Best of
Historical-Fiction

1988

The Zion Chronicles Complete Set


Bodie Thoene - 1988
    Out of the ashes of the Holocaust, a sweeping historical drama of an infant nation, her brave people and their struggle for survival against overwhelming odds.

The North and South Trilogy: North and South / Love and War / Heaven and Hell


John Jakes - 1988
    In the years leading up to the Civil War, one enduring friendship embodies the tensions of a nation. Orry Main from South Carolina and George Hazard from Pennsylvania forge a lasting bond while training at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Together they fight in the Mexican-American War, but their closeness is tested as their regional politics diverge. As the first rounds are fired at Fort Sumter, Orry and George find themselves on different sides of the coming struggle. In John Jakes’s unmatched style, North and South launches a trilogy that captures the fierce passions of a country at the precipice of disaster.In Love and War, the Main and Hazard families clash on and off the Civil War’s battlefields as they grapple with the violent realities of a divided nation. With the Confederate and Union armies furiously fighting, the once-steadfast bond between the Main and Hazard families continues to be tested. From opposite sides of the conflict, they face heartache and triumph on the frontlines as they fight for the future of the nation and their loved ones. With his impeccable research and unfailing devotion to the historical record, John Jakes offers his most enthralling and enduring tale yet.In Heaven and Hell, the battle between the Mains and Hazards—and Confederate and Union armies—comes to a brilliant end. The last days of the Civil War bring no peace for the Main and Hazard families. As the Mains’ South smolders in the ruins of defeat, the Hazards’ North pushes blindly for relentless industrial progress. Both the nation and the families’ long-standing bond hover on the brink of destruction. In the series’ epic conclusion, Jakes expertly blends personal conflict with historical events, crafting a haunting page-turner about America’s constant change and unyielding hope.

Samarkand


Amin Maalouf - 1988
    Recognising genuis, the judge decides to spare him and gives him instead a small, blank book, encouraging him to confine his thoughts to it alone. Thus begins the seamless blend of fact and fiction that is Samarkand. Vividly re-creating the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, Amin Maalouf spans continents and centuries with breathtaking vision: the dusky exoticism of 11th-century Persia, with its poetesses and assassins; the same country's struggles nine hundred years later, seen through the eyes of an American academic obsessed with finding the original manuscript; and the fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, whose tragedy led to the Rubaiyaat's final resting place - all are brought to life with keen assurance by this gifted and award-winning writer.

Dances with Wolves


Michael Blake - 1988
    Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever. Relive the adventure and beauty of the incredible movie, Dances with Wolves.

Follow the Drinking Gourd


Jeanette Winter - 1988
    in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions. Rich paintings interpret the strong story in a clean, primitive style enhanced by bold colors. The rhythmic compositions have an energetic presence that's compelling. A fine rendering of history in picturebook format."--(starred) Booklist.

Green City in the Sun


Barbara Wood - 1988
    "Domina" and "Vital Signs" are written by the same author.

Kingdom of Shadows


Barbara Erskine - 1988
    And fueling her feelings of isolation is a strange, growing fascination with an ancestress from the distant past. Troubled by haunting inexplicable dreams that terrify – but also powerfully compel – her, Clare is forced to look back through the centuries for answers.In 1306, Scotland is at war. Isobel, Countess of Buchan, faces fear and the prospect of untimely death as the fighting surrounds her. But passionate and headstrong, her trials escalate when she is persecuted for her part in crowning Robert the Bruce, her lover.Duncairn, Isobel's home and Clare's beloved heritage, becomes a battleground for passions that span the centuries. As husband Paul's recklessness threatens their security, Clare must fight to save Duncairn, and to save herself from the powers of Isobel…

Fair and Tender Ladies


Lee Smith - 1988
    Ivy's talent as a budding writer is recognized early on, but just as she is about to realize her dream of going north to school, she is betrayed by her passionate nature. Facing an unwed pregnancy and publicly admonished for her sins, Ivy marries a childhood friend who takes her back to the family homestead, where she bears several children and endures the endless toil of a farmer's wife. Through her trials Ivy holds firm, knowing that her life will hold happiness one day.

