Book picks similar to
The Keys To The Garden by Susan Sallis


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Spencer's List


Lissa Evans - 2002
    Spencer's lost his lover, who bequeathed him a list of things to do; Fran shares a run-down house with her oddball brother; whilst Iris spends her time cleaning up after her two teenage sons...SPENCER'S LIST is a wonderfully funny tale of life lived on the edge - of reason, of failure and of (just possibly) a brighter future.

Goodbye, Paris


Anstey Harris - 2018
    Since then, she’s built a quiet life for herself in her small English village, repairing instruments and nurturing her long- distance affair with David, the man who has helped her rebuild her life even as she puts her dreams of a family on hold until his children are old enough for him to leave his loveless marriage.But when David saves the life of a woman in the Paris Metro, his resulting fame shines a light onto the real state of the relationship(s) in his life. Shattered, Grace hits rock bottom and abandons everything that has been important to her, including her dream of entering and winning the world’s most important violin-making competition. Her closest friends—a charming elderly violinist with a secret love affair of his own, and her store clerk, a gifted but angst-ridden teenage girl—step in to help, but will their friendship be enough to help her pick up the pieces?Filled with lovable, quirky characters, this poignant novel explores the realities of relationships and heartbreak and shows that when it comes to love, there’s more than one way to find happiness.

The Silver Thread


Kylie Fitzpatrick - 2012
    A melancholic cloth that whispered and rustled. Who could say what it foretold.' Dublin, 1840: Rhia Mahoney watches in despair as her father's linen warehouse goes up in flames. Her family is ruined. Her imagined future, full of pattern and colour, plum brocades and beetle-green taffeta, crumbles to ashes. Seeking work as a governess in dismal London, Rhia's life is changed beyond all imagination when her uncle, a shipping merchant, commits suicide. Rhia cannot - will not - believe he would take his own life, but before she can investigate, she is accused of a crime she didn't commit, and forced to board a prison ship bound for New South Wales. The voyage is one of dry biscuits and endless sea, made bearable by the women's daily chore: to sew scraps of cloth into an elaborate quilt. What Rhia does not realise is that with every stitch, she binds herself closer to a journey of discovery that will not end in Australia ...Weaving death, love and adventure into a vivid tale of the world at the height of Empire, The Silver Thread is plotted like a murder mystery, but narrated with the skill and style of a literary storyteller.

Yesterday Erased


Andy Schrock - 2013
    An unlikely meeting with a cop and a skateboard sends his life in a completely new direction. He starts high school and, along with his group of misfit friends, soon becomes a contender on the Cincinnati skateboard scene. Along the way he quickly learns that life off the board isn’t so simple. The party life is snatching his friends away from their boards. He winds up stuck in an on-again and off-again love triangle. And he realizes that not fitting in just may be the death of him. YESTERDAY ERASED is a hard-to-put-down, 109,000-word commercial fiction piece, based on my own experiences growing up. It deals in themes any young adult, skateboarder or not, can relate to and leaves you pondering your life when you’re done. No matter who you are, you'll find a piece of yourself in this book! The author, Andy Schrock, spent most of his time growing up on a skateboard. He now makes a living creating content online as well as running his own skateboard company, ReVive Skateboards. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and their son.

Revenge Of The Damned (The Montana Series)


L.J. Martin - 2017
    When a freak early-winter storm finds Linc wounded and sheltered in the cabin of a recently widowed homesteader and her young son, all should be fine…if he wasn’t on the run from the law. Now, Bama, a black mule skinner; Twodogs, a Crow tracker; and Dolan, find themselves an unlikely gang. Damned by decent folk, hunted by the law, and pursued by Montana’s most deadly man-hunters, they all three are wronged and seek bloody revenge.

The Searcher: He's there when the Law can't help


Rand Osborn - 2017
    He was a Searcher of men who possessed a unique skill only a few possess. When not working he was self destructive and a town drunk. Jethro McDougal needed the services of a Searcher of the caliber of Reed Justus' ability. He found him in a saloon and his unkempt appearance made him wonder if this man could do the job. McDougal decided he would take the chance but only time would tell if Justus was really the one known as the Searcher!

The Land of Strong Men


A.M. Chisholm - 1919
    Excerpt and one of them, Gavin, was reputed to be the strongest man in the neighborhood. The daughter, a long-limbed slip of a girl who rode like a cow-puncher, was about the boy's age. Though Godfrey French had a ranch it was worked scarcely at all. The boys did not like work, and apparently did not have to. Godfrey French was reputed to have money. His ranch was a hang-out for what were known as "remittance men," young Englishmen who received more or less regular allowances from home--or perhaps to keep away from home. There were rumors of gambling and hard drinking at French's ranch. "Well, I'll take you home," the boy said. "You can ride my pony. He's on a rope a mile from here. But I'll have to hang up this buck, or the coyotes will chew him." He found two small saplings close together, bent them down, trimmed them and lashed their tops. Over these he placed the tied legs of the buck. With a little search he found a long dry pole. With this he had a tripod. As he hoisted with the pole the spring

The Miner's Lass


Glenda Young - 2021
    Nothing and no one keeps us lot down.'A life of poverty in a cramped pit cottage is all that seventeen-year-old Ruby Dinsdale has known. Even with her father and younger brother working at the coal mine, money is tight. Her mother Mary is skilled at stretching what little they have, but the small contribution Ruby makes from her job at the local pub makes all the difference. So when Ruby is sacked, and Mary becomes pregnant again, the family's challenges are greater than ever.When charming miner Gordon begins to court Ruby it seems as though happiness is on the horizon, until she uncovers a deeper betrayal than she could ever have imagined.But although the Dinsdales are materially poor, they are rich in love, friendship and determination - all qualities that they will draw on to get them through whatever lies ahead.

The Gambler and The Orphans


R.O. Lane - 2018
    A Mississippi riverboat gambler, Benjamin Tate, is thrust into a different life as he is forced to adopt two little boys, who have been horribly abused in an orphanage in St. Louis. He takes the boys out West, buys some land and builds a ranch where he raises horses. He meets the boys' school teacher and falls in love with her. He learns that she's a widow who has suffered terrible physical abuse from her late husband. One of the boys is kidnapped and Tate goes after the kidnappers and recovers his adopted son, who tells him, "I knew you were coming, Pa. I never had a single doubt. And I told that kidnapper you'd beat the 'dickens' out of him." The gambler finds out that love makes a difference in both children and horses. The orphans adopt a young horse named Sunny, which is a pet for the boys, but he's no race horse ... until one of the orphans gives him a little talking to, hugs him and gets in the saddle. Suddenly Sunny is transformed by the love of the orphans into a winning race horse. The family finally learns that Benjamin Tate was the best poker player ever on the Mississippi riverboats. Does he regret giving up that life and being a father to the orphans. Not for a single minute. It's another classic tale from R. O. Lane, author of classic westerns.