But wait? Meriday, the slave girl “You want every slave to walk behind you and be a fart catcher. I could never be like that. Not ever.” – Hatred of slavery is the lifeblood that compels her. The story of her life’s journey from the plantation South to Chicago mesmerizes in its brutality and soothes by its exploration into the human spirit. The men she encounters along her odyssey: a field-hand slave forced to shed his Christian name and accept the one his masters give him in jest, a dwarf with a giant’s heart, a ship’s captain, and a black Union army sergeant; they are heroes of epic proportion.Santine – Fascinated by a photo of Meriday taken more than a hundred and fifty years before, she has an affiliation with it, but doesn’t understand why. She is comforted and frightened at the same time by her daily talks with the slave girl, now an angel, that she believes has taken her under wing. Accepting a challenge with an unbelievably large prize on the line, the Harvard bound high school senior from Chicago leads her all black inner-city chorus to Boston in competition against the elite Ivy League High Schools. By nobody’s reckoning were they ever supposed to be there, and by nobody’s reckoning could they ever compete for the win. And by her reckoning, there was never supposed to be a boy in in the faraway Massachusetts city.Grandma Brown – Meriday’s second great granddaughter and Santine’s eighty-year-old mentor who never saw a computer she didn’t love. Going to the chorus competition as a chaperone, she’s feisty and fearless as she steamrolls over obstacles. The Beantown prima donnas never saw her coming.This delightfully unusual story easily flows back and forth through history, from slave times to modern African American consciousness while touching on the spiritual theme of guardian angels and the protections they so lovingly provide. A powerful novel that touches all the emotional bells. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fist pump till your arm tires. This is coming of age, contemporary and historical fiction, a page turner for the teen, young adult, mother, father, or grandparent reader who just enjoys a whopping good tale.Scroll to the top of the page and select the 'buy button' now.

    Now, she must learn to survive.Forced to be both mother and father to her siblings after Ada’s mother turns to gin, and no longer able to scour the banks of the Thames as mudlarks, Ada turns to picking up cigarette butts from the filthy streets and repurposing the tobacco into a saleable item.Assisted by Elijah the son of a stonemason the Blair family manages to keep a roof over their heads, until their mother’s addiction spirals out of control and they find themselves out on the street.Desperate for safety, Ada takes a risk and is befriended by the well to do Mr Beauregard. But not all things are as they seem and soon Ada is torn from her family and thrown into a world of corruption she could not have imagined.When a chance meeting with Elijah reveals the truth, Ada’s life is at a crossroadsCan Ada leave behind the new life she now finds herself in? Will Elijah ever forgive her for what she has become? Or should Ada let the past remain behind and leave her family in peace.Nell Harte writes sweet and clean Historical Romance.

    Army Fort Davis in the west Texas wilderness, has received shocking news – his father is dead. He must return home to Virginia and claim his inheritance before a maniacal neighbor can murder his widowed mother and seize the family plantation. But he’s torn by a terrible dilemma – to stay in the army and turn his back on his fortune, his mother and his beloved childhood home, or become the thing he despises; a slave master! Is there no other choice? Meanwhile, a woman desperate to redeem her family’s fortunes schemes to marry her beautiful but troubled daughter to the handsome young heir. But will Evelyn’s own plans break his heart instead? An epic journey across a young nation seething with debauchery, brutality, corruption, and political intrigue, unwittingly on the brink of an unimaginable disaster; the American Civil War. Nathan Chambers has left the violent army life behind in Texas, never imaging he’s on the very ‘Road to The Breaking’.

     Concerned at the level of intimacy developing between Maren and the boy who helps her father with his farm work, the village priest takes it upon himself to remove her from school and bring her to one of the convent laundries, where he delivers her into the care of the nuns. Now, alongside many other "Magdalens" - named for Mary Magdalen - Maren must spend her days washing dirty linens, symbolically cleansing herself of her sins while repeating endless penance to a God that she soon comes to feel is no longer listening to her. Only the presence of Ceara, a young pregnant girl who befriends her inside the institution, gives Maren strength to continue through abuse, humiliation, beatings and near-starvation. Set in Ireland in 1961, The Magdalen Laundries is based on the true stories from one of the most shameful chapters in Ireland's history, and tells of the redemptive power of faith, friendship and forgiveness. NEW EDITION now includes pronunciation guide. Recent Reviews: If you began reading this book without seeing the cover or knowing what it was about, you would guess that you were reading a future dystopian fantasy about a horrific, oppressive torture prison. However, you are not reading fantasy, you are reading a novel based on a true story. It doesn’t take place in the future, instead the sad pitiful events took place in Ireland, and other English-speaking countries, including America, for over 100 years. “There is hope in Christ, not despair.” Author Odgaard’s story is set in 1961 at [a convent] near Dublin. Young and pretty, Maren grows up on her family farm, loved and cherished. Maren begins to awaken to feelings of love, when a hired farm hand catches her eye. Her innocent feelings lead her parish priest to commit her, without her family’s knowledge, to what were called the Magdalen Laundries. These laundries were ostensibly places for “fallen” girls and women to redeem themselves. But too many ended as victims of a system of torture and deprivation. At times slow-moving at the beginning, most of the book is compelling and engrossing. Maren and her best friend at the laundry are described with love and compassion by Author Odgaard. While not sugar-coating or endorsing the practices at the laundry, the author also extends this same understanding to the Catholic Church. The story features a heartfelt affirmation of the Gospel message. While, many elements of this book are difficult to read about, overall there is a message of hope. I am grateful to the Author for opening my eyes to the Laundries and the plights of the young girls. In the afterward of the book, the Author presents more information about the Laundries and encourages readers to research more on the internet. I did look up some information about the history. “She felt a joy in her heart and knew that her journey to find peace had ended here, In Glasvenin cemetery.” – Jena C. Henry, Readers Review Room

    Detective Sergeant Lee Hollister and his partner Max Baxter find themselves fighting a dual tsunami from the shock of a demanding media and police department brass pressing for answers. A puzzling trail leads to studio executives with ties to millions of dollars and a skilled assassin. It is a deadly mix that crosses oceans and continents putting the two detectives in a struggle to not only solve the case but save their own lives.

     On the Manhattan, Kansas frontier of the 1870s, D’Arcy Curran, her adopted son, Dan, and her new husband, Royce Quinn, want nothing more than to raise a family and live in peace. Their plans are waylaid when the renegade Jayhawker who killed D’Arcy’s father returns from prison looking for revenge. Human treachery isn’t the only thing D’Arcy and Royce battle on their prairie home. As Dan grows from a boy to a man and more children arrive, they struggle against the forces of nature, animals that are not as tame as expected, and disease. When Dan meets Kathleen O’Malley, he’s only sixteen but is convinced she’s the girl for him. He sets out to win her heart, but he wonders, can the pampered daughter of a New York millionaire learn to love a rough-hewn cowboy?

    Gripping, emotional and uplifting, the Trilogy is inspired by Catherine Cookson, her mother and grandmother.The Jarrow Lass: Brought up on her parents' smallholding in Jarrow in the harsh years of the 1870s, selling vegetables to poverty-struck Irish labourers such as the unruly McMullens, Rose dreams of the world beyond the grime of the town, a world she glimpsed at a fairytale wedding on the Ravensworth Estate as a child. Capturing the heart of handsome and respectable steelworker William Fawcett, it seems her wish for a better life is finally within reach. But tragedy strikes, and to save her young family from destitution, Rose must turn to wild John McMullen. The Jarrow Lass is the first novel in the Jarrow Trilogy and is inspired by Catherine Cookson's grandmother.A Child of Jarrow: To escape her possessive and drunken step-father, Kate is sent away from teaming Jarrow to work on the Ravensworth Estate. She is soon attracting the attention of charming, headstrong Alexander and dares to dream of a future with him. But when Kate discovers herself pregnant and alone she must return to face the wrath of her step-father. Yet she refuses to give up hope that one day Alexander might return to claim her and their love child. Poignant and compelling, A Child Of Jarrow is the second in the Jarrow Trilogy.Return to Jarrow: Rebellious Catherine (Kitty) McMullen, resentful of her mother’s new husband and yearning to escape impoverished Jarrow, determines to educate herself. Soon streetwise Kitty is a ghost of the past and the well-spoken, well-read Catherine leaves the north-east to follow her dreams. But this plucky and romantic heroine encounters hardship and heartbreak on the road to self-discovery. Return To Jarrow concludes the bestselling trilogy.

     Sabine always minded her own business, closing her eyes to the sinister events engulfing Germany. War is always ugly, and it's best to simply stay out of harm’s way. That changes the moment the Gestapo needs information from her. With her husband held captive, his very life depends on her willingness to cooperate in this evil enterprise. Soon, she’s thrust into the midst of the resistance, smuggling people out of Nazi Germany. Her task? Find the leader and hand him over to torture and certain death. If she does as she is asked, she betrays her own people. If she does not, her husband will be executed by Hitler's forces. Can she silence her conscience and save her husband? Read Reluctant Informer now - a WWII tale of love, courage, and impossible choices. Previously published as part of the USA Today Bestselling Anthology, The Darkest Hour – Tales of Resistance, this standalone novella will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what Sabine will do next.

     When the German war machine rolled over the Netherlands in May 1940, Titia Wetselaar Bozuwa was an eight-year-old girl living in the southern city of Breda. She wrote about her family’s endurance of that five-year Occupation in her memoir, In the Shadow of the Cathedral. In Defiance, her first work of fiction, she pays tribute to the many who defied the German Occupation. Challenging the expectations of Dutch society, Anna Smits enrolls as a medical student at Utrecht University. But in a country occupied by Nazi Germany, student life is not what Anna expected. Social clubs are closed; Jews are forbidden from attending schools; and in 1943, students are ordered to sign a declaration of loyalty to the occupying German government. Anna and her seven closest friends—the Group of Eight—refuse to sign. Inspired by a sermon about the Good Samaritan—a sermon that got the minister thrown into prison—the Group of Eight vows to help the victims of Hitler’s brutal regime. They hide Jews and provide them with fake IDs; they keep desperately needed medicines out of the hands of the Nazis; they raise funds for orphaned Jewish children. But as the war drags on and the Nazis’ hold tightens, the Group of Eight shrinks. The few that remain defiantly resist the ever-onerous Occupying force. But how can they fight the lawlessness with which the Germans shoot first and don’t bother with questions? How can they fight the devastating Hunger Winter of 1945? Anna clings to her beliefs and mission, aided by her remarkable grandmother, Baroness van Haersolte, as the country waits for liberation. But will they all survive that long?

    As the storm clouds of war gather over Europe, a chain of events is set in motion which will reach across the decades to haunt the neglected place once known as Oyster Shore.A lifetime of regrets…In the winter of 1964 one of the richest men in England lies dying. Alone and consumed by guilt, Gerald Snowe leaves behind the dark secrets which have driven him to despair and his last wish is that restitution might be made. But who will remain on Oyster Shore long enough to hear the past whispering?A lost story…Over fifty years later, broken-hearted writer Lowenna Scott seeks solace in a remote riverside hideaway. Swirling mists and ghostly tales soon draw her into a decades’ old mystery and the company of the enigmatic Noah Wilson. When a long-concealed betrayal unexpectedly comes to light, Lowenna and Noah must look to the past to uncover the truth behind a love affair that changed history, haunts Oyster Shore and possesses the power to alter their own future forever…Taking the reader on a captivating journey through time, place and war, Oyster Shore is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and most of all hope.

    But the young man is reminded of his father’s counsel that “Whenever a task falls to you, don’t question the why of it, just get busy with the doin’ of it!” Now he must set aside his new job as Shotgun for the Overland Stage and gear up for the pursuit of a band of warrior renegades. A tall task for an unproven young man, but when none of the pilgrims believe in the cause, and the settlers of nearby LaPorte refuse to leave their homes unguarded, Talon realizes he must face this challenge alone. His commitment and determination lead to the making of a man and a bloody chase through the foothills of Colorado and the plains of the new territory. Along the way, he makes a bitter enemy of the Cheyenne war leader, Two Bears, who is determined to seek vengeance on this unknown white man and prove to his people that he is the chosen leader of the notorious Dog soldiers. But Talon is undaunted and even eager to show the renegade that this white man is more than his match. Follow the trail that takes a young man from the Cache La Poudre through intimidating country and back to the Overland Trail as he proves his worth as he rises to the challenge and the making of a man.

    In the spring of 1665, England is recovering from a terrible winter, yet the country has other severe problems to face as the sun finally returns. The King, Charles II, had been welcomed back as a saviour on his restoration five years before, but is now resented by increasing numbers of his own people. And in March, the King declares war on the Dutch, England’s great seagoing trade rivals… Worse news comes to Restoration London, though, when there is an outbreak of the plague in April. This is terrible news in particular for the wealthy young physician and merchant Henry Raven, who believes that the outbreak is not natural but has been caused by an old enemy plotting his revenge against the city of London. Henry Raven, together with his friends from the Royal Society, Dr William Croone and Robert Hooke, organize the city’s fight against the spread of the disease. Raven’s delectable young mistress, Molly Titchen, is a precocious seventeen-year-old actress at the new King’s theatre in Drury Lane who is torn between her devotion to Henry Raven, and her love of strutting the stage in breeches parts. When Molly gives a bed for the night to one sick young actor, her kind action is misunderstood by Raven who believes that she has been unfaithful to him. Then Molly falls on hard times herself, and is aided not by her jealous lover, but by a strange Moorish apothecary, and a mysterious Frenchman, Philippe Desargues, Comte de Mésanger... Henry Raven has other problems to trouble his mind too, apart from his fight against the plague and his wish to save his relationship with Molly. Firstly, a close childhood friend, Esther Linney, has disappeared from her cottage on the estate of Raven’s family home in Dorset, Salwayash Manor, and gone to London. Raven’s sister Catherine asks her brother to find Esther in London, and discover why she left Dorset in such mysterious circumstances. Raven also has to deal with the fact that his sister has clearly fallen in love with their wealthy neighbour, the recently widowed Ralph Warboys, who is a handsome man yet one with a haunted past. And then strange events unfold in the quiet Dorset countryside when two young girls are found dead in suspicious circumstances... As the plague rages through London, Raven finds himself having to defend Esther Linney against a charge of witchcraft, while also trying to save Molly from an implacable enemy. But his greatest challenge is to discover the secrets of an old family curse, and to unmask a cruel murderer…

    An essential flight from France crash lands in the North Sea, leaving the four remaining crew members of the RAF Hudson stranded on a dinghy.One man is critically injured, and another, a rocket expert, is carrying a briefcase stuffed with vital war secrets, that could prove devastating if allowed to fall into the wrong hands.As the days begin to stretch out, they can only pray that the rescue team can locate the dinghy in time, before exposure kills them, or worse, the enemy finds them… A novel which charts the daring and courage of four castaways, and the men who rescued them in a breathtaking mission with the most awesome of consequences, perfect for fans of Alexander Fullerton, David McDine and Alan Evans.

    She’s Black. He’s white. They’re sister and brother… but they’re not. Will they ever be?Eliza Coldbrook, proud and privileged graduate of all-Black Atlanta University, hasn’t seen her white half-brother since the end of Reconstruction. When Matt returns to Atlanta, she refuses a reunion. She now lives in a progressive and prosperous new South. She doesn’t want to be reminded of the past that she and Matt share.Her half-brother Matthew Kaltenbach hasn’t lived in Georgia since he was seven years old. But he has vivid memories of the past, and he has unfinished business with it. He wants to rebuild a relationship with the man who is his father as well as Eliza’s. And he wants to reconcile with the half-sister he loved when they were children, but who has become a stranger since.Amanda Gardiner, born a slave in Georgia, now lives in an Atlanta reborn after the Civil War. But she doesn’t share in the bounty that is the New South. As a washerwoman, she’s underpaid and badly treated by her white employers. Until she decides to say no, and all the washerwomen of Atlanta join her in a strike…When the Black washerwomen of Atlanta go on strike, Eliza and Matt, Black half-sister and white half-brother, are both swept into their cause. Will the strike let them heal the wounds of the past—and forgive each other?