This story, about how a young black soldier rescues a white soldier, opens young readers' eyes to the injustices of slavery and the senselessness of war. Highly charged emotionally, this masterful retelling of a true story is seen through the white soldier's eyes.

    These five omnibus volumes, beautifully produced and boxed, contain 7,000 pages of what has often been described as a single, continuous narrative. They are a perfect tribute for such a literary achievement, and a perfect gift for the O’Brian enthusiast.

    I can see it on your face."For a moment, time seemed suspended as Nathan probed the inward recesses of his soul. There was still the incredulousness, still the sense of hearing something that couldn't possibly be true. And yet he knew it was. He knew without the least shadow of doubt that everything Joseph was telling him was true. And so, finally, with a wonder of his own, he said, "Yes, Joseph, I believe you."Pillar of Light — the first volume in the series The Work and the Glory — begins the epic story of the Benjamin Steed family. In the 1820s they move from Vermont to Palmyra Township in upstate New York in search of better farmland. There they meet a young man named Joseph Smith and are thrown into the maelstrom of conflict and controversy that swirls around him. Did he really see the Father and the Son in a pillar of light? Has he truly been visited by angelic messengers? What is all this talk about gold plates and new scripture? In short, is he a prophet and seer or a monumental fraud? The answers each one gives to these questions — intensely personal, potentially divisive — will dramatically affect the lives of the Steeds forever after.Author Gerald N. Lund here masterfully weaves together historical reality and high-powered fiction. In his hands this combination seems to make the reader an eyewitness to the early scenes of the Restoration, thus deepening one's understanding and appreciation of those momentous events. The well-drawn plot and fictional characters present a moving, gripping story. Here are Benjamin and Mary Ann Steed, devoted to each other as man and wife, yet at odds over religion; Joshua, their volatile son, who rebels and heads for trouble; the sensitive Nathan, their second son, in whom Joseph Smith's message strikes a responsive chord; the beautiful Lydia McBride, who captures the hearts of both Joshua and Nathan.This book skillfully explores the inmost motivations of Joseph Smith and his early followers and the responses of typical contemporary families to the claims he made. These people come to life in this powerful historical novel, a story that captures both the heartache and the happiness that came in the wake of Joseph's experience with the pillar of light.

    1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned.Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come—the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world.

     When tragedy strikes, Jesse is rescued by the Lakota Sioux, among whom she finds unexpected peace, a sense of belonging, and the love of a lifetime. A compelling tale of one woman’s extraordinary faith as God leads her from prairie schooner to tepee, from tepee to frontier fort and on to a growing state capitol.

     Marietta von Burgheim is a woman of beauty and morality, and an heiress to a fortune. Turning her back on the responsibilities of her noble birth and her father's wrath, Marietta joins a student resistance group determined to overthrow the Nazis. Bill Roth, Reuters' correspondent based in pre-war Berlin, is the maverick heir to his uncle, an American industrialist. When Bill and Marietta meet they fall headlong in love, but their passion is overshadowed by the horror of the Nazi occupation and the outbreak of war. Hugo von Hesse, Marietta's step-brother, makes a meteoric rise through the ranks to become a powerful SS officer. Reaching the pinnacle of power in the New Order, Hugo uses his position to destroy the von Burgheims and take over the family fortune. As the Nazis tighten their grip on Europe, the struggle between Marietta, Bill and Hugo becomes a microcosm of the war itself – violent, bloody and treacherous. Madge Swindells was born and educated in England. As a teenager, she emigrated to South Africa where she studied archaeology at Cape Town University. Later, in England, she was a Fleet Street journalist and the manager of her own publishing company. Her earlier novels, Summer Harvest, Song of the Wind, Shadows on the Snow, The Corsican Woman, The Sentinel and Harvesting the Past were international bestsellers and have been translated into eight languages. She lives in South Africa.

    A skillful blend of fact and fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as "las mariposas," or "the butterflies," in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as "the butterflies" near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life.In the Time of the Butterflies is an American Library Association Notable Book and a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award nominee.

    In 1948 six-year-old Austen Kittredge III leaves his widowed father to live with his paternal grandparents on their farm in the township of Lost Nation. Escapades at the county fair, doings at the annual family reunion and Shakespeare performance, and conflicts at the one-room schoolhouse are all recounted lovingly in this enchanting coming-of-age story filled with luminous memories and the deepest of childhood secrets, as a boy is molded into a man.

    The first three volumes of the author's Marine saga, Semper Fi, Call to Arms, and Counterattack, are published together in a World War II epic reaching from Shanghai to Guadalcanal.

    Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soul-mate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

    Forced to work all hours for Ma Kettle, owner of the local sweet shop, she can soon take no more and runs away. At first luck appears to be on her side. Sharing a flat with Ellen, an old school pal who has a special 'friend' paying the rent, keeps the wolf from the door. But fate conspires against them and Biddy finds herself homeless once more, living rough on the mean streets of Liverpool. When she applies for the post of maid with the Gallagher family, Biddy starts to feel she might at last be able to lead a normal life. Especially when she meets Dai, a young Welshman working the trawlers. But Nellie Gallagher has a secret that will change all their lives...

