Best of
Historical-Fiction

1978

The Winds of War & War & Remembrance


Herman Wouk - 1978
    These two classic works capture the tide of world events even as they unfold the compelling tale of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.The multimillion-copy bestsellers that capture all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War — and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement — are available for the first time in trade paperback.

Sacajawea


Anna Lee Waldo - 1978
    child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark‘s historic trek-beautiful spear of a dying nation.She knew many men, walked many miles. From the whispering prairies, across the Great Divide to the crystal-capped Rockies and on to the emerald promise of the Pacific Northwest, her story overflows with emotion and action ripped from the bursting fabric of a raw new land. Ten years In the Writing, SACAJAWEA unfolds an immense canvas of people and events, and captures the eternal longings of a woman who always yearned for one great passion-and always it lay beyond the next mountain.

The Far Pavilions


M.M. Kaye - 1978
    The Far Pavilions is a story of 19th Century India, when the thin patina of English rule held down dangerously turbulent undercurrents. It is a story about and English man - Ashton Pelham-Martyn - brought up as a Hindu and his passionate, but dangerous love for an Indian princess. It's a story of divided loyalties, of tender camaraderie, of greedy imperialism and of the clash between east and west. To the burning plains and snow-capped mountains of this great, humming continent, M.M. Kaye brings her quite exceptional gift of immediacy and meticulous historical accuracy, plus her insight into the human heart.

Eye of the Needle


Ken Follett - 1978
    Only one person stands in his way: a lonely Englishwoman on an isolated island, who is beginning to love the killer who has mysteriously entered her life. All will come to a terrifying conclusion in Ken Follett's unsurpassed and unforgettable masterwork of suspense, intrigue, and the dangerous machinations of the human heart.

Chesapeake


James A. Michener - 1978
    Michener brings history to life with this 400-year saga of America's great bay and its Eastern Shore. Following Edmund Steed and his remarkable family, who parallel the settling and forming of the nation, CHESAPEAKE sweeps readers from the unspoiled world of the Native Americans to the voyages of Captain John Smith, the Revolutionary War, and right up to modern times.

Holocaust


Gerald Green - 1978
    The Dorfs are "good" Germans, loyal to the new Nazi regime, and their son Erik, a promising lawyer, finds his ambitions realized in the SS at the side of the ruthless Reynard Heydrich. The Weiss family is Jewish, also seemingly "good" Germans, but doomed under the new regime and its determination to exterminate the Jewish population.

Fields of Fire


James Webb - 1978
    They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo — Death Before Dishonor — before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....Fields of Fire is James Webb’s classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell — until each man finds his fate.'

The Last Convertible


Anton Myrer - 1978
    An immediate classic, it tells the story of five Harvard men, the women they loved -- and the elegant car that came to symbolize their romantic youth. It is also the story of their coming-of-age in the dark days of World War II, and of their unshakable loyalty to a lost dream of Camelot, of grace and style, in the decades that followed. "The Last Convertible is a gripping tribute to a way of living that immortalized the "Greatest Generation."

The Proud Breed


Celeste De Blasis - 1978
    A FEARLESS MAN... A MAGNIFICENT LOVE. THE MONUNENTAL ADVENTURE THAT SWEEPS ACROSS A MIGHTY CENTURY OF AMERICAN HISTORY.The first time Gavin Ramsay sees Tessa MacLeod y Amarista -- a violet-eyed beauty swimming naked in a hidden pool--she reacts by attacking him with a knife. Realizing her mistake, she nurses him back to health and into a deep, enduring and courageous love. Together, despite tremendous obstacles Gavin and Tessa pursue their golden dream--they tame the land, raise a family, and reap great wealth and power. A vast empire is theirs, yet greater still is the magnificent family dynasty they have begun--a dynasty that will flourish on their firm foundation of love.Passionate, colorful and peopled with unforgettable characters, The Proud Breed vividly re-creates California's exciting past, from the wild country to the pirated coast, from gambling dens to lavish ballrooms, from the rush for gold to the triumph of statehood.

