Book picks similar to
After Hastings by Steven H. Silver
alternate-history
fiction
tsundoku
political-fiction
The Eleventh Hour: The Enlightened Ones
Kathryn Dionne - 2012
As she begins to translate the writings she realizes three very important facts. This is a book of prophecy foretelling the end times; it is the personal diary of Jesus Christ; and she has been chosen to save mankind from the next cataclysmic event. But when she discovers a small piece of fabric tucked inside the scroll, she and her husband David, a geneticist, are propelled into a life of science, secrecy and government conspiracy.
Acre
J.K. Swift - 2016
The Kingdom of Jerusalem hanging by a thread. One Knight Justice must face his greatest fears or die trying… Brother Foulques de Villaret just wants to stay in Acre and perform his sworn duties. Instead, the young Hospitaller Knight of Saint John must undertake a dangerous journey from the Holy Land to a remote village nestled in the Alps, the ‘Spine of the World’. His mission: buy 500 peasant boys and return them to Acre to be trained as Soldiers of Christ. Pursued across the Mid-Earth Sea by slavers, Brother Foulques and his Army of Children are about to be thrust into a confrontation with the greatest warriors the East has ever known: the Mamluks. To survive, Brother Foulques must turn to risky alliances… and pray that his choices do not lead them all to destruction. Acre is the first book in the Hospitaller Saga, a series of breathtaking historical novels set in the late 13th century. If you like action-packed adventure and authentically rich fiction, then you’ll love J. K. Swift’s historically epic masterpiece.
The Blue Effect (Cold War Book 3)
Harvey Black - 2014
Although reinforcements continue to arrive in theatre from all the NATO member countries, the Allies are pushed back relentlessly. The Eastern Bloc armies throw fresh regiments into the fray, their intention to deliver the killing lunge deep into the West’s retreating armies.What are the options open to NATO? Can the West stem the disorderly retreat? Can they gather enough conventional forces to hold? Or will they need to resort to more deadly means?Follow the series of gripping events in ‘The Blue Effect’, the third instalment in Harvey Black’s Cold War trilogy.
The Last Days of Thunder Child
C.A. Powell - 2009
H.M.S. Thunder Child steams towards her glorious destiny in this 'War of the Worlds' pastiche! The War of the Worlds contains a small section on the Thunder Child battleship that attacks three tripods to save a paddle steamer. This story takes place a few days before the event and leads up to the final dramatic moment. The clever build-up leads to this final battle of ironclad v three Martian tripods. The story moves between the crew of the HMS Thunder Child at sea, and Mister Stanley, the man from the War Office. He is moving across the land to various semaphore stations. He is linked to the ship because he delivered the mission orders before the story starts. If you have read War of the Worlds and enjoyed it, you will like this story too.
The Kings in Winter
Cecelia Holland - 1968
All through a long winter of strife, Muirtagh struggles to balance his own honor and that of his clan, against his divided loyalties to the three would-be Kings of Ireland. First published in 1968, The Kings in Winter is considered by Cecelia Holland's fans to be her finest work. The book is set in Ireland during the Danish invasion around 800 A.D.. Set against this background is a clan feud that consumes the majority of the plot.
The Blood of Kings
M.K. Hume - 2015
Their unlikely friendship leads to an ambitious plan to unite the tribal leaders and, once crowned the first High King of the Britons, Maximus casts his eyes on the throne of the Western Roman Empire. Leading a force of brave warriors to Gaul, Maximus is victorious in battle. But it is not long after his return to Britain that hubris gnaws at him once again. Despite Caradoc's pleas to exercise caution, Maximus is determined to march on Rome itself. But who will pay the price for his bloodthirsty quest for power?
Shadows of the Past
June Francis - 2019
Fifteen-year-old Annie Anderson was adopted by Sylvia and Hugh after the death of their own daughter. Annie is told that her own mother in childbirth and her father died before she was born.A chance encounter introduces Annie to local lad Andrew Fraser. Their friendship blossoms, but once Annie’s adoptive parents learn of it they forbid her from seeing him. When Annie asks why, it sets her on a path to discover more about her origins – but will what she learns bring heartache or joy?
Don’t miss this rich and vivid saga by one of Liverpool’s best-known novelists, perfect for fans of Kitty Neale and Katie Flynn.
House Maid: A story behind the suffering of a Sri Lankan Migrant worker in Saudi Arabia.
