Book picks similar to
Jade Rooster by R.L. Crossland
historical-fiction
mystery-suspense
naval
The Brave Men
Tony Maxwell - 2014
...The thrilling adult action-adventure sequel to The Young Lions.
Robert Hamilton's story continues against the backdrop of a South Africa recovering from the tragedy of the Anglo-Boer War while the world teeters on the brink of an even greater disaster, the looming Great War.Drawn into this unfamiliar world of rebellion, intrigue and espionage, Robert finds love and then loses it in the greatest maritime disaster of the 20th Century.
Beneath A Colesberg Sky
Jeffrey Whittam - 2015
From Dakota’s Black Hills to the gold and diamond fields of Southern Africa, Jim O’Rourke and his daughter, Kathleen step from the sailing ship Eudora and take their covered wagon deep inside a vast and ancient wilderness. The land is raw-boned and unforgiving – the men and women who search its heart for wealth, love and adventure, even more so. Smoke from a thousand fires clung to a broken landscape and towering above it, churned from a vast and open wound in the earth’s crust, were those billowing clouds of powdered Kimberlite; as yellow, ochrous fingers they reached upwards for over a thousand feet, deep inside the heart of that darksome Colesberg sky.
Girl From the Docks
Catharine Dobbs - 2020
Living near the docks in Liverpool with two other families under the same roof, money for rent is a constant struggle and food is scarce. Made even more difficult by a lecherous gambler who refuses to pay his share of the rent.When their father succumbs to the 1849 cholera epidemic that sweeps through Liverpool, the young orphan’s situation becomes even more perilous. They are forced to do whatever they can to make their share of the food and rent.Robert grew up in privileged circumstances. That all changes when his father dies suddenly, leaving his estate tied up for months in probate. Robert has no other option but to seek employment at a former competitor of his fathers. The same family that employs Verdie.Robert is overjoyed.But Verdie is blinded by the amorous attentions of the household's handsome son, Carson.Trouble ensues, for everyone.Robert, with limited resources and influence, rises to the challenge to defend Verdie’s honor. Will it be enough to stop Carson from pursuing her? Can Robert’s fledging love for Verdie prevail?“Girl From the Docks” and all Catharine Dobbs' novellas are wholesome Victorian Romances.
Outcasts
Martin Lake - 2012
Within days the Christian army is annihilated by Saladin. Triumphant, the great warrior leads his warriors towards Jerusalem, determined to win it back for his people.To defend the city there is only one nobleman, Balian of Ibelin, and four knights.In desperation Balian knights thirty ordinary men to lead the defence. One of them is the innkeeper Bernard Mountjoy. So too are the pilgrims John and Simon. The new-made knights fight valiantly but can only delay the inevitable. Balian is forced to surrender the city to Saladin.Some of the inhabitants buy their freedom. Others, including Bernard’s wife Agnes and children, are sold into slavery.The world is in flames, the normal bonds of life shattered. Bonds of lordship, bonds of kinship, bonds of marriage and of friendship, all lay tainted and discarded.Yet in this turbulent time, three men find new fellowship and a mission. Bernard is determined to search the Muslim world for his enslaved wife and children. John pledges to aid him and then to pursue his own mission of revenge. A third man, a stranger, journeys to find himself again.History says nothing more of the people raised so far above their normal station and then cast aside.Outcasts tells the story of how they fare in a world grown more bitter and fanatical.
Destiny's Children: A Saga of Early California
Roger E. Herst - 2009
DESTINY’S CHILDREN is a powerful story of love and desire, ambition and greed, danger and courage. It is a tale of men and women drawn by the promise and magic of untamed California.The novel plays out over a large canvas and is based on the actual pioneers whose super human struggles forged the modern west. The story follows a wide range of characters: from the railroad's financial mavericks who conned their way to fame, fortune and ruin, down to the hard luck laborers toiling out of desperation and the hope of a better tomorrow. One leading figure is an iconoclastic female physician who arrives in San Francisco to practice medicine in an era when women doctors were restricted to midwifery. Another is a clever deserter from the Manchu army in China who takes on the most dangerous jobs laying track through the impassable mountains of California's Sierra Nevada. DESTINY’S CHILDREN has the kind of scope, humanity, and factually inspired story of best sellers like Michener's HAWAII and Steinbeck’s GRAPES OF WRATH. This is one of those big, emotionally charged novels that readers love to recommend to friends. DESTINY’S CHILDREN is written in a light, sometime humorous style reminiscent of Amy Tan's celebrated JOY LUCK CLUB.