Alaska


James A. Michener - 1988
    Michener guides us through Alaska’s fierce terrain and history, from the long-forgotten past to the bustling present. As his characters struggle for survival, Michener weaves together the exciting high points of Alaska’s story: its brutal origins; the American acquisition; the gold rush; the tremendous growth and exploitation of the salmon industry; the arduous construction of the Alcan Highway, undertaken to defend the territory during World War II. A spellbinding portrait of a human community fighting to establish its place in the world, Alaska traces a bold and majestic saga of the enduring spirit of a land and its people.  Praise for Alaska   “Few will escape the allure of the land and people [Michener] describes. . . . Alaska takes the reader on a journey through one of the bleakest, richest, most foreboding, and highly inviting territories in our Republic, if not the world. . . . The characters that Michener creates are bigger than life.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review   “Always the master of exhaustive historical research, Michener tracks the settling of Alaska [in] vividly detailed scenes and well-developed characters.”—Boston Herald   “Michener is still, sentence for sentence, writing’s fastest attention grabber.”—The New York Times

The Hawthorne Heritage


Teresa Crane - 1988
    She is surrounded by all the grandeur and respectability money can buy – but without the furnishings of affection.Robert Fitzbolton, a young aristocrat, is the companion of her lonely childhood, her comfort through family tragedy and the heartache of young love. But is the support of Robert’s friendship enough?Together they flee to Florence searching for freedom and fulfilment. Robert finds what he is seeking, but Jessica is a true Hawthorne and is drawn – inevitably – back to Melbury, to her destiny…. The Hawthorne’s Heritage is a compelling historical romance of betrayal, love, and friendship perfect for fans of Lily Graham and Natalie Meg Evans.

The Blue Mountain


Meir Shalev - 1988
    Narrated by Baruch, a grandson of one of the founding fathers of the village, this lyrical novel transcends time and place by touching on issues of universal relevance, showcasing the skill of a master storyteller who never fails to entertain.

A Vision of Light


Judith Merkle Riley - 1988
    However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

To Dance with Kings


Rosalind Laker - 1988
    Determined to give her daughter a better life than the one she herself has lived, the young mother vows to break the newborn’s bonds of poverty and ensure that she fulfills her destiny—to dance with kings. Purely by chance, a drunken nobleman witnesses the birth and makes a reckless promise to return for Marguerite in seventeen years. With those fateful words, events are set into motion that will span three monarchies, affecting the lives of four generations of women.Marguerite becomes part of the royal court of the Sun King, but her fairy-tale existence is torn out from under her by a change of political winds. Jasmin, Marguerite’s daughter, is born to the life of privilege her grandmother dreamed of, but tempts fate by daring to catch the eye of the king. Violette, Marguerite’s granddaughter, is drawn to the nefarious side of life among the nobles at Versailles. And Rose, Violette’s daughter, becomes a lady-in-waiting and confidante to Marie Antoinette. Through Rose, a love lost generations before will come full circle, even as the ground beneath Versailles begins to rumble with the chaos of the coming revolution.An epic generational tale of loves lost, promises kept, dreams broken, and monarchies shattered, To Dance with Kings is a story of passion and privilege, humble beginnings and limitless ambition.

Brother Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones / One Corpse Too Many / Monk's Hood


Ellis Peters - 1988
    Together for the first time in one volume, the omnibus contains "A Morbid Taste for Bones", "One Corpse Too Many" and "Monk's-Hood", the first three Brother Cadfael mysteries in the crime series.