Indika Guruge - 2017
She thinks migrating to a foreign land would be the only hope. The only qualification she has to migrate to a foreign country is to be a housemaid. That salary would be way better than in Sri Lanka, flying to Saudi Arabia as a housemaid would be a dream come true.Yet day after day, Kamala comprehends her mistake and regrets her stupid actions of leaving her beloveds. She is trapped by the secured walls of the Arabian house and by the rules, regulations and her negligence on working. She gets punished by horrific physical and mental abuse by the hands of her employer. Finally trapped her in a room as a punishment with nonpayment of her salary.When she tries to escape she is being physically tortured by the employer with nailing her body feet beating her with chains and sticks. Finally, when she escapes and returns to her mother land, everything what she worked have gone on a waste by her husband and leaving it all for nothing.Why I wrote this book.Labor migration to the Middle East has become a main feature of Sri Lankan economy strategies making it the second biggest foreign exchange earnings. Migration is likely to continue in the future. Foreign embassies continued to receive many reports that employers abused foreign women working as domestic servants. Some embassies of countries with large domestic servant populations maintained safe houses to which their citizens may flee to escape work situations that included forced confinement, withholding of food, nonpayment of salaries, beating and other physical abuse, and rape.These are few stories... "One particular day I dropped a saucer which broke into pieces. My employer was angry and he heated up five nails and drove them into my hand. When I shouted out in pain my employer's wife held a knife to my neck," she said.Why you should read this book?When you Google Sri Lanka all you see is a beautiful island with beautiful sceneries and nature surrounded by lovely sandy beaches, diverse landscapes ranging from plains to highlands, rainforests, wildlife and exotic food.But not many know how the Sri Lankan lower middle class suffer. How everyday is a challenge for them to make their ends meet. How much they suffer to keep their families alive, insufficient money to feed their children and to spend for their education.I was inspired by so many stories about how these migrant workers suffer. I have been fortunate enough to help these people and listen to their stories.This shows us how cruel the world is. Another side of life which many has not seen, or even think about, simply a nightmare. Why cannot the governments take any action about this? Non-government organizations? Is there anyone at all? When they send their hard earn money with high hopes, most of the time husbands waste money on alcohol and gambling, children go astray and get abused. These women and families fall of from the frying pan into fire. Time, money, pain all gets wasted. Everything end up in tears.This story will give you the inner aspect in depth about the middle class migrant workers and their lives, how hard they work, how much they sacrifice, how hard they hide their feelings and pain, suffer and struggle to survive every day.This book is a story about a family that went through this horrific abuse and torture. Hope you enjoy this book.Scroll up and grab your copy now.
Born a Workhouse Baby: Victorian Romance
Dolly Price - 2021
Deserted by a selfish man, and driven to the workhouse, young Annabel and her midwife mother face a harsh and hopeless future.A critical situation for the workhouse governor then opens a door of deliverance for them both, but it seems that revenge and bitterness hound their every step.A harrowing story of stolen love, rich and poor, faith, family, and fearful odds, Born A Workhouse Child, will keep your heart pounding and your hopes soaring to the end.Join Dolly Price for her most heart-warming Victorian romance yet, and follow Annabel’s courageous quest to discover the real meaning of love, faith, and family.
Time Pebbles
Jerry Merritt - 2014
Only Tekla cares enough to search for her over the years. As Ka Li survives fierce predators and scarce resources she leaves behind a series of signal cairns to help Tekla find her.Skipping forward 60,000 years, Helen Ryland, a mid-twentieth century archaeologist, unearths one of Ka Li's surviving signal cairns and realizes she has found trace of people who populated the Americas even before the Clovis culture. Helen's detective work tracking Ka Li's timeless signals across the Alaskan wilderness now intertwines with Ka Li's story. As Helen solves the puzzle of the signal cairns she finds universal fame and suffers devastating misfortune. In the end Helen discovers that science in isolation cannot answer all of her questions, for Tekla's devotion to Ka Li had not died even though six hundred centuries had passed.
Augusta Locke: A Novel
William Haywood Henderson - 2006
Of his most recent novel, "The Rest of the Earth," Annie Proulx remarked that "Henderson writes some of the most evocative and transcendently beautiful prose in contemporary American literature." Set primarily in Wyoming, Henderson's new novel is the chronicle of six generations of a family, viewed through the lens of one woman's very long life. Augusta "Gussie" Locke is born in Minnesota in 1903. As a teenager she moves west with her mother to Colorado and then runs away from home. A one-night stand with a traveling soldier leaves her pregnant, and with her daughter, Anne, she eventually finds a life in Wyoming running supplies to oil and mineral crews in the Great Basin Divide. Through the years, Gussie keeps moving, abandoning people and places, being abandoned herself; Anne runs away just as her mother had, never to be seen again. Settling in the Wind River Range, Augusta, alone again, builds a new life until, years later, her grandson and great-granddaughter seek to discover the woman behind the family myth. Spanning the twentieth century, Augusta's extraordinary trials and tribulations play out themes of love and loss, redemption and reconciliation. Redolent with myth, humor, strange landscapes, and stark reality, "Augusta Locke" is an indelible portrait of a woman who through great spirit and toughness of character blazes her own trail.
Groom Lake
Bryan O - 2011
Author Bryan O challenges readers to discern fact from fiction in a mainstream narrative that questions the origin and use of advanced technologies. The plot offers multiple perspectives, allowing readers to identify with the book whether they are believers, non-believers or new to the conspiracy genre. Groom Lake is not just a novel; the story is a briefing on America’s shadow programs, methods and reasoning, intertwined with fast-paced scenarios where intelligence agents guard their fringe programs from inquisitive civilians, China’s Ministry of State Security and a congressional task force investigating hidden government spending.
Crucible
Ryan W. Aslesen - 2018
The War on Terror provides the backdrop for the novella that introduces the roots of ultimate antihero, Max Ahlgren.Captain Max Ahlgren is proud to be one of the first team commanders in the Marine Corps' nascent MARSOC detachment. Finally, the Corps' elite warriors are working alongside those of other branches, battling insurgents, not on the front lines but behind them. After his first mission, however, Max learns he will be replaced as team commander.The new commander, Major Whitbeck, comes from 8th and I: Marine Barracks, Washington DC. His late father, a revered general, died in a terrorist car bombing. The commander is in Afghanistan for vengeance--and redemption.When the team infiltrates the ancient desert fortress of Kazindrak, hunting an elusive Al-Qaeda terrorist, Whitbeck reveals his ineptitude in combat. Max's fury grows as the body count rises. When the actual nature of the mission is revealed, Max gets a good look at the sordid underbelly of the War on Terror and sees first-hand what monsters men can become. If he is to survive, however, he may have no choice but to become one.Sometimes the greatest enemy is within...
China Hand
Harry Homewood - 2016
For the U. S. Navy, that meant restricted budgets — and the Asiatic Fleet, on the far side of the world out of sight of the Navy’s commanders and the American public, was at the bottom of the list for the Navy’s limited resources. Bobby MacPherson, Seaman 2nd Class, only seventeen years old and freshly graduated from radio operator school, was naively excited by his assignment to the submarine S-37 stationed with the Asiatic Fleet. The exotic places providing bases for the American Navy — Manila, Shanghai, Tsingtao — and their strange cultures, histories and people engaged his driving curiosity and sharp mind. He was very different from most of the “China hands,” the long time sailors of the Asiatic fleet, who spent their time drinking and chasing the countless prostitutes that populated the port cities of the Philippines and China. His outstanding athletic ability and his earnest integrity made him popular with his crewmates and officers despite his differences. All of those qualities drew Bobby into a dangerous and malicious plot against the American forces in Asia; a plot involving nearly all of the competing powers in China — General Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, Mao Tse-tung’s Communists, the Imperial Japanese military occupiers of China, warlords and ancient, powerful families who considered themselves the true rulers of China. CHINA HAND is a never before published novel by best-selling author Harry Homewood. Like his previous, hugely popular novels FINAL HARBOR and SILENT SEA, CHINA HAND is based on his real life experience — in this case his service in an S-Class submarine in the Asiatic Fleet in the years before World War II. It is intensely authentic. Harry Homewood was a qualified submariner before he was seventeen years old, having lied to the Navy about his age, and serving in a little "S"-boat in the old Asiatic Fleet. After Pearl Harbor he reenlisted and made eleven war patrols in the Southwest Pacific. He later became Chicago Bureau Chief for Newsweek, chief editorial writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, and for eleven years had his own weekly news program syndicated to thirty-two PBS television stations.
Designed to Fail
Virginia DeMarce - 2020
Annalise Richter, a student at the famous Abbey of Quedlinburg, wants Frederik to correct an injustice. Her mentor, the Abbess of Quedlinburg, is being prevented from running for a seat in the House of Commons because she is, well, not a commoner.Surely Frederik can do something to fix this wrong!The prince is of two minds. On the one hand—being very much his father’s son—he has developed a great passion for the marvelous young woman. He is determined to marry her. On the other hand…She’s Catholic. A bit of a problem, that, for a Lutheran prince.But there’s worse. She’s also the younger sister of Gretchen Richter.Yes, that Gretchen Richter.