    A Marine aviator, an Army paratrooper and demolitions expert, and a non-com radio man are on an impossible mission for the OSS - sabotaging the resupply of German ships and submarines - by any means necessary! First Lieutenant Cletus Frade is fresh from Guadalcanal. He teams up with Second Lieutenant Anthony Pelosi and Sergeant David Ettinger for the most critical OSS operation of the war. Under the direction of the mysterious Colonel Loman, they venture into a simmering stew of German and Allied agents, collaborators, and government security thugs, of men and women hiding their pasts and plotting their futures - all in supposedly neutral city of Buenos Aires.

    The Twilight of Courage is a retelling of World War II that intertwines the stories of two American journalists' escape from the collapse of Warsaw, with those of an orphaned baby's journey to Jerusalem, a mathematician's attempt to crack Nazi code, and more.

    Intelligent and ambitious, Thu is convinced that her destiny is greater than to marry a peasant, tend crops and breed sons. She wants more. When Hui, aristocrat, healer and famed seer, anchors his barge at the nearby temple, young Thu swims to it, willing to offer him anything, even herself, for a glimpse of her future. And so she starts a journey that finally leads her to power as Lady Thu, beloved concubine of Ramses III - until, once again, she wants more.

    Eventually she learns that being different is a secret that all humans share—from her mother who flees into madness, to her friend Georg whose parents pretend he's a girl, to the Jews Trudy harbors in her cellar.Ursula Hegi brings us a timeless and unforgettable story in Trudi and a small town, weaving together a profound tapestry of emotional power, humanity, and truth.

    She is a warrior, a priestess, and a threat to the powers of Ancient Rome. This breathtaking saga from acclaimed newcomer Donna Gillespie unveils a fascinating world of pagans and slaves, warriors and nobles--and the extraordinary life of a legendary woman they called the Light Bearer.

    When she discovers her aunt is running a brothel in St Giles-in-the-Fields, Penitence has no option but to point out the wickedness.The Plague releases its horror over London's stress and rookeries and, one by one, the inhabitants of Dog Yard die - many with a wild, rollicking bravery - forcing Penitence to acknowledge that courage and a paradoxical decency are to be found among the wicked as much as the saintly. Her former morality shaken, she meets Aphra Behn, playwright and spy for Charles II, who introduces her to the wicked Restoration stage, where nearly all England's first actresses are somebody's mistress, and Penitence is changed forever.

    And now that she’s at last become its owner, she suspects that she was drawn there for a reason.As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love.Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past...until she realizes Mariana’s life is threatening to eclipse her own, and she must find a way to lay the past to rest or lose the chance for happiness in her own time.

    But after two months of applying and interviewing for several different openings, then being summarily rejected because she was a woman, she had almost given up hope.When Cheney hears that a man named Asa Mercer is looking for a doctor to care for the two hundred women he is transporting on an extended sea voyage from New York to Washington Territory, she grabs the position. Mercer is actually delighted that Cheney is a female doctor who can also help chaperone these potential brides-to-be for the frontiersmen in the West.But even before the journey begins, a foreboding shadow darkens what Cheney had thought was a great opportunity to finally use her talents and education. Was she really prepared for what this responsibility requires?

    Addy's stories tell of her daring escape with her mother from slavery, and the challenges they face afterward as they try to reunite their family. But Addy's stories are about much more than hardship. They are full of the love and hope that help her get through the worst of times and keep her dreams alive The perfect way to learn about Addy is with a complete set of her six books in an attractive slipcase.

    It's difficult to say which is harder for her and fellow nurse Laura Ronconi—their grueling work in the hospital, or the frictions and financial hardships at home. Bethan's Communist miner father, rigidly Chapel mother, unruly brothers, and delightful but dubiously honest aunt, and Laura's vast Italian café-running family, cause the girls as much worry as any difficult case or strict ward sister. But working-class Pontypridd agrees on one thing—the "crache," or gentry, who live in the big houses on the Common, may be just the other side of town, but they inhabit a different world. So when Bethan and Laura are smitten by two young doctors, can love really bridge the divide? Or is the pull of family too strong, the gulf too wide?

    This modern classic continues to be a touchstone of historical suspense fiction for readers everywhere.The year is 1896. The city is New York. Newspaper reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned by his friend Dr. Laszlo Kreizler—a psychologist, or “alienist”—to view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy abandoned on the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge. From there the two embark on a revolutionary effort in criminology: creating a psychological profile of the perpetrator based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who will kill again before their hunt is over.Fast-paced and riveting, infused with historical detail, The Alienist conjures up Gilded Age New York, with its tenements and mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. It is an age in which questioning society’s belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and fatal consequences.

    He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes's pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. But when an elusive villain enters the picture, their partnership is put to a real test.

    These are mixed fortunes ahead for Evie, and while Lucy grows up in the beautiful Irish countryside, Linnet is all too often forced to throw herself on the mercy of the enormous, impoverished Sullivan family. Life in a slum court during the thirties is far from easy -but when tragedy strikes it becomes the only existence possible for Linnet. Destitute, she disappears into the Liverpool slums like an teardrop in an ocean. Lucy, meanwhile, urgently needs her sister by her side. But she has little idea, when she leaves the farm and sets off to look for Linnet, how their meeting will change their lives for ever. . .