Outback


Aaron Fletcher - 1978
    Unwanted and unloved, he was born in shame and raised in the poverty of a Sydney orphanage. Barely out of his teens, he left the brawling city to make a new life for himself in the limitless back country of New South Wales. Alone and hungry, he met the woman who would change his destiny and that of an entire continent. Innocent in the ways of Europeans, Mayrah was the native girl Garrity bought to satisfy his passions. Divided by competing cultures, they were nevertheless united by their fierce love of the land—and eventually, each other. Together they carved out an enormous empire in the great outback, and founded a new generation of Australians who would forever bear the imprint of their pride and passion.

The Eagle and the Raven


Pauline Gedge - 1978
    Spanning three generations, this historical novel tells the tale of Boudicca, the most famous warrior of ancient Britain, and Caradoc, the son of a Celtic king, who sets out to unite the people of the Raven and lead them against Rome. Caradoc's objective is not easily accomplished as the Roman army advances into Britain, raping Celtic women and burning villages to the ground. His efforts are also met with fierce opposition from Aricia, the vain queen of a northern tribe who swears allegiance to the Romans after Caradoc slights her, and from Gladys, Caradoc’s warrior sister who falls in love with her Roman captor. Unfortunately, Caradoc’s endeavors are left unresolved when he is taken prisoner, but Boudicca, a strong-willed woman, ultimately takes up the cause that was Caradoc’s legacy.

Fair Blows the Wind


Louis L'Amour - 1978
    Schooled along the way in the use of arms, Chantry arrives in London a wiser and far more dangerous man. He invests in trading ventures, but on a voyage to the New World his party is attacked by Indians and he is marooned in the untamed wilderness of the Carolina coast. It is in this darkest time, when everything seems lost, that Chantry encounters a remarkable opportunity. . . . Suddenly all his dreams are within reach: extraordinary wealth, his family land, and the heart of a Peruvian beauty. But first he must survive Indians, pirates, and a rogue swordsman who has vowed to see him dead.

Roselynde


Roberta Gellis - 1978
    . . and the beginning of her greatest adventureIn a time of lords and ladies, Lady Alinor Devaux was an anomaly. The mistress of Roselynde was young, uncannily intelligent, wealthy and had a reputation for being as fierce and protective as any feudal lord before her. Alinor was unmarried and a rich prize for greedy men seeking power and wealth.When the Queen makes Alinor a royal ward and assigns a warden to oversee the running of Roselynde, Alinor must deal with not only fighting off unwanted suitors, but with the warden as well! Not willing to be any man or woman's pawn, she is determined to make Sir Simon Lemagne's life miserable. But the seasoned knight isn't quite what Alinor expects.What belongs to Alinor remains with Alinor, and God help any woman, man or holy crusade that gets in her way . . .

Thunder at Dawn


Alan Evans - 1978
    David Cochrane Smith, captain of the armoured cruiser HMS Thunder, is patrolling off the coast of South America. But then he attacks and sinks the Gerda, a neutral ship in a neutral port. Smith already has a reputation as a maverick and now he faces professional ruin for the sinking. But he is certain he was right, that the Gerda was one of two ships masquerading under neutral flags that are in fact supply vessels for the mighty German warships, Kondor and Wolf. Only an outdated cruiser and a young captain prepared to break all the rules stand in their way… Thunder At Dawn is an edge-of-the-seat naval adventure that combines thrilling story-telling with meticulous research. Perfect for readers of Alexander Fullerton, Julian Stockwin and Philip McCutchan.

The Mirror


Marlys Millhiser - 1978
    The virginal Brandy, in turn, awakes in Shay's body to discover herself pregnant. What follows is a fascinating look at how two women—and their families—cope with this strange situation.

