The grand opening of the Manchester Ship Canal is set to be a day of unfettered festivity for Ruby and her younger sister and brother. Even Queen Victoria will be in attendance.But the glories of the ceremony fade into insignificance when their dying mother delivers them to the imposing oak doors of Ignatius House. Abandoned in the not-so-tender care of the nuns, the siblings are soon separated.So when the Board of Guardians force Ruby into a marriage that sends her to a new home upon the Salford waterways, she makes only one vow: to reunite her family whatever the cost. This is an enthralling story of romance and rebellion perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin and Dilly Court. Praise for Ruby McBride ‘An inspiring novel about accepting change and bravely facing the future’ Bangor Chronicle‘Compelling and heart-wrenching’ Hull Daily Mail‘The kind of character-driven saga that delights the Catherine Cookson and Josephine Cox audience’ Peterborough Evening Telegraph‘This book deals with gritty, real-life situations and shows how the heroine’s strength of character triumphs through adversity’ 5* Reader review

    But Emmy is beautiful, so attracts unwanted attention; her mother's protector has his eye on her, as does evil Marcus Armistead, her employer's nephew. Marcus is excited by Emmy's virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes.Marcus, further enraged, kills her mother and becomes even more determined to rape Emmy, but the combined efforts of the local parson and Emmy's young suitor manage to keep her safe from harm. Finally Emmy sees Marcus get his just desserts, finds out who her father was and attains the respectability she has so longed for.©2005 Anna Jacobs (P)2009 Isis Publishing Ltd

    Who better to guide a wagon train from San Antonio to California than Jake Moran, the Hero of Chapultapec in the Mexican War? Trouble is, Jake's not really a hero, though he's the only one who knows it. Fifteen hundred miles of forbidding desert make Jake want to turn down the position, but the emigrants of the California Company are depending on him, and he can't let them down. The company faces thirst, cholera, and Comanche raids. In addition, Jake confronts the enmity of Tyler Hampton, wealthy promoter of the California Company, the man whose leadership position has been taken away and given to Jake. Jake may not be a hero when the company pulls out, but he better become one if they're going to survive.

    Her father lost his business and Leah did not want to spend the rest of her life living with her protective brother. She begins to correspond with a man from Montana who ran an ad for a mail order bride. Could she have found someone who also loves literature and shares so many of her interests? How does Leah handle her brother's negative reactions to the correspondence that now was the focus and light of her life? Can she leave the desperate situation in New York and find that joy that her heart dreams? Or is she destined to live a life without fulfillment? Will Leah find happiness in Montana? What secrets does her love keep to himself that makes him so hard to reach and read? Can Leah help Henry open up his heart? This is a stand-alone story without a cliffhanger and a clean romance.

    It’s conquer the wilderness, protect your mother and sisters, or die trying. A grueling challenge…2,000 miles of rutted trail with little or no civilization, no water or far too much, wild animals, wicked weather, and savages both red and white. The good news: you have family and friends, and hundreds more making the trip. That is, until disease and accidents threaten everything.  The Oregon Trail is the artery that brought lifeblood to the west, long before wagon or rail. It was the ultimate challenge for thousands who wanted land and opportunity.  Two Thousand Grueling Miles is a true family adventure tale full of can’t put it down action!

    Montana Territory 1875 For Ellie Sheridan, becoming a mail order bride for Sheriff Frank Patterson and travelling to a small town in Montana seems like the adventure of a lifetime. Now released from her lifetime job of looking after her sick mother in New Harbor, Ellie wants to settle down and become a bride. Love can come later. For now she is content to be a Sheriff's wife in the town of Broken Spur. But when she arrives to find Frank is a drunk and has no respect for her, Ellie writes to her sister asking for a ticket home. Her mind is set… even though she loves the West, she will return to Maine and try to forget her bad experience. Until one morning while out riding she comes across an injured Marshal lying on the trail. Taking him in and tending to his wounds, Ellie wonders if the reason she came out West was to meet Marshal Jack McQueen. Because now she's met him, she doesn't see how she can ever go home. Montana At Sunrise is a 20,000 word sweet, clean Western Romance novella.

