Book picks similar to
.45 Caliber, Volume 1 by Peter Brandvold
chris
history-fiction
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Banished Children of Eve: A Novel of Civil War New York
Peter Quinn - 1995
It is New York City, the time of the Civil War. The war has just entered its third bloody year, and the North is about to impose its first military draft, a decision that will spark the most devastating and destructive riot in American history. Quinn gives us these events through the eyes of people drawn from every part of the city's life - minstrels, street gangs, servants, soldiers, and clergymen, Yankee, African American, and Irish. It is the New York of Jimmy Dunne, a streetwise Irish-American hustler in search of the big score. Of Eliza, an African-American actress seeking her place in a city where her family has lived since colonial times. Of Jack Mulcahey, Eliza's lover, who escaped death in the Irish famine of the 1840s, and is struggling to hold on to his position as one of New York's leading minstrels. At the heart of Banished Children of Eve is the American search for the Promised Land. Along with Jimmy, Eliza, and Jack, it is a search shared by Charles Bedford, a scheming and ambitious stockbroker, and by Margaret O'Driscoll, an immigrant servant girl in Bedford's home. There are two other shadowy presences. One is a drunken and broken drifter, Stephen Foster, who has given away all his songs, but who can still remember the music, which becomes the music of the novel. The other is the Civil War itself. Through the stories of these disparate lives, all brought together in the cataclysm of the Draft Riots, Quinn spins out the fates of his rich and vital characters as he brings magically to life a pivotal period in this country's history.
The Atlantis Papyrus
Jay Penner - 2019
vivid... gripping. Takes you through a thrilling quest in a violent ancient world." Some secrets are best left unrevealed323 B.C.King Alexander the Great has died without a clear successor and the citizens of a vast empire wait nervously for what comes next. But Captain Deon has other worries—his family will be sold to slavery if he does not clear his debt soon. Desperate, he accepts a mission from Alexander’s wily Royal Secretary in return for a generous reward. All he has to do is steal a papyrus from the King's funeral procession.A papyrus with a stunning secret that can transform the balance of powers that fight for Alexander’s throne.Plunged into the heart of succession wars and thrust between bloody ambitions of greater men, Deon is forced to embark on a dangerous journey and battle those he fears, to decode the ancient clues before time runs out for his family. But the more he learns, the more he realizes that his decisions will decide the life and death of not only his loved ones but also that of millions of innocents.-------- BONUS: Join the newsletter on the author's website to get a free "History behind the book" that sheds light on some of the interesting events after Alexander's death.
The Unkindest Cut: How a Hatchet-Man Critic Made His Own $7000 Movie and Put It All On His Credit Card
Joe Queenan - 1996
Following in the maverick mold of Quentin Tarentino, Spike Lee, and Richard Rodriguez, Joe Queenan becomes an auteur and, in the process, funnier than ever, as he tries to master the art of writing, directing, scoring, casting, and marketing a movie--all by himself.
Titanoboa
Victor Methos - 2014
On the small island of Kalou, Fiji, a rash of disappearances has the local police stumped. Men, women and children seem to disappear without a trace. Mark Whittaker is the island's sole private investigator. A former LAPD detective who moved to the island to get away from the violence of the city, he's now thrust into the middle of the disappearances when he's hired to find the brother of a mysterious client. As Mark digs into the disappearances, he discovers that something sinister and ancient has been awakened on the island. Something that kills without pity or remorse. And he fears his once island dream is about to be turned into a nightmare.
A Call to Colors
John J. Gobbell - 2006
It will take 165,000 troops and 700 ships in the bloody battle of Leyte Gulf to do it.
