Book picks similar to
The Sewing Room Girl by Susanna Bavin


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historical-fiction
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The Orphan Child


Catherine King - 2010
    As her unnamed mother breathes her last, Sarah is taken in at the grand Meadow Hall in South Riding, Yorkshire. As soon as she can hold a scrubbing brush, her working life begins. Feisty and headstrong, Sarah's temper often leads her into trouble. At just 14 she decides to escape the life of a servant and run away. Dressed as a boy, she meets good-hearted Aidan and impulsive Danby, forming an unlikely but happy trio. Sarah's true identity eventually comes to the surface after nearly a year, along with new feelings for Aidan. However, knowing that the place for a teenage girl is definitely not with two young men, Aidan reluctantly takes Sarah to the workhouse. He plans to rescue her from this miserable place just as soon as he can, but something keeps Aidan from his promise—and nearly takes his life. Reunited as adults, and now strangers to each other, Sarah holds a secret about Danby, Aidan, and her unborn child. But can she do what is right for her baby, even if it means losing the love of her life?

Blood on the Blade


Griff Hosker - 2018
    Their world is thrown upside down when the King of Norway colludes with their jarl to take over their home. They flee to the land north of Mercia. Hoping for a life free from the tyranny of a king they have to fight Danes and Saxons. When King Harald of Norway sends ships to destroy them then the Clan of the Fox is forced to flee to the newly discovered land of ice and fire. They travel beyond sight of land into an uncharted ocean to face a future which is uncertain. Their only certainty lies that their navigator, Erik. He is their only chance to find a new home.

Heartbreak in the Valleys


Francesca Capaldi - 2020
    For young housemaid, Anwen Rhys, life is hard in the Welsh mining village of Dorcalon, deep in the Rhymney Valley. She cares for her ill mother and beloved younger sister Sara, all while shielding them from her father’s drunken, violent temper. Anwen comforts herself with her love for childhood sweetheart, Idris Hughes, away fighting in the Great War.Yet when Idris returns, he is a changed man; no longer the innocent boy she loved, he is harder, more distant, quickly breaking off their engagement. And when tragedy once again strikes her family, Anwen’s heart is completely broken.But when an explosion at the pit brings unimaginable heartache to Dorcalon, Anwen and Idris put their feelings aside to unite their mining community.In the midst of despair, can Anwen find hope again? And will she ever find the happiness she deserves?

Fetch Nurse Connie


Jean Fullerton - 2015
    But when Connie meets Charlie off the train at London Bridge, she finds that his homecoming isn't quite going to go according to plan... Connie's busy professional life, and the larger-than-life patients in the district, offer a welcome distraction, but for how long? If nursing in the East End has taught Connie anything, it's that life is full of surprises...

The Berlin Tunnel--A Cold War Thriller


Roger L. Liles - 2018
    During the Cold War, a more monumental effort was made by America and her allies to intercept and exploit Russian and communist countries communications. In the mid-1950s a tunnel was built by British MI-6 and the CIA which tapped into a buried communications cable in East Berlin. They successfully intercepted and exploited East European and Russian communist communications for over a year. Suddenly, in 1956 the tunnel was “discovered” by the Russians, denying the allies this exceptionally valuable intelligence source. This novel, The Berlin Tunnel is a fictional account of how a second tunnel might have been built between East and West Berlin. It is a thriller which takes the reader into the super-secret world that the author occupied fifty years ago. Every scene in The Berlin Tunnel could have happened. The time—1960-1961, and the place—the Divided City of Berlin have been faithfully recreated using extensive research and the author’s personal experience. Young American Air Force Captain Robert Kerr arrives in a divided Berlin awash with spies who move freely between the East and West. His task—build a TOP SECRET tunnel under the River Spree into East Berlin—tap into highly classified communications links between civilian and military leaders in Russia and the Warsaw Pact countries. The knowledge gained from this source will help America’s leaders to manage an imminent confrontation between the East and West over Berlin, perhaps even prevent World War III. At all costs, knowledge that the tunnel is being built must be hidden from the Russian KGB and the East German Stasi as well as our closest allies—the British and French. Only those involved in its construction can be allowed to know of the existence of the tunnel. Love couldn’t have found him as a worse time. Soon after he arrives, Robert falls for a German girl, Anna Fischer. It is spy verses spy as the dreaded East German Secret Police—the Stasi use every means possible to determine what Robert and his construction crew are doing in Berlin. But it is Anna, who is often caught in the crossfire between the Americans and the Stasi. The conclusion of the novel centers around events that focuses the attention of the world on Berlin. First, the Wall is closed, trapping 19 million East Germans including Anna’s entire family behind the Iron Curtain. A few months later, the world held its collective breath when the Berlin Crisis occurs—High Noon at Checkpoint Charlie—the only time in the Cold War when Russian and American tanks faced each other. Robert and Anna are caught up in these momentous events as they try to free her family and survive in a very dangerous city.

Last Wolf


Margaret Mayhew - 2011
    Moored in an island cove, he meets Stroma Mackay and is captivated by her. He persuades her to write to him in Hamburg, and their correspondence continues until war is declared. Reinhard joins the elite U-boat service, while Stroma serves as a plotter in the WRNS, helping fight the desperate battle against marauding U-boats - the wolf packs. It seems impossible that they will ever meet again . . .

My Girl: A Montana Sky Series Novella


Debra Holland - 2018
     When a logging accident kills his friend and Felicity Woodbury’s fiancé, Lars Aagaard steps in to lend his support. To keep Felicity’s suitors at bay during her mourning period, the two act as if Lars is wooing her. But, already smitten, Lars hopes to turn the pretend courtship to real love. This novella was first released in the multi-author anthology Romance Ever After.

Blood in the Forum: A Novella of Ancient Rome (The Marius Scrolls Book 2)


Vincent B. Davis II - 2019
    Betrayal. Assassination. Rome, 133 b.c. Gaius Marius is back from war in the West. They fought for the peace and prosperity of Rome, but the legions return to find the Eternal City far less peaceful and prosperous than they had hoped. People are starving, homelessness abounds, war after war has overtaxed the legions. And the revolutionary tribune, Tiberius Gracchus, thinks he has a solution for everything. Political parties are developing, the people are up in arms, the senate is enraged. And Tiberius is at the center of it all. Before Marius has a chance to reacclimate to civilian life, he’s thrust into this political upheaval in Rome. His allegiances are put to the test as Rome is almost brought to the brink of civil war. For the first time in the history of the Republic, blood will be shed in the forum.

Forbidden: A Novel Set in Medieval England


C. De Melo - 2011
    John's Cluniac monastery in Lewes. Nestled in the baby's clothing is gold and ruby crucifix of tremendous value, which puzzles the prior. The boy is named Nicodemus (Nick), and is raised by highly educated monks. Unlike other monastic orders that believe in hard labor, the Cluniacs employ servants in order to dedicated more time to study. Groomed since boyhood to be a warrior monk, Nick is ready to fight for God in the Second Crusade. The only thing that stands in his way is pretty Gwen, the daughter of a kitchen maid who constantly haunts his thoughts and stirs forbidden desires. Nick and many other crusaders board a ship heading for Dartmouth, but a storm veers it off course and they arrive in Lisbon, instead. There he meets the wealthy and powerful Lord Richard Fitzwilliam of Kent, who eventually hands Nick the key to unlock the secrets of his true identity and allow him to take his rightful place in English society. Now he must choose between God and Gwen. From the feudal nobility of Medieval England to the exciting recapture of Lisbon from the Moors, and the bloody battlefields of the exotic East, Forbidden is a tale of Honor, Desire, Denial, Love, and Destiny, which can sometimes be cruel…

The List


Buck Storm - 2019
    And for centuries the people watched, waited and hoped. He was to be the redeemer of Israel. The all-powerful King of Kings who would finally and decisively deliver the nation from the iron fist of Rome. Joseph of Arimathea is a wealthy man, but wealth can't buy peace. Nor the affection of the wife he loves. Nicodemus is a leader of Israel who will stop at nothing to find truth. Sadducee and Pharisee--two men, worlds apart, thrown together at the most critical moment in the history of the world. Set against the spectacle and grandeur of ancient Israel and the brutal violence of the Roman Empire, here is a tale not to be missed. Step into THE LIST and experience the Christ story as you never have before.

The Coal Miner's Daughter


Maggie Hope - 2017
    But then she falls for Timothy Durkin, a wealthy Oxford student…Following her heart, Hannah sacrifices everything she holds dear and follows her new husband to Oxford. But will her new life of luxury be everything she expected - or will she find that once a coal miner's daughter, always a coal miner's daughter..?

A Wartime Friend


Lizzie Lane - 2021
    Discovered in France by an RAF pilot, the traumatised Leah wakes to find she’s forgotten everything. Fostered by the pilot and Meg, his wife, Leah becomes Lily, remembering nothing of her former life. However, war and tragedy shatter their lives. With their home in ruins and Lily’s adopted father missing in action, Lily and Meg are forced to flee to the country. In the Somerset countryside, Lily is reunited with Rudy, the heroic German Shepherd, while Meg finds herself subject to the attentions of a local criminal – and the village policeman. Before long, it becomes clear that Rudy isn’t just watching over Lily – he’s protecting Meg too, and someone wants him out of the way. Lily and Rudy’s unlikely friendship could be the only thing that saves them…

Yellow Crocus - excerpt from 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Entry


Laila Ibrahim - 2011
    That knowledge must have filled me as quickly and surely as the milk from her breasts. Although my family ‘owned’ her, although she occupied the center of my universe, her deepest affections lay elsewhere. So along with the comfort of her came the fear that I would lose her some day. This is our story...So begins Lisbeth Wainwright’s compelling tale of coming-of-age in antebellum Virginia. Born to white plantation owners but raised by her enslaved black wet nurse, Mattie, Lisbeth’s childhood unfolds on the line between two very different worlds. Growing up under the tender care of Mattie, Lisbeth adopts her surrogate mother’s deep-seated faith in God, her love of music and black-eyed peas, and the tradition of hunting for yellow crocuses in the early days of spring. In time, Lisbeth realizes she has freedoms and opportunities that Mattie does not have, though she’s confined by the societal expectations placed on women born to privilege. As Lisbeth grows up, she struggles to reconcile her love for her caregiver with her parents’ expectations, a task made all the more difficult as she becomes increasingly aware of the ugly realities of the American slavery system. When Lisbeth bears witness to a shockingly brutal act, the final vestiges of her naiveté crumble around her. Lisbeth realizes she must make a choice, one that will require every ounce of the courage she learned from her beloved Mattie. This compelling historical novel is a richly evocative tale of love, loss, and redemption set during one of the most sinister chapters of American history.

The Warrior Chronicles Books 1-3 (The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North)


Bernard Cornwell - 2013
    This is The Warrior Chronicles books 1-3.The beginning of the tale of Uhtred. Uhtred is born into the aristocracy of 9th Century Northumbria, but orphaned at ten, adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred’s fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the last English kingdom when the Danes have overrun Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. So ends The Last Kingdom.The Pale Horseman takes place right afterwards in the fateful year in which the Danes capture Alfred’s kingdom and drive him as a fugitive into the marshes of Athelney. It seems that Wessex, and England, are destroyed, but Alfred is determined to make one desperate gamble that might save his kingdom.The Lords of the North sees Uhtred, having helped Alfred secure Wessex an independent Saxon kingdom, returns north to find his stepsister. Instead he discovers chaos, civil war and treachery in Northumbria. He takes the side of Guthred, once a slave and now a man who would be king, and in return expects Guthred’s help in capturing Dunholm, the lair of the dark Viking lord, Kjartan.

Blood on the Bighorns


Carson McCloud - 2019
    First it took his mother, then his father, and now it threatens to end his own life as well. Merciless killer Kip Lane found Brett and his sweetheart, Allie, while they were out for an afternoon ride. Now Allie is missing and Brett lies at the bottom of a deep hole carrying three bullet holes. He’s got to escape and then rescue Allie from Kip’s clutches, but first he’s got to survive the cold lonesome night. Kip Lane isn’t Brett’s only concern though. There’s another man lurking behind the dashing outlaw. A dangerous man with money, powerful friends, and more than one gunfighter on his payroll. He aims to be the territory’s biggest rancher and Brett’s ranch is the key. Brett has a few allies he can count on. Gideon Sweeney and his daughter Lisa at the local Mormon settlement along with Red Elk, an old Crow medicine man, and Mourning Song, a beautiful Cheyenne woman with her own tragic history. Will it be enough to take back Brett’s heritage or will young Rawlins find his end beneath the guns of his enemies? Either way there will be Blood on the Bighorns.