Down Lambeth Way


Mary Jane Staples - 1988
    Perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Maggie Ford and Katie Flynn. PRAISE FOR THE ADAMS FAMILY SERIES! "Mary Jane Staples makes you care about her characters, which explains why her books have enjoyed so much popularity" -- Take a Break"Forget Eastenders, this it the London of old, when people knew each other's names and communities really pulled together." -- Woman's Realm"Mary Jane Staples completely capture the feel of the period and the essence of the people...has warmth, humour and charm. An ideal book for you holiday reading." Finesse "I get so engrossed in the stories I feel like one of the family." - ***** Reader review. "The story of the Adams family is just wonderful, I can't put this book down. You feel part of the family as you read all about them." -- ***** Reader review.*********************************ON THE EVE OF WAR, CAN SHE AND HER FAMILY PULL THROUGH?The Adams family were poor, cheerful and, above all, respectable.There was Mrs Adams, a widow having lost her husband in the Boer War; Boots, the bright one; Tommy, the quiet one; Sammy, a wheeler dealer in the making; and Lizzy. Lizzy was a real pearl - one of the prettiest girls in Walworth.When Lizzy falls in love it is 1914. War is coming and everyone is going to be affected. Will the Adams family - gutsy, tough and cheeky - pull through? Down Lambeth Way is the first in Mary Jane Staples's Adams Family series. Their story continues in Our Emily.

A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael


Ellis Peters - 1988
    Here, her chronicles continue with a Christmas story, a tale of robbery and attempted murder, and a narrative of Brother Cadfael's early years.

Quest for a Maid


Frances Mary Hendry - 1988
    Meg Wright is nine when she hides under a table and hears her sister Inge kill the King of Scotland by witchcraft, setting in motion a treacherous power struggle.

Peking


Anthony Grey - 1988
    He burns to save the world’s largest nation from Communism. But on the cold, unforgiving Long March, amid horror and despair too great for Christianity to salve, Jakob becomes entangled with Mei-ling, a beautiful and fervent revolutionary. Powerful new emotions challenge and reshape his faith—and entrap him for life in the vast country’s tortured destiny.Once held hostage by Red Guards in Peking for more than two years, author Anthony Grey crafts a portrait of China as a land of great beauty and harshness, of triumph and tragedy, as he traces the path of China’s Communist party from its covert inception through purge and revolution in an epic novel that enhances the reader’s understanding of modern China.

She Who Remembers


Linda Lay Shuler - 1988
    A beautiful woman born in the American southwest into the long extinct Anasazi tribe, long before Columbus...whose blue eyes marked her as a witch and set her apart from the Indian tribe that raised her.Following her path of destiny in a vanished world of great stone cities and trackless wilderness warring tribes and mysterious trabelers from other lands, Kwani found love with Kokopelli, the Toltec magician, who rescued her from death and took her to the Place of the Eagle Clan. There she was transformed from an outcast to the Chosen of the Gods, where she became She Who Remembers and taught young girls the ancient secrets only women know...secrets that provided her with inner power to overcome and triumph--and change her life forever.

The Corsican Woman


Madge Swindells - 1988
     When the beautiful Sybilia is married off to the son of her town’s leader, she soon discovers that being a woman in 1940s Corisca comes with few freedoms. But when the Second World War reaches the remote island, Sybilia is pressed into service for her country as a spy and as an assistant to a new arrival in town: the American captain Robin Moore. The two fall into a passionate love, much to the anger of her cruel father-in-law. Pregnant with Moore’s child, she is left a pariah when her lover is posted abroad, never to return again. Sybilia lives out the next twenty-five years alone, burdened with a deep sadness at the betrayal and loss of her lover. It isn’t until long after the war ends when she discovers the true fate of Robin Moore. A fate that sets her on the path to vengeance…

The Devil's Arithmetic


Jane Yolen - 1988
    But this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past. Only she knows the horrors that await.

Wyvern


A.A. Attanasio - 1988
    This is the time when Jaki Gefjon was born in the dark jungle of Borneo. A fair-skinned half-breed, Jaki is outcast as a devil child--until he emerges from the jungle and enters upon an epic adventure through violence, treachery, mysticism and love.

