InterVarsity Press recently launched IVP Crescendo and brought to market its first fiction title under the new imprint. Released last month, Sensible Shoes: A Story About the Spiritual Journey by Sharon Garlough Brown tells the story of four strangers embarking together on a journey of spiritual formation.

With Crescendo, the publisher "celebrates the significant and serendipitous results that arise wherever women apply their vision and gifts to the good of the whole church."

NBC Today co-host Kathie Lee Gifford mentioned Brown's novel in the show's regular "Favorite Things" segment on Monday, March 11.

"I like to give new authors a chance," Gifford said, noting that Brown is a first-time novelist.

"If you're a spiritually inclined person, I think you'll really love it," she added. "It's about four women, every one of them coming from a different place spiritually, but all of them in need of a new, a new fresh cup of mercy, if you know what I mean. So it's terrific. I highly recommend it."

Click here to watch the segment. 

Other titles under the new imprint include Shayne Moore and Kimberly Yim's Refuse to Do Nothing, which addresses the issue of modern-day slavery; spoken word poet Amena Brown's Breaking Old Rhythms, aiming to help readers discover the rhythm of their God-given potential; and Patty Kirk's The Easy Burden of Pleasing God, which guides readers toward understanding the easy yoke of following Jesus and the light burden of loving God.