    Set mainly in contemporary Hawaii, it is a spectacular odyssey through fire and water, a journey that begins in the nineteenth century with the fateful meeting of a Yankee sailor and the runaway daughter of a Tahitian chief. Sweeping from that distant past into the present turbulent decade, Kiana Davenport has woven an astonishing, compassionate portrait of her people, one of personal and political complexities - a surreal and provocative, wise and erotic tale of villains and dreamers, of "stone-eaters" and queens, of revolutionaries, and of lepers and healers. Central to all is the matriarch Pono, a statuesque, pure-blooded Hawaiian, a kahuna, or seer, whose past is shrouded in mystery. Pono's love for Duke Kealoha - a man hidden from the world, a man his daughters and granddaughters have never knownis one of the most haunting love stories of our time, a love that lasts through sixty years, a love so profound she "dares everything, commits every conceivable act for him." As the novel opens, Pono's four granddaughters are converging on her run-down coffee plantation on the Big Island, summoned by Pono in her eighty-fourth year. United by their fear of and devotion to Pono, each woman is of "mixed blood" parentage: Ming - Hawaiian-Chinese, is a lover of art and music, who suffers from lupus; Vanya - Hawaiian-Filipino, is a lawyer and a fiery political activist; Rachel - Hawaiian-Japanese, is a great beauty, obsessed with herYakuza husband; JessHawaiian-Caucasian, is a veterinarian, whose pale skin makes her "inferior" in Pono's eyes. Never having known their true genealogy "Pono's girls, " as they are called, have led tormented, scattered lives. Now, caught up in Pono's spell, feeling a sense of "immi

    Shunned by her own family, desperate for work a place to stay, Esther Everatt walks through the night to Sam Brumby's farm, seeking the chance to earn her keep. Reluctantly, the old man takes her on. Able to work alongside any man, Esther soon earns Sam's grudging respect and affection, and at last feels she has found a home she can call her own. But her peace and security are cruelly shattered when old Sam dies: as a woman, she has no right to inherit the lease on the farm. Believing that her passion lies solely with the land and a place of her own, Esther prepares to risk everything to secure her future seeking marriage with a local farmhand. But as war arrives to dash the hopes of a generation, Esther begins to discover that it is only the truest of love that can survive the passing of the seasons ...

    As part of a neo-Nazi gang in her town, she's finally found a sense of belonging. But when she's critically injured in an accident, everything changes.Somehow, in her mind, she has become Chana, a Jewish girl fighting for her own life in the ghettos and concentration camps of World War II.Han Nolan offers powerful insight into one young woman's survival through the Holocaust and another's journey out of hatred and self-loathing.Reader's guide and an interview with the author included.

    Foreign phrases are translated; poems and quotations presented in full; historical figures and events fleshed out; subtle allusions–and there are many–noted. From the origins of the Arabic drink qahveh to a recipe for quince paste, from the medical uses of ants and alum, to Zacco, Zenobia, and Zoroaster, this easy-to-use A-to-Z reference richly illuminates the intricacies of the complex and far-flung Renaissance world Dorothy Dunnett’s creations so colorfully inhabit.

    Handpicked by Bishop Laud, next to the king the most powerful man in England, it is his assignment to infiltrate Puritan villages, turn over "traitors" to the church and crown, and discover the secret identity of the notorious pamphleteer Justin.But when Drew falls in love with a Puritan curate's daughter, his personal fortunes begin to falter as his spiritual yearnings take root. After unwittingly betraying what he knows to be right, the stage is set for his conversion.At last Drew sails to the New World colony of Massachusetts and sets out to win the forgiveness of those whom he has wronged--especially the woman he loves. Only as Bishop Laud reaches his long arm across the ocean in one final threat can Drew prove his true mettle and affections.Trace this unforgettable adventure of one of America's first families of faith, the beginnings of a vibrant spiritual heritage that will span generations.

    What she doesn’t have is Frank, father of her first-born son, the dashing army officer she has always loved.It is 1916 and with the Battle of the Somme approaching, and the casualty list lengthening, Amy must take charge of her husband’s estate, to grow the food her country needs in a time of crisis. But Amy is troubled, with her loyalties torn between her middle-aged husband and her young hero. She turns for comfort to the story of Beauty and the Beast, which seems to mirror her own dilemma: she too is trapped with a man she cannot love.Amy’s conflict drives her to enter the maelstrom of the war itself and face up to its terrors. Her courage does not fail her, but leads her on to discover the shocking secrets of the past, and through them, to the opportunity of lasting happiness that she so deserves. But can she find it, and just who will her future be with?Silver Fountains is an absorbing reimagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, and a fitting sequel to the much-loved Roses Have Thorns. It is an intimate story told with touching honesty, packed full of the passion and tragedy of its time.

    Sweeping from the blood-soaked castles of medieval Wales to the landmark expedition of Lewis and Clark, from the hushed beauty of virgin wilderness to Mandan villages of domed earthen lodges, THE CHILDREN OF FIRST MAN is a triumph of the storyteller's art.

