Book picks similar to
Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus by Alex Mueck
historical-fiction
western
history
sweepstakes
Impatient with Desire
Gabrielle Burton - 2010
Everything that could go wrong did, and an American legend was born.The Donner Party. We think we know their story--starving pioneers trapped in the mountains performing an unspeakable act to survive--but we know only that one harrowing part of it. Impatient with Desire brings us answers to the unanswerable question: What really happened in the four months the Donners were trapped in the Sierra Nevadas And it brings to stunning life a woman--and a love story--behind the myth.Tamsen Eustis Donner, born in 1801, taught school, wrote poetry, painted, botanized, and was fluent in French. At twenty-three, she sailed alone from Massachusetts to North Carolina when respectable women didn't travel alone. Years after losing her first husband, Tully, she married again for love, this time to George Donner, a prosperous farmer, and in 1846, they set out for California with their five youngest children. Unlike many women who embarked reluctantly on the California-Oregon Trail, Tamsen was eager to go. Later, trapped in the mountains by early snows, she had plenty of time to contemplate the wisdom of her decision and the cost of her wanderlust.Historians have long known that Tamsen kept a journal, though it was never found. In Impatient with Desire, Burton draws on years of historical research to vividly imagine this lost journal--and paints a picture of a remarkable heroine in an extraordinary situation. Tamsen's unforgettable journey takes us from the cornfields of Illinois to the dusty Oregon Trail to the freezing Sierra Nevada Mountains, where she was forced to confront an impossible choice.Impatient with Desire is a passionate, heart-wrenching story of courage, hope, and love in hardship, all told at a breathless pace. Intimate in tone and epic in scope, Impatient with Desire is absolutely hypnotic.
The Tainted Crown (Horstberg Saga #4)
Elizabeth D. Michaels - 2015
He also grew up observing the powerful and tender love shared by his parents. Determined to find that same kind of love in his own life, he is holding out for a woman who can see more in him than a marriage that will give his future wife prestige and great wealth. After more than a decade of searching for the right woman, Erich may have finally found a love beyond anything he’d imagined. But his happiness and the stability of the country is at risk when a long-dormant evil comes to the surface in Horstberg, threatening his life and that of his young nephew, who is Erich’s heir. While Erich tries to remain confident that he will live long enough to claim his right to serve his country, he is haunted by premonitory dreams that imply his life will come to a tragic end. As a force of extremist revolutionaries force Horstberg to the brink of war, the entire du Woernig family must flee into hiding for the sake of their own survival. Only when everything is on the line does Erich come to fully understand what truly matters. Please note that Book Five, the final book in the Horstberg Saga will be available for preorder on April 6th and will be released May 4th.
Angus' Trust
Linda K. Hubalek - 2017
This book series showcase the six sons of Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan, first featured in the 1873 year-based Brides with Grit series. "Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?" The young men have heard Pastor Reagan say these words to many couples over the years, and they vow to treat all women this way as they walk through life. Besides the Reagan brothers, the series will feature other men in their community. Oldest son Angus Reagan grew up fascinated with trains and has done everything from stoking engines to applying the car brakes. Now, after being a train detective for years, he's thinking about heading home to Clear Creek, Kansas. He misses his family and community. Daisy Clancy spent her childhood in the family-run café in Clear Creek, Kansas, but she left home to work in a big city when she came of age. Still single and finally lonely for family, Daisy decides to return home and open her own business. Fate puts the two childhood friends on the same train and sparks of memories cause each to think of their future, maybe even together. But a train wreck and robbery sets them on another journey they hadn’t planned on. Two Montana Sky Kindle World books, Nolan's Vow, and Elof's Mission, enter the Grooms with Honor setting right before Angus' Trust.
