But even as unrest simmers in the capital, Olga is content to live within the confines of the sheltered life her parents have built for and her three sisters: hiding from the world on account of their mother’s ill health, their brother Alexei’s secret affliction, and rising controversy over Father Grigori Rasputin, the priest on whom the Tsarina has come to rely. Olga’s only escape from the seclusion of Alexander Palace comes from her aunt, who takes pity on her and her sister Tatiana, inviting them to grand tea parties amid the shadow court of Saint Petersburg. Finally, she glimpses a world beyond her mother’s Victorian sensibilities—a world of opulent ballrooms, scandalous flirtation, and whispered conversation.  But as war approaches, the palaces of Russia are transformed. Olga and her sisters trade their gowns for nursing habits, assisting in surgeries and tending to the wounded bodies and minds of Russia’s military officers. As troubling rumours about her parents trickle in from the Front, Olga dares to hope that a budding romance might survive whatever the future may hold. But when tensions run high and supplies run low, the controversy over Rasputin grows into fiery protest, and calls for revolution threaten to end 300 years of Romanov rule. At turns glittering and harrowing, The Last Grand Duchess is story about dynasty, duty, and love, but above all, it’s the story of a family who would choose devotion to each other over everything—including their lives.

    He never expected to be dragged into a terrifying series of events that culminates in a single moment of horror, one that would forever change his life in a way no teenager should have to endure. Now Eric must face an uncertain future while combating the ghosts of the past that threaten to rip away any happiness in his life.

    As the wait for his father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, reminding Wes that hope always floats to the surface.When buried truths come to light in the spring thaw, wounds are exposed and violence erupts, forcing Wes to embark on a search for his missing father, the truth about his mother, and a future he must claim for himself—a quest that begins back at that frozen lake.A powerful, page-turning coming-of-age story, Winter Loon captures the resilience of a boy determined to become a worthy man by confronting family demons, clawing his way out of the darkness, and forging a life from the shambles of a broken past.

    Did you know that 2 days before the blizzard of 1967 that brought the Midwest to a halt, it was a balmy 65 degrees? Or that Wild Thing by the Troggs kicked the Beatle's Paperback Writer off the top of the pop charts? Or that Gomer Pyle USMC replaced the Dick Van Dyke Show? These details unique to 1966 and 1967 also include the Apollo 1 disaster, what young men did to avoid the draft and Vietnam, and President Johnson's conclusion in 1966 that the Vietnam War had been as good as won. All of this incredible history, accurately researched and woven into this incredible story without a seam, presents a historic backdrop for a powerful tale of survival - and the detemination of a neighborhood filled with beloved nuts and bolts who go beyond the call to save a broken family. And it all begins with these words of a child's lament - When I hear the news I want to jump on the dining room clock and make time go backwards . . . Based on the real life loss of the author's father, Bruce Steinberg brings his passionate tale home as told through the eyes of his oldest brother - a child on the cusp of manhood who does not easily take to wearing the crown of New Man of the House.The moment 12-year-old Jeremy Rosenberg witnesses his father's death, Jeremy loses the world he assumed would last forever. With a young brother expecting their father to yet come home, a sister blaming herself, and a mother falling toward isolation, Jeremy is sent fatherless into the world just as he enters adolescence. Beautifully and memorably set in mid-1960s Chicago suburbia, The Widow's Son is launched on a devastating moment. But this tale of misguided efforts and accidental triumphs of children forced into adult emotions creates a humorous, poignant novel. The reader's laughter and tears are sure to flow together to the last page as Jeremy battles to make his family into a family once again.Author Bruce Steinberg also writes under the name B.R. Robb, and is the author of River Ghosts, a critically acclaimed novel for your review under Amazon.com's Look Inside program.

    Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

    As outside forces conspire to steal the palace out from under them, Agnes struggles to save her family and finds bravery, love, and loyalty in the most unexpected places. The Moonlight Palace is a coming-of-age tale rich with historical detail and unforgettable characters set against the backdrop of dazzling 1920s Singapore.

    The thought of giving up his friendship is bad enough. But how can he relate to someone who forgets his grandson's name, wears adult diapers, and thinks dog biscuits are people cookies-someone who could die in the night and scare Buzz right out of puberty. Buzz thinks Alzheimer's is caused by a traumatic event, such as the train accident that killed Grandpa's brother Barkley in childhood. The situation turns deadly when Buzz and Mitch-whose friendship Buzz refuses to end-attempt to cure Grandpa of Alzheimer's disease by recreating the train accident on a hot summer day. (Ages 12-14/YA)

    Then, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle move next door as they battle to break Babe Ruth's home run record. Based on historical facts, The M&M Boys explores the parallel lives of an embittered Maris and a self-destructive Mantle who live together incognito in a remote Queens apartment. Maris, a misplaced Midwesterner, gets booed by the Yankee fans who prefer Mantle, and the press pursue him mercilessly. Mantle, on the other hand, basks in New York fans approval, but a series of injuries destroy his hope of winning the competition. Marshall's friendship unearths childhood memories for both men. What all three M&M Boys have in common is a good lesson in how to play the game of life, on and off the field.