    When her friend Doris proposed sending for a mail order husband for Gretchen, who was seven months pregnant and unwed, she hoped for the best for her friend, but still felt badly for herself. Darryl Miller has always been known as one of the demon horde. If he stays in Beckham, Massachusetts, he will never rise above the reputation, but he has nowhere to go! When he receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry her pregnant friend, he only hesitates for a moment. Two weeks later, he arrives in Salmon to marry a stranger. The only trouble is the stranger refuses to marry him. Within an hour, he finds himself married to another friend of his sister’s. Will he be able to make a go of life with the beautiful straight-laced schoolteacher? Or has he made a huge mistake leaving everything to travel across country? A Distant Shore: a Kansas Crossroads novelette by Amelia C. Adams Collette Barnard has traveled from England to America to work as a ladies’ maid for a spoiled socialite who doesn’t want the California life her husband is seeking. When her employer leaves her husband in the middle of the night, Collette is discharged and abandoned in the town of Creede, Colorado, with little money and no idea what to do next. When the kind hand of fate lands her at the Brody Hotel in Topeka, Kansas, she meets a handsome young man named Gabriel Brody, who is also struggling to choose the right path for his life. Perhaps together, they can piece together a future from the bits that have been left them. Mail Order M’Lady by Carra Copelin Lady Anne Medvale, the daughter of the Marquess of Thamesford, has created a scandal by running away with a prominent politician. In America, alone and penniless, she answers an ad in the Grooms’ Gazette and travels to Beaumont, Texas as a mail order bride. Morgan Grant, a dedicated cattleman/lawman isn’t looking for a wife, but circumstances present themselves and he marries an unlikely mail order bride. Can the two of them overcome their differences to live happily ever after? Mail Order Millennium by Peggy L Henderson Growing up in a privileged society may seem glamorous, but having every material possession has left Sherri Stucki feeling empty, exploited by her friends, and abandoned. A world where people see past her money seems like a far off dream, until a mysterious stranger offers her a second chance at the life she seeks. Alexander Walker learned the hard way that city life – and its women – were not meant for him. He must complete one final job before returning to a life of solitude in his beloved mountains. The last thing he needs is a distraction from a spunky socialite who seems like a fish out of water. As they travel together toward new destinies, Alexander and Sherri discover that the life they desire can only be found in each other. Mail-Order Brides of Coldwater Creek Josie by Margery Scott Josephine (Josie) Parker’s birthday is coming up, which means she’ll have to leave the Chicago orphanage where she’s lived her entire life. With nowhere to go and no future to look forward to, she agrees to become a mail-order bride to Cooper Thompson, a rancher in Coldwater Creek, Montana. Cooper Thompson is happy with his life. He has his work, his family, and enough money to get by. He doesn’t need – or want – anything more, especially a wife. When Josie arrives in Montana, she’s shocked to learn that Cooper’s sister actually wrote the letter, and that he knows nothing about it.

    With a broken arm and wounded spirit she is escaping the hands of her cruel brother and the marriage he has arranged. She's running to the unknown, praying God will lead her steps. Seeking shelter from an ice storm in a livery stall, Lydia goes to sleep hoping that in this small town of Cottonwood, Iowa she’ll find a job, a place to live, friends, and a future.Dr. Sterling Graham, having just delivered a baby, rides back to town over ice covered roads. He's confident, secure in the knowledge that he is loved and respected by the people of the Cottonwood. Exhausted from the long night, he decides to sleep on the cot in the livery.Sterling’s reputation and career, along with Lydia’s hope for a new life, are put in jeopardy when gossips spread the news that, "Doc spent the night in the stable with a woman." The story grows as ‘facts’ are added.Something needs to be decided that will repair the damage to Sterling’s career and give Lydia the home and safety she needs. The unwelcome solution is that they marry.How do they learn about each other and mesh two lives into a successful marriage which honors God, while coping with issues of trust, pride, epidemic, and injury, along with the fear that Lydia’s brother will find her?Consequences of how gossip, abuse, confession, forgiveness, bossiness, pride, and distrust can affect lives. How living as the Word of God says can bring healing, hope, and love.

