New Titles on The Maple Staple Spotlight Shelf Explore Courage, Memory, and Change

Some books carry readers into private memory. Others step into history, service, childhood, or the places where institutions meet human lives. The Maple Staple Bookstore’s latest featured collection brings together five works that move across very different worlds: a multigeneration story of purpose and invention, an eyewitness account of the Iranian Revolution, a frank memoir of abuse in the Canadian Forces, a return to the freer days of Texas Hill Country childhood, and a healthcare testimony shaped by accountability and community concern. What connects these books is not one genre or setting. It is the way each one asks readers to look closely at lives shaped by consequence, courage, memory, and change. Whether written as memoir, historical witness, fiction, or testimony, these titles speak to the moments that test people and the meaning they build from what remains.

The Inheritance by Paul Peters follows Jacob Steele, a young man broken by war, loss, survivor’s guilt, addiction, and the ghosts of his past. What could have ended in despair becomes a story of faith, love, and renewed purpose as Jacob rises from suffering and unlocks a vision that changes global health access forever. His invention eventually leads him to wealth and influence, but the heart of the book rests in what that success makes possible for others. Peters brings his own purpose-driven life into the work. A bestselling author, motivational teacher, visionary entrepreneur, and founder of Covenant Case Management Services, he has also established faith-based nonprofits serving at-risk children, seniors, veterans, and people facing addiction, homelessness, disabilities, and domestic violence.

From imagined legacy and invention, the collection turns toward history as it is being lived in real time in Khoda Hafez… Goodbye Iran: Eyewitness to the Start of the Iranian Revolution June 1978 - January 1979 by John Doolittle. The book places readers inside a family’s ordinary foreign assignment as it becomes a front-row view of revolution. When Doolittle moved his family to Tehran in 1978, the experience was meant to offer exposure to another culture. Instead, daily life became interwoven with demonstrations, riots, company security notices, news reports, and the last ruling days of the Shah of Iran. Doolittle’s background gives the account a steady, grounded perspective: raised in Southern California, he earned degrees from Occidental College and UC Berkeley, retired as an Air Force colonel, worked as a senior executive with Pacific Bell, and served for decades as a National Ski Patroller.

Unwelcome: Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, Sexual Assault, and Rape in the Canadian Forces by Dawn Ottman is a difficult but necessary account of service, survival, and institutional failure. Ottman joined the Canadian military in 1978 at only eighteen, wanting to serve her country and stand up for the underdog, a role she had known since childhood. From the beginning, however, she faced harassment and insults because she was a woman. Despite this, she pushed forward, rose through the ranks, and became Canada’s first female space scientist. The abuse did not disappear. Ottman writes about harassment, betrayal, PTSD, and the long fight for veterans’ benefits while also offering guidance and support to women soldiers who continue to face abuse. Her story is painful, frank, and rooted in the courage to speak after decades of carrying the cost.

After the weight of military survival, Honey Creek Ranch Adventures by Gwen Stockbridge brings readers into a softer but still meaningful landscape. Set largely in the Texas Hill Country, the book gathers stories of childhood, family, neighbors, and old-fashioned adventure. It looks back to a time when children stayed outside after dark, neighbors helped one another, and ordinary days could hold horseback riding, creek wading, fishing, camping, roller-skating, baseball, barn raisings, sheep shearing, and quilts made for weddings or new babies. But the memories are not only sentimental. Stockbridge also includes the wearisome, tense, and sometimes perilous moments that called for grit and perseverance, whether facing a possible Big Foot sighting or staying clear of an angry mama hog. These stories invite readers to smile, remember, and feel the weight of a freer, closely connected way of life.

Doctors, Here Is My Leg by Godefroid M. Duma brings the collection into healthcare, accountability, and the relationship between patients and those in white coats. Built around experiments observed twenty-five years ago, the book asks readers to consider the progress that has been made and the adjustments still needed for the sake of community health. It also carries a call for engaged citizenship, urging responsibility from those involved in road and hospital settings after their acts and actions. Duma’s own life gives the work personal force. He has lived in the United States with his family since 2010, works as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, and runs Freezhem Worldwide LLC to promote financial education. Through the Freezhem Africa Foundation, he also seeks to support future healthcare-related projects near Kinshasa.

Taken together, these five books form a collection about what people carry through history, hardship, memory, service, and responsibility. They do not move in the same direction, and they do not speak in the same voice. That is part of what makes the collection worth reading. A visionary story of legacy, a family’s witness to revolution, a soldier’s account of survival, a return to childhood adventure, and a healthcare testimony all ask readers to pay attention to the lives behind the pages. Each title offers its own kind of truth, whether quiet, painful, urgent, or hopeful. Find these featured works on The Maple Staple’s Digital Spotlight Shelf at https://themaplestaple.com/spotlight/ and browse the full catalog at https://themaplestaple.com/digital-bookstore/.

About The Maple Staple:

For bookworms, by passionate writers.

At The Maple Staple, books come alive beyond mere pages. It’s more than a bookstore—it’s a community hub for book enthusiasts and budding authors. Celebrating diversity, they curate books from up-and-coming independent writers, and offer a platform to underrepresented voices. With captivating events and book clubs in the heart of Toronto, they foster a vibrant literary community, igniting inspiration and transformation through the enchanting power of words.

Contact Information

Emmanuel Laguardia

Director

Bookside Press

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