Decebal Triumphant
Peter Jaksa - 2020
The Roman Empire expanded its conquered territories north to the Danubius (Danube) River. One kingdom is still a serious threat – the third most powerful military power in Europe and the richest nation in the region. That nation is Dacia, led by its young and brilliant military leader King Decebal.Decebal Triumphant is the story of the early days (85 – 99 A.D.) of the Roman – Dacian wars. It is told from the point of view of King Decebal and the Dacian people fighting for their freedom and survival, and also examines the intrigues of Emperor Domitian, a rising military star named Trajan, and the Roman nobility fighting for power. Going beyond historical myths and Hollywood stereotypes, this novel tells the rich story of an epic clash of cultures and of brutal military conflicts that shaped the future of two nations.
Fifty Degrees South: The battle at the end of the world novella (Burns Series Book 0)
M.M. Holt - 2018
They struck the ship and halted our pursuit of the enemy French vessel. None of the officers nor the crew had seen anything like them. No-one knew how to fight back. No-one could say what the beams were, nor who had dared to fire on a ship of war. The year was 1803. We were far south in the Atlantic Ocean. This was my first command as captain, and it was not going well. The mission was a strange one, even for a time of war. We were ordered to pursue a French frigate and capture a mysterious sea-chest, ordered to follow the frigate to the frozen ends of the Earth---failure not permitted, of course.No-one had warned us about blue beams. None of the admirals said a word about shining black vessels in the sky. And no-one mentioned that we might find a woman floating in the sea, hundreds of miles from land, nor that she would be far more dangerous than she seemed.But nothing could have prepared us for what waited beyond the frozen latitude of fifty degrees south."Download "Fifty Degrees South," and time-travel back to this dangerous world today!"
The Orphan Daughter
Sheila Riley - 2019
Evie Kilgaren is a fighter. Abandoned by her mother and with her father long gone, she is left to raise her siblings in dockside Liverpool, as they battle against the coldest winter on record. But she is determined to make a life for herself and create a happy home for what's left of her family.Desperate for work, Evie takes a job at the Tram Tavern under the kindly watch of pub landlady, and pillar of the community, Connie Sharp. But Connie has problems of her own when her quiet life of spinsterhood is upturned with the arrival of a mysterious undercover detective from out of town.
When melting ice reveals a body in the canal, things take a turn for the worst for the residents of Reckoner's Row. Who could be responsible for such a brutal attack? And can Evie keep her family safe before they strike again?
A gritty, historical family drama full of laughter and tears from the author of Annie Groves' bestsellers including Child of the Mersey and Christmas on the Mersey. Perfect for fans of Lyn Andrews, Katie Flynn and Nadine Dorries.
The Curse of Anuganga
Harini Srinivasan - 2019
India. In the thriving city of Nanivardhana, lives Shaunaka, a young man who yearns to go to Pataliputra to see the world and make his fortune. But he is forced to join his father's jewellery making business and soon finds himself in the workshop a job in which his heart clearly did not lie. Thankfully, along comes distraction in the form of two extravagant weddings royal nuptials at the palace and another wedding at the extravagant corner house in the Buddhist quarter of the city. This house, known for its opulence and sheer size, is owned by Vinayashura, an affluent trader fabled to have mysteriously deep connections to the royal family. Shaunaka is given the charge to work on the bride's jewellery at the corner house, but instead of the mundane task at hand, a morbid sight awaits the trader's wife's bloodcurdling screams bring Shaunaka to Vinayashura's bedroom where he is found murdered and lying in a pool of blood! Who killed Vinayashura? Why? Shaunaka finds himself at the heart of the mystery and his logic and keen observation skills land him the duty of assisting the head of police to solve this murder.