The Sheikh And The Dustbin, And, Other Mc Auslan Stories


George MacDonald Fraser - 1988
    George MacDonald Fraser is the author of the "Flashman" novels.

Samantha's Boxed Set


Susan S. Adler - 1988
    Orphaned at age five and raised by her wealthy Victorian-era grandmother, Mary Edwards, whom she called Grandmary, in fictional Mount Bedford, New York, Samantha befriends a poor servant girl named Nellie O'Malley. Eventually Samantha, Nellie and Nellie's young sisters are adopted by Samantha's uncle Gardner Edwards and aunt Cornelia. The themes of Samantha's books include women's suffrage, child labor, and classism.This is a Boxed set of 6 books of Samantha An American Girl --1st book=Meet Samantha 2 book=Samantha learns a lesson 3rd book= Samantha's surprise 4th book= Happy Birthday Samantha 5th book Samantha Saves the day 6th book Changes for Samantha.

Wintercombe


Pamela Belle - 1988
    When enemy troops invade the house and a maniacal Lieutenant terrorizes the family, Silence St. Barbe begins a hopeless love affair with the Royalist captain who defends her honor and protects her children.

Three Daughters


Consuelo Saah Baehr - 1988
    Uprooted by war, Miriam enters a world where the old constraints slip away with thrilling and disastrous results. Miriam’s rebellious daughter, Nadia, is thrilled with the opportunity for a modern life that her elite education provides. But when she falls in love with an outsider, the clan reins her back with a shocking finality. Nijmeh, Nadia's daughter, is an only child and the path her father, the sheik, sets for her is fraught with difficulties, yet it prepares her for her ultimate journey to America, where she finds her future.Each woman, in her own time and in her own way, experiences a world in transition through war and social change...and each must stretch the bounds of her loyalty, her courage, and her heart.

East of the Sun


Barbara Bickmore - 1988
    . . Filled with passions, heartbreak and death." Chicago Sun-Times.Liliane. Carolyn. Courtney. For half a century, they would devote themselves to the people of Simbayo, women healers bringing faith and hope to a beleaguered land . . . and to each other.

Libra


Don DeLillo - 1988
    Kennedy, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald's odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When "history" presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the president will galvanize the nation against communism, the scales are irrevocably tipped.A gripping, masterful blend of fact and fiction, alive with meticulously portrayed characters both real and created, Libra is a grave, haunting, and brilliant examination of an event that has become an indelible part of the American psyche.

The Last Hero


Peter Forbath - 1988
    In this novel the author takes up the life of the African explorer, H.M.Stanley, and creates an epic novel based on his last dangerous mission into the African interior to rescue the Emin Pasha, the only man holding back the enemy in the outreaches of the British Empire.

The Road to Avalon


Joan Wolf - 1988
    This realistic retelling of the legend shows Arthur severing the bonds of bastardy, vanquishing the Saxons, and loving one woman. As the daring teenage warrior prepares for the throne, he discovers true love with Morgan of Avalon, the youngest of Merlin’s daughters, but fate cruelly thwarts their hopes for a future together. Never before has a telling of the Arthur story made the breathtaking drama of this charismatic king more real or moving.

Daughter of Lir


Diana Norman - 1988
    

In Pale Battalions


Robert Goddard - 1988
    At last the time has come when secrets can be shared and explanations begin... Their journey starts with an unscheduled stop at the imposing Thiepval Memorial to the dead of the Battle of the Somme near Amiens. Amongst those commemorated is Leonora's father. The date of his death is recorded as 30th April, 1916. But Leonora wasn't born until 14th March 1917. Penelope at once supposes a simple wartime illegitimacy as the clue to her mother's unhappy childhood and the family's sundered connections with her aristocratic heritage, about which she has always known so little. But nothing could have prepared her, or the reader, for the extraordinary story that is about to unfold.