Evergreen


Belva Plain - 1978
    Determined to make something of herself, Anna moves into a cramped New York slum and finds a job in a sweatshop. When two very different men fall in love with her, Anna is destined to be forever torn in love and loyalty.

The Far Pavillions, Volume 2


M.M. Kaye - 1978
    

The Master Mariner: Book 1: Running Proud


Nicholas Monsarrat - 1978
    Written in two volumes, the first of which appeared in 1978, the story encompasses the full extent of maritime development, beginning with Sir Francis Drake abandoning a game of bowls to fight the great crescent of the Spanish fleet, to the opening in 1960 of the St Lawrence Seaway, the farthest penetration of land ever made by ocean-going sailors)

The Far Arena


Richard Ben Sapir - 1978
    It chronicles the adventures of Eugeni, a Roman gladiator from Domitian's period, who, due to an unlikely series of events, is frozen in ice for 1900 years before being found by the Houghton Oil Company on a prospecting mission in the N. Atlantic. Lew McCardle is a geologist working for Houghton. While running a test drill, the machine accidentally uncovers a frozen body. Lew is given charge. He immediately calls his friend Semyon Petrovitch, a Soviet scientist. Petrovitch, who specializes in cryonics takes the body to be revived, explaining that it's easier to treat such a case as alive until it's proven life cannot be restored. The blood is pumped from it & various treatments are administered until, amazingly, it comes back to life. It spends the next 15 days in a deep sleep, muttering to itself. The mutterings are recorded, but no-one can figure out the language. Finally, Lew McCardle, who has eight years of Latin, sends for a Catholic nun, who joins him & Petrovitch on their quest to sort out the mysteries of the body.

Macbeth the King


Nigel Tranter - 1978
    Set aside Shakespeare's portrait of a savage, murderous, ambitious King. Read instead of his struggle to make and save a united Scotland.

Gallows Wedding


Rhona Martin - 1978
    Hazel, a peasant girl marked by the witches' brand and a dangerous beauty, loves Black John, an outlaw and aristocrat, whom she rescues from the gallows. Together they struggle to survive a world in which brutal death awaits at every corner, and stumble along a fateful collision towards a harrowing climax. Winner of the First Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize founded in memory of Georgette Heyer by Bodley Head and Corgi Books. Rhona Martin's remarkable first novel won the award in 1977, its first year, in competition with 150 entries.

Hurricane Squadron


Robert Jackson - 1978
     Seated in the cockpit of his Hurricane, Sergeant George Yeoman — young, eager, and innocent in the ways of war — is on his way to join his first operational squadron. Meanwhile, the German Panzers advance unchecked through the Ardennes, and as the allied bombers plead to strike at them, the Luftwaffe is already set to launch a decisive blow. Disaster beckons and Yeoman and No. 505 Squadron soon find themselves courting death in a series of increasingly desperate sorties as the allied army begins its retreat towards Dunkirk. There are only a handful of them against the might of Hitler’s war machine, and with each sortie the ranks of the Squadron grow ever more depleted. The odds stacked against them are hopeless… A vivid tale of a fighter squadron at war, Hurricane Squadron is told with painstaking accuracy, charting a young man’s rise to maturity in the face of combat and sudden death. Praise for Robert Jackson 'Takes you to the heart of the action.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of Cold Kill Robert Jackson (b. 1941) is a prolific author of military and aviation history, having become a fulltime writer in 1969. As an active serviceman in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve he flew a wide range of aircraft, ranging from jets to gliders. Hurricane Squadron is the first book in the Sergeant George Yeoman series.

The Maclarens


C.L. Skelton - 1978
    War, secrets and betrayal cast a shadow over the Maclarens from the battlefield to the drawing-room. Young Andrew Maclaren, a brave yet sensitive soldier, faces the danger of conflicts in India and China. He must choose between the regiment he serves and the woman he loves. Willie Bruce, Andrew's childhood friend and fellow soldier, discovers loyalty is not always rewarded. Maud Westburn, beautiful but damaged, is the woman who loves them both. Will this love tear a family, and a regiment, apart? A sweeping saga about passion and honour, and the senseless brutality of war.