Among them is the destroyer USS Matthew and her skipper, Commander Mike Donovan, a veteran haunted by earlier savage battles. What Donovan doesn’t know is that Vice Admiral Takao Kurita of Japan has laid an ingenious trap as the Matthew heads for the treacherous waters of Leyte Gulf. But Donovan faces something even deadlier than Kurita’s battleships: Explosives secretly slipped on board American ships by saboteurs are set to detonate at any time. Now the Matthew’s survival hinges on the ability of Donovan and his men to dismantle a bomb in the midst of the panic and the chaos of history’s greatest naval battle.“Gobbell’s sea tales . . . will have you looking up your nearest Navy recruiter.” —W.E.B. Griffin“[John Gobbell is] a first-rate storyteller.” — Stephen Coonts“Wonderful . . . a rousing dramatization of history’s greatest sea battle.” — James D. Hornfischer, author of The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
Savage Coast
Jack Hardin - 2019
Please double-check that you haven’t read or purchased in the last few weeks.** FIRST, find the killers. SECOND, disrupt their agenda. And then make them pay, whatever the cost... After two weeks on a secret mission in Central America, Ryan Savage has barely returned home to Key Largo when a critical investigation begins to unravel before his very eyes. As he and his partner race to uncover the truth, Ryan nearly stalls out as a horrific tragedy hits a little too close to home. And when he finally surfaces, he discovers that nothing is what he thought. But then he never was one to go down without a fight.
The Florida Coast is about to get Savage.
If you love books by Wayne Stinnett, Jack Hardin, Cap Daniels, or Jeff Carson, you’ll love Ryan Savage. The boat’s leaving the dock—get Savage Coast and join the pulse-pounding ride now…
The Gypsy Girl
Val Wood - 1998
But with the help of Jonty - a young misfit who soon became her best friend - she managed to escape, running away with the fairground folk. She became a horserider and acrobat, travelling all around the country. Her friends became the circus people, and her home the caravans and travellers' tents.
Meanwhile, in a great house in Yorkshire, old Mrs Winthrop has never given up hope of finding her daughter Madeleine, who eloped with a handsome gypsy and was never seen again. When her young neighbour sets out to find Madeleine, he discovers the colourful world of the fairs. And there, in the midst of it all, Polly Anna - once the waif from the workhouse, now a fully-fledged gypsy girl.
Previously published as The Romany Girl.
Death's Head: A Soldier With Richard the Lionheart
Robert Broomall - 2016
When he is unjustly accused of murder, Roger flees for his life and joins the crusade of Richard the Lionheart. In the Holy Land, Roger is introduced to the grim realities of war. He thrives, though, and rises through the ranks to become commander of a company known as the Death’s heads. He loses one love and finds another, and he suffers a crisis of faith as he watches the huge crusading army being destroyed by disease and famine while the dream of freeing Jerusalem seems as far away as ever. And his other dream, the one about finding his father, seems as far away as ever, too -- or is it? "Death’s Head" illuminates a little-known but significant moment in history, one whose outcome resonates through the years to the present day. It is a story of war and love and the faith that enables ordinary men to perform extraordinary deeds.
Bad Boy Billionaires Collection III: Billionaire Bachelors At Their Best
Judy Angelo - 2013
9Rockford St. Stephens - The owner of a newly acquired luxury vacation business who finds himself boss to an executive assistant who can't stand him...but who he finds impossible to resist.HER INDECENT PROPOSAL -Vol. 10Sloane Quest - The media mogul who's rocked back on his heels when his top competitor, the lovely Melanie Parker, makes him an offer he can't refuse. SO MUCH TROUBLE WHEN SHE WALKED IN - Vol. 11Maximillian Davidoff - The cosmetics giant turned NASCAR entrepeneur who's bowled over by the most ornery woman he's ever met. MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT – Vol. 12Reed Davidoff – The fashion mogul who gets caught up in a fairy tale romance that makes him wish he could reverse his past. After the mistakes he’s made, can he win the hand of the princess?Alpha males at their best - which one will you fall in love with?
The Eagle of Spinalonga
Nike Azoros - 2012
He is sent into exile to Spinalonga, a rock island of Crete where there is no food, no electricity, no medical help, no supplies, nothing. He catches an eagle as a unique way to source food then, armed with his education and natural instincts he decides to create a life of dignity for the inhabitants of Spinalonga in the style of the city state system of Ancient Greece. Pavlos a thug criminal sent there by the state from prison does everything in his power to maintain chaos and terror so as to keep control of the island. World War 2 breaks out and the Nazis invade and inflict horrors upon the Greek people. Nikos and the people of Spinalonga outsmart the Nazis and play a major role in the resistance.