    When he lags behind to practice shooting his new rifle, he is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed man to help Francis come of age and survive the gritty frontier.

    Falsely charged of theft in 1768 London, thirteen-year-old orphaned printer's apprentice Jeremy Proctor finds his only hope in the legendary Sir John Fielding. Fielding, founder of the Bow Street Runners police force, then recruits young Jeremy in his mission to fight London's most wicked crimes.

    He travels back in time to Viking adventures at the court of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. Part of the 1995 Scottish Book Fortnight promotion.

    Now in one volume, the first and second in Susan Howatch's acclaimed series of novels; compelling, searching, wise and witty, they have gained her a huge following.

     Summoned to the magistrate’s office as prime suspect, Rawlings not only clears his own name but impresses Fielding so much with his power of recollection that he is asked to investigate the crime. From gaming hell to fashionable house, Rawlings follows a trail of lustful liaisons and illicit intrigue which prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the girl has had quite a past … a past with threatening secrets. Death in the Dark Walk is a richly atmospheric and compelling Georgian mystery woven around the real characters John Fielding, the phenomenal sightless magistrate known as the ‘Blind Beak’, whose Runners formed London’s early police force, and John Rawlings, the Apothecary reputed to have invented soda water.

    Euphemia Texas Ashby King could ride and shoot like any man, and she was there when Sam Houston's rag-tag army routed Santa Anna at San Jacinto . . . . Though she risked her plantation running the Yankee cotton blockade during the Civil War, Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods still had to defend her family from a corrupt Yankee officer . . . . Bettie Moss King survived wolves, storms, and the Ku Klux Klan to steer her family through the turbulent birth of modern times.Inspired by the author's own Texas roots, here is an unforgettable saga of the grit, determination, and courage of TRUE WOMEN.""Heartfelt . . . The hardships and adventures faced by [this] family are so movingly described that I was in tears." -- The New York Times Book Review

    C. Doherty, each one using characters from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In Chaucer's poem, the pilgrims narrate tales to pass the time during their journey to the sacred shrine of Canterbury; Doherty's pilgrims entertain their companions with stories of mystery, terror, and murder. The Knight's Tale begins with the story of an ancient evil: the destruction of a sinister vampire cult that thrived in the wilderness of Oxfordshire during the reign of William the Conqueror. The tale then leaps two hundred years ahead to Oxford, where students are disappearing and citizens are murdered in a bizarre and brutal fashion. The sheriff of the city and the university authorities are baffled, but Lady Constance, Abbess of the Convent of St. Anne's, believes the murders are connected with the legends of the cult, and petitions the king for help. Two investigators, special commissioner Sir Godfrey Evesden and royal clerk Alexander McBain, arrive in Oxford and begin an investigation. The Archbishop of Canterbury sends unusual assistance in the person of the blind exorcist Dame Edith Mohun who, as a girl, had a horrifying experience with what may have been a remnant of that ancient cult. What this trio discovers and the repercussions for the city and the university form the scarily delightful plot of this novel.

    The story details Ralph's struggle to reconcile the strands of his life.

    Guinevere and Arthur. Lancelot and Merlin and Morgan Le Fay -- all the names of myth are given flesh and blood in this Del Rey Discovery of the Year book!

    What do these ghosts want? That the truth about the violent events of long ago be exposed or remain concealed? Kate must struggle for her life against earthbound spirits and ancient curses as hate, jealousy, revenge and passion do battle across the centuries.

    In return she expects payment: an annual rent of a single rose, to be delivered on the day of translation of St Winifred. But such a beautfiul woman, and with such a substantial dowry, is an attractive proposition for would-be suitors... and even more so if the house should revert to her. Someone it seems, will stop at nothing to prevent the payment of the rose - not even murder. To Brother Cadfael, as ever, falls the enquiry into this sensational crime.The Hermit of Eyton Forest: Ten-year-old Richard Ludel has, rather reluctantly, become the new lord of Eaton following the death of his father. With the position come the inevitable burdens of responsibility, among them the expectation that young Richard will make a marriage of convenience. But Richard has his own ideas, and befriends the young companion of Cuthred the hermit, who has recently taken up residence in Eyton Forest. It is a peaceful place but its tranquility is rudely shattered by the discovery of a corpse, forcing Brother Cadfael to leave his treasured herb garden and begin his quest to solve the mystery and track down a ruthless killer.The Confession of Brother Haluin: A harsh winter, and the roof of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul threatens to give way under the weight of snow. Brother Haulin, working on the necessary repairs in treacherous conditions, slips from the roof and sustains such grave injuries that he makes his deathbed confession to the Abbot and Brother Cadfael. But Haulin recovers, and in order to atone for his sins he sets out on an arduous journey of expiation, with Cadfael as his sole companion. It is a journey which leads to some shocking revelations, and eventually to murder...

    In 1943, when the Germans plan to send all Danish Jews to prison camps, Peter and Elise, eleven-year-old twins, face danger trying to help their Jewish friend Henrik escape to Sweden.

    Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn’t so bad—at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of “Heil Hitler” with his own “Heil Puccini”, and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches. British author Louis de Bernières is well known for his forays into magical realism in such novels as The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Here he keeps it to a minimum, though certainly the secondary characters with whom he populates his island—the drunken priest, the strongman, the fisherman who swims with dolphins—would be at home in any of his wildly imaginative Latin American fictions. Instead, de Bernières seems interested in dissecting the nature of history as he tells his ever-darkening tale from many different perspectives. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin works on many levels, as a love story, a war story and a deconstruction of just what determines the facts that make it into the history books.

    When Englishman Corby Morgan and his young bride Jessie arrive at their recently purchased sugar plantation in nineteenth-century Australia, they embark on a difficult and dangerous existence.

    Slavery is outlawed. A valiant victory - but it’s all too easy to forget that in the rest of the world the inhuman practice is still a part of everyday life. A thought that the usually clear-thinking Mattie Henderson chooses to suppress when she finds herself unexpectedly married and on her way to South Carolina with her new husband.Mattie realises too late that she is heading towards a country where a bitter civil war is about to break out - brother against brother, father against son. And the innocent, as always, will suffer with the guilty.A generation later and the battle is still not won: the grim slave trade still flourishes. This time it is Mattie's estranged and headstrong son Harry who, against the backdrop of the glorious River Nile finds himself caught up in the murderous machinations of the slavers. From the American civil war to the slave trade in Egypt, Freedom’s Banner is the perfect generational saga of love, family and redemption for fans of Josephine Cox, Lily Graham and Natasha Lester.

    But the outbreak of war in 1939 changes everything - especially for the children. Uprooted from their familiar urban existence they are evacuated (some happily, some not) to the country. Then there are the teenagers, whose first loves are accelerated and intensified by the threat of separation; and men and women, too old to fight, who hold the life of the street together. Based on the author's own childhood memories of growing up near Portsmouth, this is a novel which shows us what England was really like then - a story told with such nostalgia and charm that you leave the world it describes longing for the chance to return.

    Cassandra Clark arrives in rural Augusta Springs in 1938, determined to forget a foolish love affair by embracing a new role: first woman doctor in the Australian Flying Doctors' Service.

    This rich tapesty weaves a compelling saga of five families who preserve their own particular characteristics over the centuries, and offer a fascinating glimpse into the future.From the Paperback edition.

    But was she also a murderess? Edinburgh, 1567. Beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots leaves her ill husband???s bedside to attend the wedding festivities of her maid of honour. Hours later, the calm night is shattered by a devastating explosion. The King's body is found in a field with a cloak, a chair, a slipper and a dagger by his lifeless corpse. When stolen letters cast suspicion on the queen herself, she is accused of murder. Was the fiery Mary the perpetrator of the King's bloody murder, or the object of a ruthless plot of betrayal, crafted by England's most masterful assassin, the Raven Master? Only the shadowy scholar Nicholas Segalla can uncover the truth.

    It is, perhaps, the fifteenth century and the ordered tranquillity of a Mediterranean island is about to be shattered by the appearance of two outsiders: one, a castaway, plucked from the sea by fishermen, whose beliefs represent a challenge to the established order; the other, a child abandoned by her mother and suckled by wolves, who knows nothing of the precarious relationship between Church and State but whose innocence will become the subject of a dangerous experiment.But the arrival of the Inquisition on the island creates a darker, more threatening force which will transform what has been a philosophical game of chess into a matter of life and death...

    She meets Richard Baxton-Powell, and Jinnie, thrust into womanhood, also realizes that her maturity stems from life with the Shalemans.

    He has wangled his appointment to be nearer his true love. And of course, he can use the money....Rich in atmosphere and packed with vivid real and fictional characters, few novels are as well imagined or as much fun as this romp through roguish courtiers, rival gangs, rustling, treason, and high ambition.

    The powers of loyalty and survival draw Salina Hastings into the service of a network of civilian spies organized by her father, a Confederate captain and spy. With distinctive historical accuracy based on years of research both on and off site, skilled storyteller T. Elizabeth Renich brings to life the Civil War and a Confederate family's determined struggle for survival in the midst of this magnificent explosion of history. Set against crucial battles and raids and intriguing lesser- known aspects of the War between the States, the Shadowcreek Chronicles are relentless in their passion for history and story.

    From the small Irish town of Killala to the towering skyscrapers of New York, this series follows two Irish families, the Kavanghs and the Fitzgeralds, whether holding firm to their faith during Ireland's darkest days or trusting God with new lives in America.

    King Henry's efforts to crush his rebellious sons ignite bloody border skirmishes throughout the land. Yet it is a time of triumph for mercenary Josceline de Gael, bastard son of the king's most trusted ally. Victorious on the battlefield, de Gael suffers sweet defeat when his heart is conquered by the lovely Linnet de Montsorrel. But their love will find its greatest challenge as the torments of jealousy, suspicion, pride -- and an enemy from beyond the grave -- threaten all they hold dear.