     As a senior at Mt. Timmons High, the boys date her for the bragging rights and the girls despise her out of jealousy. Even her own mother doesn't try to hide her contempt. Mt. Timmons, Virginia is known for historical battles and colonial witch trials. Since childhood Ashlyn's been taught that this is the place where history is made. But all she wants to do is fade into obscurity when a scantily clad picture of her, that's been photoshopped by her ex, is circulated at school. As if life couldn't get any worse her car breaks down. Zeus, the one man immune to her charms, offers her a ride home, he just has to make one quick stop. But that layover changes everything. There's a witch and a book of spells and Michael, the ideal boyfriend conjured from pure magic. Ashlyn must choose between two men, the real thing or the dream, come to terms with her own appearance and keep her mother in the dark long enough to decide her future. All this while figuring out if the man who's stalking her is really her ex. There's magic swirling through the Virginia hills and it might just save Ashlyn's life...

    In this panoramic vision of the Soviet Great Terror, the investigation leads all over the world, netting a whole series of suspects whose only connection is their innocence—at least of the crime of which they stand accused. But The Case of Comrade Tulayev, unquestionably the finest work of fiction ever written about the Stalinist purges, is not just a story of a totalitarian state. Marked by the deep humanity and generous spirit of its author, the legendary anarchist and exile Victor Serge, it is also a classic twentieth-century tale of risk, adventure, and unexpected nobility to sit beside Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and André Malraux's Man's Fate.

    Unwittingly, he finds himself at its center, tapped by the British to report back on the Bolsheviks even as he becomes dangerously, romantically entangled with Trotsky's personal secretary.Both sides seek to use Arthur to gather and relay information for their own purposes . . . and both grow to suspect him of being a double agent. Arthur wants only to elope far from conflict with his beloved, but her Russian ties make leaving the country nearly impossible. And the more Arthur resists becoming a pawn, the more entrenched in the game he seems to become.Blood Red Snow White, a Soviet-era thriller from renowned author Marcus Sedgwick, is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

    But this is no ordinary mummy. Not only is it dressed in the manner of a commoner, it also contains a few blood cells that only seem dormant. Becky Ryan, a museum researcher, receives a macabre message from her father, just before he is found dead and follows the clues to uncover what is either a massive hoax, or the greatest ever discovery in the history of mankind. What she uncovers is beyond her wildest dreams…..and darkest nightmares

     The Indians wish to continue living in freedom as they always have, but the White Man see them as savages who need to be eradicated. Chief Black Kettle, of the Southern Cheyenne Indians, and his adopted daughter, Morning Dove, try and keep the peace with the Whites, wishing to protect their people from the needless bloodshed sweeping across the land. Enter Clinton McKay, a veteran of the Civil War, who re-enlists in the cavalry and crosses paths with Morning Dove. The pair soon develop feelings for one another but fight against them, knowing society wouldn’t allow them to be together, as they are on opposite sides of a war. What will happen? Will they bow to an unjust society? Will their love flourish? Will Black Kettle keep his tribe safe? Join the adventure on the Great Plains in Whispers Among the Prairie.

    Marc joins in the ex-pat scene as his new friend Dora introduces him to a circle that includes the famous Sylvia Beach, owner of the bookstore Shakespeare & Company; and he accepts a job with William Bullitt, US ambassador to France. At art school, he finds himself further enchanted by the alluring model Marie.A year later, his fiancée goes south with her family, Americans scramble to escape Paris, and he is soon running with 10 Million other refugees from the advance of the German Army. After Marc is pulled from the sea on June 17th 1940, when the RMS Lancastria sinks, he decides to return to Paris in hopes of reconnecting with other trapped Americans, and his fiancée. His smuggling of Allied airman through the American Hospital to the Paris Resistance comes undone as a profound betrayal leads him into the hands of the Gestapo and onto Buchenwald. "The Siren of Paris" mines the human dilemma of revenge versus forgiveness. The historical story, based upon true events and real people during World War Two is set inside of an allegorical journey of the soul of the departed seeking passage to eternal peace from the worst war ever known to man.

    "We must not aggravate, but ease the last moments of our son," resolved the colonel firmly, and he carefully weighed every possible phase of the conversation, every act and movement that might take place on the following day. But somehow he became confused, forgetting what he had prepared, and he wept bitterly in the corner of the oilcloth-covered couch. In the morning he explained to his wife how she should behave at the meeting.