The Legend of the Bloodstone
E.B. Brown - 2013
Will I still want to touch you when your blood is on my hands? Or will it chase your ghost from my thoughts?" He held his hands out and considered his open palms for a moment, shaking his head. "I think not. I think still you would haunt me." TIME WALKERSMaggie is a modern day woman with all her flaws, thrust back into a time when men were carving out the history of America. She has just enough knowledge of the past to know trouble is coming, yet soon she is kicking herself for not paying better attention in history class. When she is captured by Winn, a warrior who is torn between his duty to kill her and his desire to keep her, she must adapt to a life she had only read about in history books.Winn is a seventeenth century Paspahegh warrior, born in a time before the English settlers arrived on the shores of Tsenacomoco. He has learned the ways of the English and uses his knowledge to ensure the survival of his people, but when he finds a wounded woman in the woods his loyalty is put to the ultimate test.Hunted and feared by both the Powhatan and the English, Maggie struggles to find a way home while Winn plots to keep her there. Maggie fights to survive as she finds herself entangled in the Massacre of 1622, and Winn sees everything he ever believed in shattered by the knowledge she holds. With ties to both the past and future, their lives unfold among the stirrings of a new nation. Maggie and Winn risk everything to survive as the once powerful Powhatan Nation crumbles and the English build a country from the ashes.Praise for the Time Walkers series: The Legend of the Bloodstone - 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, QuarterfinalistA Tale of Oak and Mistletoe - 2013 RWA/NYC We Need a Hero Contest, Finalist"Time travel and romance converge in this tale of star-crossed love" - Publishers Weekly on The Legend of the Bloodstone"This was beautiful! Time Travel at its best!"- Romance Novels in Color"Absolutely consuming" - Amazon reviewer"I love this series. I didn't want it to end!" - Amazon Reviewer"I can easily see where this story could be a fantastic movie." - Amazon Reviewer"My complaint with this book is I couldn't stop reading this one and the next one in the series which resulted in late nights and tired mornings!!" - Amazon Reviewer"An epic historical saga in brilliant cinematic technicolor" - Amazon reviewer
In the Time of Famine
Michael Grant - 2011
The British government called the famine an act of God. The Irish called it genocide. By any name the famine caused the death of over one million men, women, and children by starvation and disease. Another two million were forced to flee the country. With the famine as a backdrop, this is a story about two families as different as coarse wool and fine silk. Michael Ranahan, the son of a tenant farmer, dreams of breaking his bondage to the land and going to America. The passage money has been saved. He’s made up his mind to go. And then—the blight strikes and Michael must put his dream on hold. The landlord, Lord Somerville, is a compassionate man who struggles to preserve a way of life without compromising his ideals. To add to his troubles, he has to deal with a recalcitrant daughter who chafes at being forced to live in a country of “bog runners.”In The Time Of Famine is a story of survival. It’s a story of duplicity. But most of all, it’s a story of love and sacrifice.
An Untamed Land
Lauraine Snelling - 1995
The promise of free land lures Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund from their beloved home high above the fjords of Norway, and after three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, they finally arrive at the docks of New York City. This new land promises a rich heritage for their children, and here they hope to build a good life.After a long journey by train and then by covered wagon, the Bjorklunds finally arrive in Dakota Territory, where they settle on the banks of the Red River of the North. But the virgin prairie refuses to yield its treasure without a struggle. Will Roald and Ingeborg be strong enough to overcome the hardships of that first winter?Proud of their heritage and sustained by their faith, they came to tame a new land.
1906
James Dalessandro - 2004
Set during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, this page-turning historical novel reveals recently uncovered facts that forever change our understanding of what really happened. Narrated by a feisty young reporter, Annalisa Passarelli, the novel paints a vivid picture of the Post-Victorian city, from the mansions of Nob Hill to the underbelly of the Barbary Coast to the arrival of tenor Enrico Caruso and the Metropolitan Opera. Central to the story is the ongoing battlefought even as the city burnsthat pits incompetent and unscrupulous politicians against a coalition of honest police officers, newspaper editors, citizens, and a lone federal prosecutor. James Dalessandro weaves unforgettable characters and actual events into a compelling epic.
Philomena
Mark Guiney - 2013
But now that the Imperium Titus has taken over, every ship sails on the edge of a knife. Young airman Cyprian Fields isn't one to turn away from danger. During his service as the deckmaster of an old freighter named Philomena, the arrival of mysterious young physician Basil Black and alluring stowaway Veronica Stromm turn the intrepid boy officer's world upside-down. Suddenly, Cyprian and Philomena's ragtag crew are thrown into a wonderful and perilous adventure that will take them to the furthest reaches of air, land, and sea. In the midst of whispering Silverspoons and murderous admirals, printing presses and aetherolabes, fleets and fortresses, Cyprian, Veronica, and Basil must decide whether they will face down the might of the Imperium or allow the doom descending on Cor Nova to overwhelm them all.