    Lucius Valerius Quintius is prefect of the fictitious city of Tarcisis, charged to defend it against menaces from without -- Moors invading the Iberian peninsula -- and from within -- the decadent complacency of the Pax Romana. Lucius's devotion to civic duty undergoes its most crucial test when Iunia Cantaber, the beautiful, charismatic leader of the outlawed Christian sect, is brought before his court. A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening is a timeless story of an era beset by radical upheaval and a man struggling to reconcile his heart, his ethics, and his civic duty.

    When she finally returns to England she is haunted by terrible memories. She finds that the safe childhood world she remembers has disappeared and that she is as alone in her home country as she has been in Italy. She also finds that she has inherited a tumbledown manor house in Shropshire and is determined to restore the estate to its former glory, despite rationing and post-war austerity. And when she meets her mysterious neighbor, Marcus, it seems as if she might, at last, begin to drop her guard and learn to love. But loving Marcus brings its own special difficulties and Questa soon finds herself faced with an extraordinary and painful choice.

    But when gypsies descend upon South Shore, and Hetty meets the darkly handsome Reuben, her attentions are diverted once again. Grace finds it harder to adjust to her new surroundings but a visit to Donnelly’s department store leads to an encounter with the owner’s son, so when Grace secures a job on the shop floor she looks forward to each day with mounting excitement. Although Edwin Donnelly is a Catholic and his parents want him to marry family friend Constance Whitehead, he ignores their wishes and embarks on an affair with the less suitable Grace.But the paths of true love rarely run smooth and each girl must face heartache and tragedy before her eventual happiness is secured.

    Set in post-Revolutionary War days, Women of Catawba is an inspiring story of men and women whose faith, strength, and capacity to love are tested to the limit.

    The British colony of Hong Kong thinks it is immune from the chaos engulfing the rest of the world. Amid so much suffering, the talented pianist Sarah Channing, fresh from war-ravaged England, is disgusted by the shallow concerns of her father’s social set. Rod Durman, an Australian doctor trapped in a toxic marriage, wants only to advance his career and help his patients, whoever they may be. Alex Tennant is a notorious playboy, happy to fritter away his youth in the pursuit of pleasure ... until he meets the passionate and principled Sarah Channing. All three lives become irreversibly intertwined. But when the Japanese army takes Hong Kong by surprise all personal happiness must be put aside in order to survive. Elizabeth Darrell’s richly evocative tale of love and the realities of war sweeps from the fall of Hong Kong to the London Blitz and the D-Day landings. What kind of love can survive the chaos and anguish of war? Praise for Elizabeth Darrell: ‘A wonderful story, compellingly told...the authenticity - both emotional and historical - really shines through’ - Sarah Harrison Elizabeth Darrell is the penname of Emma Drummond, born in 1931. Her father was a member of the British Army stationed in Hong Kong, where Drummond spent the early years of her life. As well as writing books, she worked in the Women’s Royal Army Corps. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

    It creates a long ago place that has chilling familiarity.

    Barely does she set foot on American soil before she is embroiled in the schemes and intrigues against the British Crown...Daniel Haynes is a bold and courageous post-rider, whose Christian beliefs more him to work secretly in the fight for freedom from England... and whose revolutionary activities put him in constant danger... Amid the conflict and drama of the Colonies in uprising, these two people meet, drawn together by circumstance and unexpected emotions. But tragedy and treachery separate them, and only their faith in God - and a miracle - can bring them together again. A gripping drama of love and triumph is set against the colorful backdrop of pre-Revolutionary America.

    At its center stands as strong and resilient a heroine as any in American literature. Verna Mae Slone, a native of Knott County, Kentucky, is the author of several books, including the bestselling memoir, What My Heart Wants to Tell.

    The Sioux and the Cheyenne knew that the hordes of settlers had to be stopped. But nothing--not even their peace-making attempts--could quell the greedy desires of the white man for land.Dependent upon buffalo for their livelihood, the Sioux found the great herds divided by the new railroad tracks and threatened on all sides by blue-uniformed soldiers. Soon, this proud people would find themselves drawn into a long, bloody battle against these soldiers, many hardened veterans of the Civil War.Only Sitting Bull had the courage to fight back, defying the inevitable consequences. In the aftermath of the disastrous battle of the Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull was ready to lead his people in one last try at self-determination--and survival.Impeccably researched, rich with real-life characters and period detail, this powerful historical novel vividly recounts the fall of the Sioux Nation and its inimitable leader, Sitting Bull, who heroically attempted to preserve his people's way of life in the face of overwhelming odds.A Proud StandSitting Bull took the lead. " I have killed many whites, " he began, " but not without provocation. They have taken our land, they have killed our women and children, they have come where they were not welcome, telling those who have always lived there that they would have to leave. I am prepared to be peaceful, but not if it means giving up everything my people need to live."De Smet listened respectfully, occasionally asking aquestion or two. " I am not here to make peace, " he said. " I cannot do that, but it is something I want to see happen. I think it would be a good thing if you were to meet with the peace commissioners at Fort Rice. This war is a terrible thing. It is terrible for the whites and it is terrible for the Lakota. The cruelty is causing pain to everyone involved, and it would be a good thing if it could be ended now."Sitting Bull said nothing.

    A boxed set of the three new books about the adventures of Addy, a young girl who escapes from slavery to find freedom in the North, includes Happy Birthday, Addy, Addy Saves the Day, and Changes for Addy.

    There a massive civil war is tearing the Qing dynasty apart. At the heart of the rebellion is the mysterious Taiping Tienkuo, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. The Heavenly Kingdom is the center for the Taipings, a religious and political movement determined to overthrow Confucian rule and establish a government based on semi-Christian beliefs. Leading the revolt is a man who claims to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ himself. The Heavenly Kingdom is home to the devout, the zealous, and the courageous. Some regard them as mere rebels but others as visionaries. For Jason Brandt, the son of a Hong Kong missionary, the Heavenly Kingdom holds an undeniable allure. Accompanied by his best friend, Wu Sek-chong, and the beautiful and stubborn Black Jade, the young man sets off to see the Heavenly Kingdom for himself. In the great journey ahead, all three travelers will be tested as they confront their hidden desires and doubts. Could there be catastrophic consequences in the gripping adventure unfolding before them?

    "Wonderful reading, conjuring not only images of Farley's Black Stallion and the courtship of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, but also parent-child conflicts that seem very contemporary." -- Booklist, starred review

    Envious of the boys' freedom and uninterested in the domestic arts, despite her mother's coaxing, DeLanna causes an uproar among her elders when she enters a daring contest with a good-looking boy named Andrew Tabor.

    Even during his lifetime, tales of the sharpshooting, skilled woodsman were—to his delight—told, retold, and elaborated on. As a US congressman, the former Creek War militiaman steadfastly opposed President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. As a soldier, he made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for an independent Texas. Nearly two centuries after his untimely demise, he remains a legendary figure in American lore.   In this fictional account of Crockett’s life, author Cameron Judd offers a nuanced portrait of the man behind the myth. He depicts Crockett’s triumphs as a hunter, cattle drover, warrior, and legislator in riveting detail and poignantly illustrates his subject’s hardscrabble youth and complicated relationship with his father. Meticulously researched and rich in vibrant action, Crockett of Tennessee captures the charisma, ambition, and bravery of the man known as the “King of the Wild Frontier.”

    Includes The Killer Angels, Stephen Crane's classic The Red Badge of Courage, and Andersonville.

    In 1929, due to mysterious family circumstances, Minyon is given up by her grandmother to the employment of Ariadne Fleming, a white madam in the famously elegant brothel called Hazelhedge. At the age of fourteen, she becomes a pair of eyes and hands, watching and working almost invisibly in a world where men and women leave their inhibition, and their pasts, at the door. As Minyon grows up in the household with other black people who provide behind-the-scenes support of Hazelhedge, she cannot escape her haunting childhood memories. Even while bearing witness to the events unfolding around her, Minyon seeks to find her place in the world, and her pace within herself.

    New York Times bestselling author Jekel delivers the second spectacular novel in her trio of southern sagas--the stunning story of a family that carves a sensuous and compelling life out of the untamed wilderness of the Carolinas, from the first settlement on Roanoke Island through the Civil War.

    When time goes by with no word from Casey, Aubrey decides to write a letter to "Uncle Sam". Full color.

    "If you want to make your escape from that Dutchman, ye'd better be stirring yer stumps. It's sunup and me gallant ship sails in a few minutes." Thus begins the adventure of young Jonathan Ogden as he is forced to flee the rough treatment to which he is subjected on a Pennsylvania farm where he was "bound out" following the untimely death of his parents. To make matters worse, he must leave behind his dear twin sister, Phoebe, who has been taken in by a Quaker family. His mind filled with stories of George Washington and the Revolution, told to him by his grandfather on winter evenings in the kitchen of his old home, Jonathan sets sail with his new friend and unlikely benefactor, Patrick Ambrose Barney. He soon finds himself in the path of the seemingly invincible sea-power of Great Britain, somehow ending up in a heroic battle on "Old Ironsides." However, the greatest battle will be fought in the lessons Jonathan learns about loyalty, patriotism and friendship in early America. Join Jonathan and Phoebe on a nautical adventure in The American Twins of 1812, by Lucy Fitch Perkins and experience history through the eyes of a brother and sister in one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.

    Set on a North Dakota reservation, this book weaves the stories of the old and the young, broken families, romantic rivals, and men and women in love and at war.

    They send their young sons Erich, Karl, Otto and Kurt to London, where they hope and pray the children will be spared. But all too soon that haven proves equally dangerous and the boys are evacuated to the English countryside and taken in by kindhearted farming families.This gripping historical novel weaves the actual experiences of youngsters who were part of the "Kindertransport" into the dramatic events of World War II, presenting a vivid account of physical and spiritual survival.

    Descended from pioneers and the daughter of a rancher, Pamela lives according to her own script, and nothing seems to happen as expected. The world beats on—World War I, the influenza epidemic of 1917, the Great Depression—and local fortune rise and fall with the price of beef. For Pamela the fight that counts is defined by a sense of independence and pervasive loneliness, by the twists and turns of love and friendship.

    Cut out Addy's ten outfits and put on your own 1864 fashion show! Make your own miniature story book, too, and read historical fun facts on everything from cinnamon-pink dresses to snoots!