Pearl of the Orient


Christopher Nicole - 1988
     Teng Lee, an opportunity seeking merchant, dreams of leaving China and settling down in paradise. He currently works as a roving diplomat between the struggling countries and colonies of Southeast Asia, but he longs to be free. It’s not long before he senses a chance to set himself up forever after crossing paths with Stamford Raffles, a visionary young colonial official who dreams of conquests to expand Britain’s growing empire. After the beautiful Elizabeth Blaine is kidnaped by pirates, Lee sees a chance to play one country against another in an international chess game, where he is sure to emerge as the winner. But he doesn’t count on affairs of the heart getting in the way in The Pearl of the Orient. Christopher Nicole weaves a superb tapestry of romance and intrigue around the glowing dawn of the great city of Singapore. Born in 1930, Christopher Nicole spent his early years in British Guyana and the West Indies — years that would later strongly influence much of his writing. He has written under a number of pseudonyms and many of his fifty novels are historical with a West Indian background

Storm Testament VI: Rockwell


Lee Nelson - 1988
    He drank his whiskey straight, signed his name with an X, and rode the fastest horses, while defending the early Mormon prophets. This is the story of Porter Rockwell, the destroying angel of the old west.

A Mother's Secret


Carolyn Haddad - 1988
    Fleeing the Nazis, a Jewis resistance fighter, Eliza Wolf, entrusts her newborn baby to the care of a local peasant woman.

The Regiment


Christopher Nicole - 1988
    More dangerous than the perils of war, however, is the envy of his fellow officers and the double edge of his most cherished friendship.

Mattie


Judy Alter - 1988
    Through the years of her practice, Mattie's life is filled with romance and disappointments, battles won and loved ones lost, challenges met and opportunities passed. Through it all she endures. And as the years pass, her life takes on a richness and quality she knows she coiuld not have found anywhere else or at any other time.Mattie offers a realistic and haunting portrait of life on the plains and of a most unforgettable woman.

Gondar


Nicholas Luard - 1988
    Richly created and lushly told, it is peopled with unforgettable characters both real and imaginary, set in an Africa of violence, spectacle and romance.

Cafe Nevo


Barbara Rogan - 1988
    It is presided over by Emmanuel Sternholz, the proprietor-waiter whose unblinking gaze takes in the tangled web of destinies and desires spun out around him. In this comic, tragic, and compelling mosaic of intertwined lives, Barbara Rogan has created a dazzling work of fiction - and a marvelously illuminating mirror of Israel today. "An inspired, passionate work of fiction." (Kirkus Reviews) "A special book...one you'll remember and want to pass on to a friend." (Erie Times News)

Light a Distant Fire


Lucia St. Clair Robson - 1988
    But after years of humbly acquiescing to the white men's demands, he was ready to fight no matter what the cost. The young men would have the chance to earn war honors. Their women would have reason to be proud of them again.When "Old Man" Jackson declared war on the Seminole, he never envisioned battling a people who would become symbols of courage, loyalty, and patriotism. Led by the mighty warrior Osceola and witnessed by his beloved daughter Little Warrior, they were men and women fighting an unjust war of greed and aggression -- and the bonds of love and rebellion that united them would thrust them into the heart of a conflict that would change the world and their lives forever."Robson is especially good at detailing the daily life of the 19th Century Seminoles and her Osceola is a charismatic and proud hero." -- The Orlando Sentinel

The Harrogate Secret


Catherine Cookson - 1988
    Already his services were in demand as a carrier of messages and certain small packages for those whose activities made them the target of the Customs and Excise men.As well as agile, Freddie was also reckoned to be lucky, but on such a night as brought him to The Towers, the home of Mr Roderick Gallagher, both luck and courage were to be tested to the limit.From that night on, things really began to happen to Freddie, and the best of them came when he gained the friendship and patronage of Miss Maggie Hewitt, who was to play a major role in shaping his life and fortunes. But he would still need all his luck and resourcefulness to escape the long shadow cast by Roderick Gallagher, whose power and influence threatened all who crossed his path . . .

The Cape Ann


Faith Sullivan - 1988
    But when Lark's father's gambling threatens the down payment her mother has worked so hard to save, Lark's mother takes matters into her own indomitable hands. A disarmingly involving portrait of a family struggling to stay together through the Great Depression, The Cape Ann is an unforgettable story of life from a child's-eye view.

Life as Carola: A Tale of the Renaissance


Joan Marshall Grant - 1988
    Yet she and her mother are forced to leave the family castle and wander penniless. They join a band of strolling actors, but opportunity always seems to elude them. Eventually, Carola enters a convent as a novice. But Carola has developed many natural psychic abilities and this leads to a terrible conflict in which she is accused of witchcraft. She becomes the target of vicious fanaticism and only barely manages to elude death.Life as Carola is a vivid portrayal of the struggle between good and evil and the power of the noble human spirit to conquer that which persecutes it.

Winner


Maureen O'Donoghue - 1988
    Winner is the spellbinding saga of Macha Sheridan, the passionate gypsy daughter of a horse-trading rogue, fated to ride and race with a spirit no man can match, driven to love, destined to survive.

A Cargo of Women: The Novel


Babette Smith - 1988
    Caught in an England convulsed by industrial change, they became the unwitting and unwilling pioneers of a new land.Framing them all is the story of the indomitable Susannah Watson who, trapped in the crowded filthy slums of Nottingham, stole because she "could not bear to see her children starving". Separated forever from her husband and four children, Susannah was transported for 14 years but served 16. She endured the convict system at its worst, yet emerged triumphant to die in her bed aged 83 singing Rock of Ages.First published by Macmillan in 1991, Babette Smith's timeless classic has been hailed as the greatest recounting of an extraordinary chapter in our colonial history.

Becky


E.V. Thompson - 1988
    Book is in Very good condition throughout. A Poignant And Involving Love Story That Vividly Portrays The Bristol Of The Mid-nineteenth Century.

Charlie and the Sir


Frank Roderus - 1988
    He just thought he'd help out the spindly English gentleman who was being picked on by some of the local hardcases down at the train station. But in return for his help, Charlie got himself a job - the most dangerous one he'd ever had - and it was a ride from Cheyenne into perdition.

Cinnamon Wharf


Janice Young Brooks - 1988
    But her illegitimate birth branded her as a woman apart-and her brains and spirit made her reject playing a woman's role in a world of wealth and power run by men. This is her spellbinding story...of her rise to rule the vast spice trade that united might England with the romantic East...of her searing passion for a man whom it was scandalous to desire...of a marriage that turned into the greatest trial a woman could face...and of the gamble she took and reward she reaped when she staked all on a love she had never dared dream would be hers.

Remember This Dream


Harold Gershowitz - 1988
    1911, a time of continuing upheaval for Polish Jews, an era of exodus, when the poor and proud seek new lands of promise across vast seas...bold dreams are followed toward a brighter future. The turbulence of the times separate sisters Anna and Dvoyra. On a ship teeming with fellow immigrants bound for America, Anna journeys with her children to join her husband in Baltimore only to have her highest hopes dashed and her deepest passions aroused. Dvoyra, who longs to join Anna in America, is forced to remain in Poland with her family. For nearly half a century and half a world apart, clinging to the dream that someday they will be reunited, both families summon astonishing courage in the face of great adversity, Anna in the grip of relentless poverty, and Dvoyra amid the horrors of anti-Semitism, war and captivity. Ultimately their most heartfelt dreams are fulfilled in the lives of their children.

Esther: The Story of a Woman Who Saved a Nation


Ellen Gunderson Traylor - 1988
    Esther is a story of God's faithfulness to those obedient to His highest purposes; it is a moving monument to faith.

Baby Sweet's


Raymond Andrews - 1988
    On Independence Day, 1966, the partners open Muskhogean County's first bordello, with two dark-skinned black women, Lana Lips and Fig, ready for the expected white clientele. Then a mysterious woman, announcing herself as the 'third whore,' arrives--and proclaims that her body will be 'for colored only.'