Olde Tudor: A ghost story
David Ralph Williams - 2018
In fact, he becomes the owner of two homes. One, a delightful Tudor cottage. The other, an ancient sepulchral cavern. The land on which they both stand a once sacred site in prehistory. Alistair’s practiced curiosity finds him meddling with things that should remain untouched. Cut off from the rest of the town by bad weather and sick with fever, he is tormented by something beyond the tangible world.
A Parcel of Rogues
Joyce Lionarons - 2019
But Rownt has problems of his own: a gang of child-thieves is terrorizing the quiet neighborhood in which he lives, and his neighbors want protection. Then the Fox, head of London’s criminal underworld, becomes involved, and a deadly situation becomes deadlier when one of the Fox’s men stabs the wrong boy. In a world where violence and theft seem everyday occurrences, Rownt searches for justice among A Parcel of Rogues.
A Talent For Trouble
Christopher C. Tubbs - 2018
Martin Stockley at 12 years old was underfed and undersized as the youngest of nine in a Dorset clay miner's family and was probably doomed to die, worn out and broken at a very young age in the clay mines of Dorset. But he had a sharp mind, had learned to read, write and do his numbers and had a fascination for maps. A stroke of good fortune sees him escape that destiny and be taken on as a Ship's Boy and Under Steward to the Captain in the Royal Navy Frigate the Falcon. What follows is a chronicle of his talent for getting into and out of trouble at Gibraltar, the siege of Toulon and against Barbary pirates. Luck and a lot of Dorset courage sees him at the centre of a series of adventures. Blood, guts, a beautiful Contessa and prize money. What more could a young lad from Dorset ask for?
Thief Catcher
John Drake - 2016
When an incriminating etched print is made and circulated in a book by the Lycanthropic Society, renowned thief-catcher Samuel Slym from Aldgate is put on the case to find those responsible and retrieve all existing prints before Prinny is subjected to public humiliation. Meanwhile across the Channel and revered by the French military, General Napoleon Bonaparte is waiting for a chance to invade England, and his fleet is ready to strike and land. Using the latest technology, the telegraph signal, there is a new opportunity to hatch a plan to conquer England at last and he employs sinister spies, among them the charming, but cold-blooded Sukolowsky. Bonaparte is not the only one with an eye for conquest. Lord Glenfeshie, survivor of the Battle of Culloden, leads the aged Highlanders and Jacobites, waiting for a chance to seize back power for the pretender, James Charles Stuart, son of Bonnie Prince Charlie. They plot in secret, waiting to take advantage of the weak king and political instability in London under Pitt’s government. Followers of the old Highlanders will stop at nothing to reinstate a Catholic as king. As Samuel Slym follows up his leads to track down Prinny’s print he uncovers far more than he expected at the start of his commission, and his quest unwittingly leads him higher in society than he believed possible, as well as rekindling an old fiery liaison with the mysterious Lady Sarah Coignwood. Can Slym get to the bottom of the plot to bring scandal to the Prince before it is too late? And will Napoleon succeed in his plan to conquer the ‘Rosbif Navy’? Charging headlong from the murky backstreets of London to the country palaces of English aristocracy and finally the outposts of Kent, Drake’s novel spins a gripping yarn of deception and scandal, patriotism and pride, bringing to life legendary characters of the 18th century, as well as some less well known to the annals of English history… For those who loved Sam Slym you can catch a further glimpse of him in John Drake's bestselling Fletcher's Glorious 1st June where he begins his doomed relationship with Lady Sarah Coignwood. Praise for John Drake’s Fletcher series "Swashbuckling adventure on the high seas doesn't get much better than this. […] John Drake writes beautifully, and you'll be torn between savoring the words and quickly flipping the pages. Any favorable comparison to Stevenson or Patrick O'Brian is totally justified." – Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Drake trained as a biochemist to post-doctorate research level before realizing he was no good at science. His working career was in the television department of ICI until 1999 when he became a full-time writer. John's hobby is muzzle-loading shooting, and his interests are British history and British politics (as a spectator), plus newspapers, TV news, and current affairs. He is married with a son and two grandchildren. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks.