Book picks similar to
When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick
historical-fiction
mermaids
pirates
sea-faring-stories
Goodbye to Ribbons
W.S. Ishida - 2020
Shy country girl, Rosie, only wants one thing ~ which is to be exactly like her well-loved mother. That is until the truth begins to emerge and her dream threatens to become her inescapable destiny. Upon discovering a family secret, Rosie finds herself drawn into a world of deceit and betrayal, and soon faces the decisions of how many morals she is willing to sacrifice, how much cruelty she is willing to tolerate, and how many lies she is willing to tell to prevent her family from being torn apart. Reaching her lowest ebb, whilst training at the local hospital, the confident and brash Teddy Miller falls off the back of a motorbike and into her life. Teddy proves to be the only person who is willing to stand up for Rosie, but being a slave to his emotions it seems he loves her too much to be the saviour she so desperately craves. Rosie's struggles continue as she lives a paradoxical double-life. Domestically she’s a timid mouse under the constant shadow of her tormentors. Yet, in her work life, she excels in whatever she sets her mind to, from a hardworking trainee nurse to a machine operative in a male-only working environment, where she not only defies the gender conventions of the times but turns them on their head. However, as her domestic struggles weigh heavy upon her, they begin to seep into her professional life and threaten to undo everything she was worked so hard to achieve. As she loses her delicate grip on her true identity, she begins to slide down the slope of despair. And so begins a seemingly endless journey to set herself free
The Fire Islands
Gilbert M. Stack - 2017
While the days of the powerful witchdoctor kings throwing skeletal armies against the shields of the legion have faded into history, all is not right at the edge of the world. Unrest is boiling once again as long dead darkness seeps back into the islands. With the legion more concerned with its personal rivalries than with its duty, it will fall to Marcus and his small, highly disciplined, command to put the horrors of the past back in their graves and literally save Aquila from a fate worse than death.
Forged in Rage (Violent Sands #1)
Sean Young - 2017
Now that secret is about to be unleashed. In the right hands, the scroll could bring about Israel's freedom from Roman occupation, but used improperly, it could destroy her.Barabbas, a warrior zealot and sworn protector of the scroll, has vowed to overthrow his Roman oppressors. He has raged against an empire and lashed out at its military might. But his greatest enemy remains the pain within.His quest for vengeance and Roman blood, his love for a peace loving woman, and his commitment to the mysterious scroll pull him in vastly different directions.Death and betrayal loom around every corner as Barabbas searches for a truth that he has yet to fully understand-the force that drives him forward and ultimately requests the ultimate sacrifice to be made by a man.
The Wolves of Solomon
R.L. Blackhurst - 2010
When he discovers the truth of their nature, he vows to destroy the Order and have the Knights burned to the last.When hundreds of Templars are arrested in France and Catherine is taken by De Floyran, Galeren resolves to rescue her and save as many of his brethren as he can. Alone, he journeys to France and into the heart of danger to face his enemy and risk everything to save his race from destruction.
Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur by Bernard Cornwell Summary & Study Guide
BookRags - 2011
84 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur by Bernard Cornwell.
The Wild Card
Teresa Crane - 2000
With them is Mary McCarthy and her volatile son, Liam. All is well until the arrival of Siobhan’s husband George. A man of strong views and even stronger temper, he browbeats his gentle wife, belittles his daughter Christine and treats Liam like a servant…A year later, on a visit to Ireland, Liam unexpectedly comes face to face with the father he has never known. Liam wants nothing to do with him, but when George Clough throws him out, he has little choice but to enter his father’s dangerous world of Irish politics…As the Clough children grow up they each react to their domineering father in different ways, and his daughter Christine finds herself attracted to the man her father would disapprove of above all others, the wild card Liam McCarthy…
Perfect for fans of Emily Gunnis, Fiona Valpy
and
Santa Montefiore, The Wild Card is an intensely gripping and unforgettable read.
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.
The Sphinx Scrolls
Stewart Ferris - 2016
Mayan legends tell of a location where the secret to surviving the end of the world may be found. One part of that legend is recorded on a stone tablet in the dusty attic of Lord ‘Ratty’ Ballashiels’ crumbling manor. The other twin part disappeared from a Berlin museum when the Nazis took power. When Ratty seems about to sell his tablet to the adopted son of Josef Mengele, his friend, the archaeologist Ruby Towers, is appalled. Soon it is clear that more than archaeology is at stake. The quest to rescue historic Central American artefacts becomes a race to prevent an apocalyptic threat when Ruby discovers that the ancients have set in motion something that will threaten the world today.
Powder Island: the Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mysteries, Book 26
Charles Veley - 2021
A wounded ally. And the rise of a new and powerful enemy . . . When an unforeseen blast destroys part of England’s largest gunpowder factory, Inspector Gregson, a former ally of Sherlock Holmes, is put on the case. Holmes waits for a call to help Gregson investigate, but the call never comes. Soon Gregson will be demoted to a lowly beat patrolman, walking the streets of Whitechapel. Nine months later, the factory owner comes to Holmes for help. He has rebuilt the demolished structure and needs to resume operations. But he's received an anonymous note threatening another explosion.All known suspects have iron-clad alibis, and there are no other leads. If the culprit is not caught, the factory may never reopen, and the livelihoods of four hundred workers and their families will vanish permanently.Then Gregson is brutally stabbed in a Whitechapel alley. More mysterious circumstances unfold. Holmes realizes the Baker Street team is up against a powerful and complex enemy who will stop at nothing to avoid being caught. Can the team unmask the malefactor before more damage is done? Or will all their efforts go up in smoke?A thrilling and fast-paced take on a classic Sherlock who-done-it, complete with unexpected twists and turns, clever sleuthing, and diabolical villainy. Powder Island stays faithful to the spirit of the beloved original series, while adding fresh new mysteries and dynamic new characters. Get it today!
Excerpt: Finale
Stephanie Garber
Now, Legend is preparing for his official coronation and Tella is determined to stop it. She believes her own mother, who still remains in an enchanted sleep, is the rightful heir to the throne.Meanwhile, Scarlett has started a game of her own. She’s challenged Julian and her former fiancé, Count Nicolas d’Arcy, to a competition where the winner will receive her hand in marriage. Finaly, Scarlett feels as if she is in complete control over her life and future. She is unaware that her mother’s past has put her in the greatest danger of all.Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun―with lives, empires, and hearts all at stake. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win...and those who will lose everything.
Time Game
E.B. Brown - 2015
When he made the choice to save two lives in 11th century Vinland, Tate had no idea his decision would create a rift that must be fixed. With one more mission to Vinland, Tate could erase all that had happened – yet how could he erase the son he loved more than his own life? Will he correct the mistakes he made? Or will the rift haunt Tate forever?
A New Dawn: A Titanic short story
AnneMarie Brear - 2016
Escaping a brutal father, Briony runs to James, the man she loves. With his family’s blessing, they marry and prepare for a new life in a new country – America. A wedding gift of two tickets to travel on an ocean liner is a wonderful surprise. Full of anticipation and hope, they set sail. Only, fate has sent them a challenge that tests, not just their strength and love, but their very survival.
LEVIATHAN
Gordon John Thomson - 2014
In Newgate prison, an innocent surgeon, Dr Jonathan Silver, is waiting in the condemned cell to be hanged for the murder of his wife, Marianne. Fate intervenes in the unlikely shape of a nineteen-year old thief, Elisa Saltash, who, in trying to break her burglar father free from Newgate on the eve of his execution, ends up freeing Dr Silver instead. Silver and Elisa end up in the riverside world of Wapping, among the seething and dangerous world of the London docks. Silver has only one clue to the identity of his wife’s real killer - with her dying breath she had said to him the word “Leviathan”... This leads Silver to suspect a former suitor of his wife’s - a marine engineer called Daniel Strode who works at the Napier shipyard on the Isle of Dogs where Brunel’s Leviathan is being readied for launching. Silver gets a job as a carpenter at the yard, trying to find some real evidence against Daniel Strode. On Silver’s trail are a couple of formidable human bloodhounds: Detective Sergeant Charlie Sparrow of the Shadwell and Wapping police; and an even more devious young turnkey from Newgate, James Minshall, who is determined to gain the reward on Silver’s head for himself. Elisa soon becomes as much a fugitive as Silver when she steals a priceless pearl necklace called the Tears of the Prophet and finds her own secret life as a thief about to be exposed. Then other young women begin to be murdered in Wapping, and the fogbound riverside streets and alleyways become a place of fear... As the net closes around Silver, he has to try and discover the real reason behind his wife’s death, while also being drawn unwillingly into the mystery over the deaths of these other murdered women. Silver finds himself in a race to discover the truth before he is himself recaptured. With the help of Elisa, and another equally mysterious young woman called Amy McLennan, the story reaches a climax on the day of the launch of Brunel’s Leviathan... Set against the romantic and thrilling backdrop of London of the 1850s - the bustling centre of the greatest empire in the world, with its music halls and brothels and bare knuckle fighting - this thriller is an historical crime story full of mystery, murder, suspense and romance...
The Breckton Trilogy
Mary Wood - 2013
Bridie O’Hara, a beautiful young girl, is torn away from her native Ireland by her father – a freedom fighter, turned traitor, when he has to flee the wrath of the Fenians. Violated by him she ends up in a correction convent. Her escape, and meeting up with Bruiser Armitage, a pimp, sets her fate. One man tries to save her, Will Hadler, a kind, hard-working miner, whose love for Bridie knows no bounds. His rescue of her brings her happiness, but the demons inside her never give her peace. When Andrew Harvey, master of Hensal Grange, takes a fancy to her it is the beginning of Bridie sinking back into degradation. Her daughter, Bridget pays the price. Unprotected by her drunken mother, Bridget suffers rape and the heartbreak of having to give up her child, Megan.Book Two: AN UNBREAKABLE BOND: It is 1913 and for Megan and her friend, Hattie, the time has come to take up their placements and make their way in the world. Megan’s path leads her to fall into a marriage with a man she does not love and at whose hands she suffers beatings and rape. With Hattie’s help she finally escapes, but her path crosses that of the beautiful, rich and powerful, Laura Harvey. It is Laura’s need to have her wish at any price that triggers an eruption of violence that brings Megan near to death and sends Jack, the man both Megan and Laura love to prison, for a murder he did not commit.Hattie’s path crosses that of paedophile, Lord Marley. She is raped by him and his companion. Her ten pound silence money buys her an abortion but her choices have gone and she is forced into a life of prostitution. It is when she stumbles across an evil, child sex ring and is determined to break it that she once more encounters Lord Marley and though she succeeds in her quest and gets her revenge, she pays a terrible price. Hers and Megan’s enduring friendship bring them through.Book Three: TOMORROW BRINGS SORROWSet in 1939 – 1959, As the world faces many changes brought on by war, Megan has found happiness with Jack, but the threat of Megan’s schizophrenic son Billy, still casts a shadow over them. His release is imminent and for Sarah, Jack’s daughter, this opens up a fate she cannot fight. With her love and respect for Billy eroded over the years as she came to realise he has an evil core, Sarah now lives in fear of him and what he will do if she refuses him. Forsaking her true love, she marries Billy in an attempt to protect those who are very dear to her, but love and hate will out and the consequences are devastatingThose consequences are compounded by the incestuous love between twins Theresa and Terrence Crompton and their taking of all they need from whatever source they please.
The Black Sheep
Peter Darman - 2019
Luca Baldi, a young shepherd, is catapulted into the violent world of mercenary warfare when he is forced to flee his native Sicily. He falls in with the Almogavars – ruthless mercenaries from the Catalonia region of Spain who have just finished butchering the French during a 20-year war on the island. He and they take ship to Constantinople when they are hired by the Byzantine emperor, whose empire is disintegrating in the face of remorseless Muslim advances. Alone and marooned amid danger and violence and surrounded by enemy forces, Luca must master the Almogavar way of war to survive. Plunged into the brutal world of Medieval warfare when the mercenaries take the fight to the emperor’s many enemies, can Luca live through fighting impossible odds as he battles to preserve a crumbling empire that has stood for a thousand years? ‘The Black Sheep’ is the first volume in the Catalan Chronicles, a Medieval saga set in the early 14th century. Maps of the Byzantine Empire and western Anatolia at this time can be found on the maps page of my website: www.peterdarman.com