Angel City


Patrick D. Smith - 1978
    What they find instead is a nightmare in a migrant labor camp, where they become the indentured servants of a soulless crew chief and his mindless henchmen. Vacillating between hope and despair, Jared must stay alert—and alive—to rescue his own family and the prisoners around him from a life of continued degradation. In the year before he wrote Angel City, Patrick Smith did what he called “physical research,” disguising himself and joining migrant crews as they picked whatever vegetable was in season. He mentally recorded the events he encountered and wrote the novel is just a few weeks. His reason for writing Angel City? “The first step toward eliminating injustice is to expose it,” he said. Angel City was made into a TV movie in 1980.

Fortune's Wheel


Rhoda Edwards - 1978
    As Duke of Gloucester he is torn between loyalty to his brothers, King Edward IV, and gratitude to the man who raised him, the Earl of Warwick, whose daughter Anne Neville captures his heart. This love-slowly at first and then totally and passionately-overcomes the awesome political forces of the Plantagenet King Henry VI and the machinations of the King of France, Louis XI.In Fortune's Wheel Rhoda Edwards' novelistic skill is once again matched by her extensive knowledge of English history. These figures of a courtly yet brutal past relive the fortunes of their lives in moving and sympathetic detail. Ultimately it is a testament to the power of a young man's love against all adversity.

A Woman of Independent Means


Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey - 1978
    From the early 1900s through the 1960s, we accompany Bess as she endures life's trials and triumphs with unfailing courage and indomitable spirit: the sacrifices love sometimes requires of the heart, the flaws and rewards of marriage, the often-tested bond between mother and child, and the will to defy a society that demands conformity. Now, with this beautiful trade paperback edition, Penguin will introduce a new generation of readers to this richly woven story. . .and to Bess Steed Garner, a woman for all ages.

The Keystone Kid


Frank Roderus - 1978
    It was no surprise to anyone when he almost instantly became the butt of some unpleasant jokes in the local bar.What was surprising was that he made no attempt to fight back against the bully who had decided to make a show of it. He gained two things that day - his name, the "Keystone Kid," and his reputation as a coward. The Kid made one friend, though, who helped him learn the ropes - horses and cattle, the way the ranch was really run - and he soon took on the look and ways of a true cowhand.But there was still that sore point of his cowardice. No one could help the Kid with that. When the time finally came to prove himself, he had to stand alone...and his life depended on it.

Underground to Canada


Barbara Smucker - 1978
    Every day that she spends huddled in the slave trader’s wagon travelling south or working on the brutal new plantation, she thinks about the land where it is possible to be free, a land she and her friend Liza may reach someday. So when workers from the Underground Railroad offer to help the two girls escape, they are ready. But the slave catchers and their dogs will soon be after them…

The Praise Singer


Mary Renault - 1978
    Born into a stern farming family on the island of Keos, Simonides escapes his harsh childhood through a lucky apprenticeship with a renowned Ionian singer. As they travel through 5th century B.C. Greece, Simonides learns not only how to play the kithara and compose poetry, but also how to navigate the shifting alliances surrounding his rich patrons. He is witness to the Persian invasion of Ionia, to the decadent reign of the Samian pirate king Polykrates, and to the fall of the Pisistratids in the Athenian court. Along the way, he encounters artists, statesmen, athletes, thinkers, and lovers, including the likes of Pythagoras and Aischylos. Using the singer's unique perspective, Renault combines her vibrant imagination and her formidable knowledge of history to establish a sweeping, resilient vision of a golden century.

The Kingdom: The Saga Of The Uncrowned Royalt Of Texas


Ronald S. Joseph - 1978
    Rugged, resourceful, he was willing to fight Mexicans, carpetbaggers, raiders, even Nature itself to secure his ranch. Then he won the beautiful Spanish Sofia who joined her heart and her lands to his. When control passed to Joel's daughter Anne, she took trouble and tragedy with the same conquering spirit as her father. She took lovers too as she fancied and left them when she chose until she met the Scotsman Alex Cameron with whom she founded a dynasty.

A Pride of Kings – a captivating tale of love, chivalry and betrayal in Plantagenet England


Juliet Dymoke - 1978
    Loved by King Henry. Honoured by King Richard. Betrayed by King John. For William Marshall, the greatest knight of the realm, serving royalty is an unpredictable business. * * * Having survived the threat of beheading from Stephen as a child, Marshall rises from nothing to a place in court serving King Henry II. Accused of acting on his love for the beautiful Queen Margaret, William is saved by his trust and loyalty to the King. But the battle for the throne is relentless, and when Henry’s own son John rises against him, William must decide if he can remain loyal to the crown… A Pride of Kings, the first in the Plantagenet series, is an epic chronicle of love, heroism, loyalty and betrayal in one of the most fascinating periods of English history. Ideal for fans of Sharon Kay Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick or Jean Plaidy.

Pursuit


Robert L. Fish - 1978
    HELMUT VON SCHRAEDERGermany's most infamous war criminal, the handsome Aryan SS officer known as the "Monster" of the Maidenek death campBENJAMIN GROSSMANThe concentration camp survivor who became one of Israel's greatest heroes and most powerful military leadersHELMUT VON SCHRAEDER AND BENJAMIN GROSSMAN ARE THE SAME MAN...and now a diabolical scheme born in the last days of the Third Reich is about to achieve its nightmare triumph...

The Last Command: The U-boat Series


Edwyn Gray - 1978
    Now the hunter became the hunted and, as each man was forced to admit to himself that the end was inevitable, it was equally inevitable that each should look to his own salvation. Korvettenkapitan Bergman knew very well that Oberleutenant Karl Zetterling had something to hide but at a time when suspicion was every man’s shadow it was vital to move with the utmost caution. Why did Bergman not want Zetterling to carry out the job he had been sent to do? And what was Bergman himself trying to hide? With the skill which those who have read Action Atlantic and Tokyo Torpedo will have come to expect of him, Edwyn Gray brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of the deadly battle beneath the waves which Korvettenkapitan Konrad Bergman has waged for four years with unrivaled success. But his last command was to be the most dramatic of all.

Leopard and the Cliff


Wallace Breem - 1978
    'Wallace Breem is a writer who never disappoints one. He has an extraordinary power of treating military disaster in depth and yet with pace, whether on the frontiers of Rome or British India, and of analyzing the tensions of command. Gripping as an action story, deeply moving on the individual level, it involves one as an eye-witness from beginning to end' - Mary Renault. 'I found the book gripping. I am not a Frontier man but the account of the tribal situation on the Frontier and of the atmosphere accords with all I have read or heard about it. The author brings out movingly and with skill several points of vital importance to an understanding of British India and the Frontier in particular. Everything depended on India (in this case Pathan) co-operation; this broke down once the British showed lack of confidence and began to retire. The clash of loyalties which then arose was highly dramatic and painful for those involved. The loneliness of such a man as Sandeman is also brought out with skill' - Philip Mason, author of "A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, Its Officers and Men".

My Enemy, My Love


R.T. Stevens - 1978
    A whirlwind romance follows, with Vienna bathed in the brilliance of the last days of the emperor. And when James proposes to Sophie it seems a fitting end to that wonderful, enchanting summer. But darker days are on the horizon as Europe teeters on the brink of war.From the Hardcover edition.

Indian Trilogy: The Deceivers, Nightrunners of Bengal, The Lotus and the Wind


John Masters - 1978
    

Treacherous Waters: A love story full of twists


Teresa Crane - 1978
    Her French husband was killed in the First World War before their son Davie was born, and since then the young widow has put him first in everything. Her motherly instincts tell her that Davie would benefit from having a father, and when Fergus Cameron proposes to her, Annie knows he offers them both comfort and security.But is there more to life than just safety and good sense? When she and Davie bump into Richard Ross near their home in Kew, her instincts are proved correct. Richard, a lawyer, has an easygoing charm and she agrees, at his insistence, to become his wife.But shortly afterwards she wonders if there was more to their original chance meeting than she thought… Why does Richard know more about her past than she does? And can love survive the poison of treachery? From Teresa Crane, author of the smash-hit The Italian House , this is a vivid and unputdownable story of life and love, deception and betrayal.

Easy Money


Frank Roderus - 1978
    A couple of good ol' boys work their way though the west...not afraid of hard work, not afraid of gunplay, not afraid to be on the wrong side of the law upon occasion.

No Survivors


Will Henry - 1978
    In it he shows what General Custer’s lonely stand and final moments at the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn might have been like, militarily and emotionally. Though the history books say that only the horse Comanche escaped alive, Will Henry creates one other survivor, Colonel John Clayton—and he was doomed, too.The fictional Civil War officer who once saved Custer’s life, Clayton leaves a journal describing his later career on the western frontier. As a civilian scout for the U.S. Army, he tries to head off the Fetterman Massacre. He is captured by Crazy Horse and taken into the Oglala Sioux tribe. For nine years he lives as an Indian—the adopted son of Crazy Horse, an intimate of Sitting Bull, and the husband of a medicine woman. He rides with the Indians against the white invaders, but by 1876 he has to make a choice about who he really is.

F.I.S.T.


Joe Eszterhas - 1978
    of the wife he betrayed and the ambitions he tarnished ... and of the dangerous allies who brought him down.F.I.S.T.is a novel peopled with characters as big and as powerful as the diesel trucks they drive, a story shot through with savage violence and deep-etched corruption.F.I.S.T.is an On the Waterfront for the 1970s ... a totally unforgettable reading experience.

Bright Flows the River


Taylor Caldwell - 1978
    He had built an empire out of a worthless scrap of farmland, rising from the wrong side of the tracks to move gracefully within the inner circles of the very rich: the American dream came true for him; now it was turning into a nightmare..: one night he tried to kill himself in his car; suddenly he was forced to come to terms with what he'd been and what he'd become: drama of a man's struggle for power.

Appalachee Red


Raymond Andrews - 1978
    Bawdy and sometimes horrifying, hilarious on the way to being tragic, Raymond Andrews's Muskhogean County novels tell of black life in the Deep South from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the 1960s, from the days of mules and white men with bullwhips to the moment when the pendulum began to swing.Andrews's first novel, Appalachee Red, is one of hard labor in the midday sun and sweet jukebox nights, of howling passion and gunpoint negotiations, of a mean white sheriff and of the enormous red-skinned black man who changed it all.

The Haunting of Kildoran Abbey


Eve Bunting - 1978
    Caught in the grip of a severe famine, eight hungry homeless youngsters join forces for one simple mission: to steal food from the rich and feed the poor.

The Days of Winter


Cynthia Freeman - 1978
    The blazing saga of Europe caught between two world wars...and a family redeemed from pride and sin by their passionate humanity.RUBIN -- who defied his upper-class English rank to love a woman his family called whore.MAGDA -- lifted from the nightworld of Bucharest and Paris by a man she was driven to betray.JEANETTE -- fated to relive her mother's sins as the wife of one man, mistress to his brother.JEAN-PAUL -- who could never give his own name to Jeanette, or to the child of their love.

Prince Valiant, Vol. 3: Queen of the Misty Isles


Hal Foster - 1978
    

The Bond Slave


Sallie Lee Bell - 1978