, 2010 IPPY Awards.




Stealing Jenny

After three heartbreaking miscarriages, Tom and Jenny Callahan are happily anticipating the birth of their sixth child. A neighbor, however, is secretly hatching a sinister plot which will find Jenny and her unborn baby fighting for their lives.








Come My Beloved

Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship is a celebration of faith and enduring love. This compilation contains 12 courtship/dating stories which will inspire, captivate and entertain readers. Some of the stories include: a widow with eight children meets a widower with six children; a man asks his live-in girlfriend "what if we stopped having sex," and is greeted with tears of joy; an atheist falls in love with her Catholic Prince Charming; a woman prays to God for a husband and years later finds herself falling in love with a seminarian; a sailor prays a novena to marry the right girl. What these and all the stories illustrate is that God is the ideal matchmaker.


Ellen blogs at Plot, Line and Sinker


Ellen and James founded the publishing company Full Quiver Publishing


I have read and enjoyed all Ellen's book immensely. I hope you will read them too!