Waterlily


Ella Cara Deloria - 1988
    This novel of the Dakota Sioux written by Sioux ethnologist Deloria takes protagonist Waterlily through the everyday and the extraordinary events of a Sioux woman's life.

The Falcon of Siam


Axel Aylwen - 1988
    The Falcon of Siam: An action-adventure thriller that weaves historical fiction, epic storytelling and high drama into an unforgettable journey where a young Greek stowaway on a British East India Company ship finds his destiny in opulent 17th-century Thailand.

Street Lavender


Chris Hunt - 1988
    All I can say is that there were boys younger than me down the coal mines every day of their lives, and boys with bleeding limbs forced up chimney flues, with brine rubbed in their wounds to harden their flesh. That's true immorality; so save your pity and revulsion for that.London in the final quarter of the nineteenth century, where the wealth and elegance of the few lies heavily on top of the squalor of the many. In its busy West End streets, Willie Smith soon learns to use his youth and beauty as a means to escape the grinding poverty of his East End background, as he discovers the real world that lies hidden beneath the veneer of Victorian respectability.

Give Us This Day, Part 1 of 2


R.F. Delderfield - 1988
    The last remnants of the titanic energy that fueled Victoria's Empire was about to be wasted on the bloody fields of Flanders. At the center stands Adam Swann: aging but still indomitable and still as much in love with Henrietta as he was when he first lifted her on his horse and carried her away. They are now surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Through their eyes we see the ferment of a country moving into the modern world.

Mahatma Vs Gandhi


Dinkar Joshi - 1988
    The tussle between the father and the son was the most poignant and pathetic stories of their lives. Gandhi,who was busy attending meetings and conferences where the fate of forty crore Indians was to be decided, would often find headlines in a newspaper screaming 'Police arrested drunk Harilal for creating a scene on the road'. And sometimes, Harilal himself from the dias of the fundamentalist Muslim organization's meeting - 'I shall continue fighting till Ba and Bapu embrace Islam.'In this book the author tries to make an ardent effort to understand yet another enigmatic facet of human life.

In the Shadow of the Peacock


Grace Edwards-Yearwood - 1988
    Three Black women find the strength to deal with racism, poverty, and tragedy while living in Harlem during the explosive period of time between the 1940s and the 1960s.

Sunburn Lake


Tom De Haven - 1988
    The second takes place in contemporary New Jersey as a real estate entrepreneur reminisces about her youth. Finally, the longest novella moves to the year 2028 in a chilling, post-apocalyptic fable about a 15-year-old girl.

Paper Doll


Jim Shepard - 1988
    But now, despite their myriad limitations, they’ve been tasked with living through the tension and boredom of base life, saving one another’s lives, and rejoicing at those missions they’ve survived—until they’re confronted by the shock of a mission directed against the ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt, a mission that will outfly the capacities of their fighter escorts and take them hundreds of miles through the most heavily defended sectors of the German Air Defense.   National Book Award finalist and author of The Book of Aron Jim Shepard brilliantly illustrates both the lunacy and intimacy of these young men’s lives on the ground as well as their growing disillusionment and terror at what lies ahead. Unsentimental and unsparing in its honesty, Paper Doll portrays with stirring clarity the realities of war and the bonds forged in the face of death.

The Revolutionist


Robert Littell - 1988
     Hailed as "the American le Carré," Robert Littell presents an ambitious novel about star-crossed idealist Alexander Til. When Til returns from America to Petrograd on the eve of the October Revolution in 1917, it is to put his life on the line in the hope of transforming Russia. But after witnessing the birth of a new era, he watches the people, and his own ideals, trampled by the rise of Josef Stalin-with whom Til is destined to have a shattering confrontation. Taking readers from the storming of the Winter Palace to the nightmares of the gulag, The Revolutionist is a masterwork of historical fiction.