    But if she thinks she’s safe at home, she is wrong.Her scheming brother wants to marry her off to a fortune-hunter, and he won’t take no for an answer. Out on a lonely walk, Catherine is attacked and left for dead.Could this be her brother’s doing?Catherine won’t wait to find out. Her childhood friend, Martin Lacey, lives in the manor house across the woods, and there was a time when he would have done anything for her.But in the turmoil of Restoration England, nothing lasts forever. Will turning up at Martin’s door be the saving of her — or the end?

    Isabella O'Shea is transported to New South Wales for wounding a member of the British aristocracy who raped her, so it is understandable that she loathes members of the upper class and the system that punished her; sentenced her to seven years transportation.Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them.Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace.Isabella and Tiger face tragedy and many hardships in their quest for a new life in this untamed land.Reviews:“Tricia McGill has written a sweeping love story of two people fighting for their places in an unfair world among the wild, untamed vistas of Australia. The strong plot reveals much about the early settlement days of the continent of Australia and is a history lesson in itself besides a sizzling romance. A job well done by Ms. McGill.” Lani Roberts 5 stars ***** Affaire de Coeur“Sometimes we in America forget that Australia is an equally young country, complete with tales of adventure about the settlement of the land. In this story of love adventure and hardship, we see a man and a woman work together to survive and overcome the harsh land that is Australia. A thoroughly enjoyable book, well-written and exciting.”Deborah Brent for Romantic Times book club **** four stars

    Marry a wealthy man and provide a home for those she loves? Or have the courage to go west by wagon train to California and chase a dream of her own?

    When war is declared, the love lives of the Granville girls suffer. Rosie's husband is killed during the Blitz. Then Lousie falls in love with Jack, a sixteen-year-old evacuee from the slums of London. When she falls pregnant, she is sent to Wales in disgrace. The girls? mother, Liza, can only pin her hopes on Charlotte now . . .

    Head to Hope Falls, Colorado, where three enterprising young women put an ad in the paper for healthy, hardworking husbands-for-hire, never dreaming the suitors would respond so promptly—and in person! Out of the logjam of eligible bachelors, which one will Evelyn, Lacey, and Naomi choose? Find out in the complete Husbands for Hire Trilogy from bestselling author Kelly Eileen Hake. Includes all three books from the Husbands for Hire Series: Book 1 - Rugged and Relentless Book 2 - Tall, Dark and Determined Book 3 - Strong and Stubborn

    Leonard Cohen is at the start of his career and in love with Marianne, who is also muse to her ex-husband, Axel. Australian authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift write, drink and fight. It is a hedonistic time of love, sex and new ideas. As the island hums with excitement, Jack and Frieda Silver join the community, hoping to mend their broken marriage. However, Greece is overtaken by a military junta and the artistic idyll is threatened.

     2d Lieutenant Dobey Walls meets and bonds with veteran Corporal Jimmy Melton. As the Civil War begins, they leave to join the 8th Texas Cavalry in Houston, then take part in the first and the final charges of the Army of Tennessee. Between those events, they ride with Nathan Bedford Forrest, play an honorable role in the Fort Pillow Massacre, harass Sherman with Shannon's Raiders, and visit the second best brothel in Atlanta. As surrender looms, they're released to search for Dobey's long-missing family in the Texas Panhandle. Their efforts are hampered by destitute farmers, lonely widows, dangerous militia, freed slaves, and runaways, who increase their numbers and excitement. In the process, they save a quadroon and her daughter from Yankee deserters who have stolen a Union payroll. This act of mercy brings them romance but puts Pinkerton detectives and a renegade lawman on their trail.