    In each exciting chapter, the stone owl is discovered by a new owner, a boy or girl to whom the owl brings good luck or courage in the thrilling adventures that unfold. The owl on its journey encounters pirates and settlers, lions and elephants, steamboats and locomotives, blizzards and mine cave-ins, presidents, pilots and heroes, runaway slaves and new immigrants from all parts of the world. The stories that take place in these 800 square miles tell the real history of America, through the eyes of the young people who lived here over the centuries.

    Left with nothing, Isla and her two young children move to a seedy tenement building and she sets about improving it - and herself.

    Set in the rugged landscape of early California with its parched deserts, untamed wilderness, treacherous hills, and rough towns this quartet of stand-alone novels tells the stories of four very different men who must face the greatest challenges of their lives. Only faith and raw courage can see them through. But in that wild country will it be enough? Sparkling with the breathtaking settings, historically authentic details, and believable characters the Thoenes are known for, A New Frontier gallops away with thrilling edge-of-your-saddle adventure carefully seasoned with good values and just a sprinkling of tender romance. It's an exciting ride western lovers will never forget.

    As their lives touch, new alliances are formed – some doomed to failure and bitter despair, others that will endure against the odds to bring lasting happiness.Jessie Macpherson, newly appointed cook, daily dreams up sumptuous menus and dazzles the Lennoxes and their guests with her skill. But even at this time of triumph, Jessie realises there has to be more to life. Sholto Hamilton, a poor but ambitious lawyer and highly successful ladies’ man, offers her a glimpse of other delights, and before long Jessie is trapped in the sensual web he has woven. But what future together can there be for a gentleman and a servant? Will Sholto wish to burden himself with a wife such as Jessie when he still has his way to make in the world?The future seems far more assured for Celia Lennox, the daughter of the house, and Sholto’s friend Ralph Erskine. Heir of an Edinburgh steel magnate, and a passionate admirer of Celia’s wild, fey beauty, there could not be a more eligible candidate than Ralph for her hand. But, eligible or not, another man has caught Celia Lennox’s eye – and perhaps her heart.Meanwhile Ralph’s sister Alix despairs of ever fitting the rigid mould of society wife and mother. Surely a woman’s sphere of influence need not be confined purely to the drawing room and marital bed? Alix overcomes parental opposition and society’s disapproval to win herself an education and against all expectations finds a man who shares her views, a match made in heaven – until a shocking stroke of fate robs her of happiness and turns all her passion and commitment on to the fearsome path of martyrdom for the cause of women’s suffrage.A sweeping, panoramic survey of turn-of-the-century Scottish society – from country house to industrial slums, bohemian free-thinking to High Tory Politics - Green Grow the Rushes is peopled with a cast of memorable and vividly realised characters.

    Joshua and his family, runaway slaves from a tobacco plantation in Kentucky, follow the Underground Railroad to freedom.

    Contains the Judas Kiss and the Captive by Victoria Holt.

    Paulette, Vi and Jenny all volunteers, all parachuted in to the Dordogne in 1942, working for Harry Bailey's SOE network. The secretive life they lead, isolated behind enemy lines, the danger and violence they have to face, will change them all.

    Dramatizes a rape trial in a small Southern town, a washed-up country singer's recovery, and an old woman's return to her home.

    It is the author's expression of the seven years she lived in Shetland, during which she explored Shetland by land and sea, discovered the sagas while working in Shetland Library, learned to watch birds on Fair Isle, Noss and other islands, and spent several summers as a volunteer on a dig at Da Biggings, Papa Stour, excavating a Norse farm.The novel was re-written in the early 1990s, partly in the National Library of Scotland, partly in Shetland, and partly (thanks to a Scottish Arts Council travel grant) in Iceland. Islanders was first published in 1994. It is now (2008) nearly thirty years since the first draft was written; since then Margaret Elphinstone has lived in other places and written other books. But it was Shetland, and Islanders, that first inspired and formed her as a writer.'From the opening pages with their map of the islands which turns north and south upside down to reflect the orientation of the island worldview, the reader's conventional perspectives on peripheral cultures is destabilised, and resettled in a view from a rock perched far in the Atlantic, looking at Europe, Britain, and even Orkney and Shetland from a very different value-centre.'Douglas Gifford, A History of Scottish Women's Writing.

    Legendary Kentucky frontiersman Flintlock Jones is enlisted by President Thomas Jefferson to infiltrate a gang of conspirators, led by Aaron Burr, out to detach the western states from the Union to build his own private empire.

    10,000print.

    Saranna is drawn by Wes's distance, but Wes is committed to helping his stuggling fellow countrymen before he is free to pursue his own cherished dreams.

    This panoramic view of the political, economic, military, & social institutions of Rome traces its history to the death of Constantine.

    In Mississippi in 1936, twelve-year-old Shortning Bread Jackson tries to help his falsely convicted father while dealing with the troubled racial climate in his town.

    Into this seething cauldron comes a vagabond of improbable erudition and outrageous appearance who calls himself Harlequin. With the help of an aging, resourceful whore named Colombina, Harlequin gathers together a band of fugitives, misfits and thieves and invents a new form of people's theater -- commedia dell'arte.