Love and War 1
John Jakes - 1984
The young would clash on the bloody battlefields of Bull Run and Fredericksburg, while in intrigue-ridden Washington and Richmond strong-willed men and beautiful women would defend their principles with their lives...or satisfy illicit cravings with schemes that could destroy friends and enemies alike. This surging drama is the second part of the trilogy that includes NORTH AND SOUTH and HEAVEN AND HELL. "Craftsmanship nears artistry....A coherent and penetrating vision of the seamy underside of war." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
The Which Way Tree
Elizabeth Crook - 2018
Samantha and her half brother, Benjamin, survive, but she is left traumatized, her face horribly scarred. Narrated in Benjamin’s beguilingly plainspoken voice, The Which Way Tree is the story of Samantha’s unshakeable resolve to stalk and kill the infamous panther, rumored across the Rio Grande to be a demon, and avenge her mother’s death. In their quest she and Benjamin, now orphaned, enlist a charismatic Tejano outlaw and a haunted, compassionate preacher with an aging but relentless tracking dog. As the members of this unlikely posse hunt the panther, they are in turn pursued by a hapless but sadistic Confederate soldier with troubled family ties to the preacher and a score to settle. In the tradition of the great pursuit narratives, The Which Way Tree is a breathtaking saga of one steadfast girl’s revenge against an implacable and unknowable beast. Yet with the comedic undertones of Benjamin’s storytelling, it is also a timeless tale full of warmth and humor, and a testament to the enduring love that carries a sister and brother through a perilous adventure with all the dimensions of a legend.
The Wake of Forgiveness
Bruce Machart - 2010
In the lonely years that follow, his new son, his fourth, grows to become a skillful, aggressive jockey and his father, with equal fervor, stakes his land and fortunes on his success. In 1910, father and son, distant yet strangely joined in this venture, race to a point of no return for the entire family. What happens to the son beyond that juncture will not reconfigure his past, but it will burnish him into unexpected maturity.
A Train to Moscow
Elena Gorokhova - 2022
When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.
The Spider and the Sparrow
A.L. Sowards - 2016
After tragedy strikes during the Second Battle of Artois, Frenchman Julian Olivier will do anything to get out of the trenches. So when British Intelligence recruits him to spy behind enemy lines, he jumps at the opportunity. Just before he begins, however, he has a chance encounter with a young French woman who leaves his heart marked for the remainder of the war—even if he doesn’t know her name.Warren Flynn is a Canadian airborne hero, and dogfights with the Germans are all in a day’s work. Second only to his love of flying is his fascination with Claire Donovan, the daughter of an American munitions manufacturer living in Paris. Warren flies Julian into Germany and soon receives orders to post the Allies’ newest operative—an attractive peasant woman named Evette—in Claire’s home.As a dangerous ring of spies and saboteurs threatens to turn the war against the Allies, Julian discovers goodness in his enemies’ hearts. But even if he survives, will he ever be reunited with the woman whose memory he can’t erase? Will Warren survive the war, and will Evette unearth the infiltrator in her own territory before it’s too late?
This Road We Traveled
Jane Kirkpatrick - 2016
Despite her son's concerns, Tabitha hires her own wagon to join the party. Along with her reluctant daughter and her ever-hopeful granddaughter, the intrepid Tabitha has her misgivings. But family ties are stronger than fear.The trials they face along the way will severely test Tabitha's faith, courage, and ability to hope. With her family's survival on the line, she must make the ultimate sacrifice, plunging deeper into the wilderness to seek aid. What she couldn't know was how this frightening journey would impact how she understood her own life--and the greater part she had to play in history. With her signature attention to detail and epic style, New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick invites readers to travel the deadly and enticing Oregon Trail. Based on actual events, This Road We Traveled will inspire the pioneer in all of us.
Wilderness
Lance Weller - 2012
Wilderness is the story of Abel, now an old and ailing man, and his heroic final journey over the snowbound Olympic Mountains. It's a quest he has little hope of completing but still must undertake to settle matters of the heart that predate even the horrors of the war.As Abel makes his way into the foothills, the violence he endures at the hands of two thugs after his dog is cross cut with his memories of the horrors of the war, the friends he lost, and the savagery he took part in and witnessed. And yet, darkness is cut by light, especially in the people who have touched his life-from Jane Dao-Ming Poole, the daughter of murdered Chinese immigrants, to Hypatia, an escaped slave who nursed him back to life, and finally the unbearable memory of the wife and child he lost as a young man. Haunted by tragedy, loss, and unspeakable brutality, Abel has somehow managed to hold on to his humanity, finding weigh stations of kindness along his tortured and ultimately redemptive path.In its contrasts of light and dark, wild and tame, brutal and tender, and its attempts to reconcile a horrific war with the great evil it ended, Wilderness not only tells the moving tale of an unforgettable character, but a story about who we are as human beings, a people, and a nation. Lance Weller's immensely impressive debut immediately places him among our most talented writers.