Fate's Mistress: Book Three of The Three Graces Trilogy
Laura Du Pre - 2017
Middle sister, Catherine, is married to the Duc de Guise, the most rabid Catholic in France. Ambitious and well-connected, Guise is the main rival for the French throne, which is currently occupied by an unpopular Henri III.Guise managed to win consessions from Henri, but concessions come with a steep price on his head. As his Duchesse, Catherine is in a dangerous position of her own. Determined to play her part in bringing about the downfall of the Valois and the rise of the Guise, Catherine will risk her own safety.But is the risk worth the rewards? Will either of them escape with their lives? Catherine has to take a chance for herself, and the consequences will change French history.Based on a true storyThe Cleves sisters' story concludes with Catherine, who stands in the middle of court politics in France of the 1500s. Like most great noble families of the period, the web of intermarriages and alliances made enemies out of blood relatives. It also meant that the stories of the people who served the Valois monarchs were as intertwined and as complicated as their marriages.Led by the ever-vigilant Catherine de Medici, Queen Mother of France and a force of nature, the members of the court shaped the political and religious future of France of the Sixteenth Century. In the trilogy, you'll meet the often- derided Charlotte, Madame de Sauve, and enough royal mistresses to satisfy your need for scandal.˃˃˃ Don't miss out!France will never be the same by the time Catherine's story ends. You'll instantly be front and center at the world of the Valois court, and all of the danger and splendor of Renaissance France!
Dollybird
Anne Lazurko - 2013
Determined to find redemption in the midst of their derision and to find joy despite uncertainty, Moira faces impossible choices with consequences beyond anything she can imagine.Thrown into the purgatory of a bleak prairie landscape as unforgiving as her mother, twenty-year-old Newfoundlander Moira Burns is certain she will rise above the locals of Ibsen, Saskatchewan. Until the reasons for her flight west become clear. Until she is befriended by a prostitute and courted by a ‘half breed’. Until she becomes the “dolly-bird” of superstitious Irish Catholic homesteader, Dillan Flaherty.Scattered through with birth, death, and the violent potential of both man and the elements, Dollybird excavates the small mercies which come to mean more than they should on a prairie peopled with characters struggling under a huge sky that waits, not so quietly, for them to fail.
The Abducted
Roger Hayden - 2019
Amidst the vast wetlands, suburban sprawl, and tropical heat, the Lee County police department knows what to expect on any given day. But when a serial child predator stakes his claim in the area, there is no knowing when and where he will strike. The parents of the latest victim are baffled to receive no ransom demands, given their wealth and influence. And the town is in an uproar as the girl marks the fifth child to vanish.
The Bastard's Crown
H.A. Culley - 2013
In 1057 William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, is surrounded by enemies on the continent who he must overcome before he can pursue his claim to the English crown. In 1066 Harold Godwinson narrowly defeats a Norse army near York only to find that William has landed in the south. Even after the Normans have killed Harold and broken the military strength of the Saxons at Senlac Hill near Hastings, William faces another five years of hard campaigning before he can call himself the ruler of all England.Against this setting Hugo de Cuille, heir to a manor in Maine as a boy, is disinherited before being kidnapped and kept as a slave. Later he is knighted for bravery but faces many more trials including the enmity of powerful nobles and rejection by the Saxon girl he loves. The book ends with the horrifying “harrying of the north” and the winter march over the Pennines to capture Chester, the last important town to hold out against the new regime.About the Author:H A Culley served in the Army for twenty four years during which time he had a variety of unusual jobs. These included commanding an Arab unit in the desert for three years and a tour as the military attaché in Beirut in the late seventies.After leaving the Army he became the business manager of a large independent school for twenty years before moving into marketing and fundraising. He has also been involved in two major historical projects and now works for an educational charity.He has given talks on a wide variety of historical topics for several years and the research involved provided his inspiration for writing.He has three grown up children and lives near Holy Island in Northumberland, England with his wife and two Bernese Mountain Dogs.
Elizabeth, The Witch's Daughter
Lynda M. Andrews - 2017
She witnesses from the sidelines the glittering splendour of her father's court, and the terrifying consequences of his wrath.With few she can trust, Elizabeth comes to womanhood during the reigns of her brother and sister, shrouded by a web of deceit. She lives in constant danger, yet rises above her detractors to defy her mother’s legacy, and go down in history as one of England’s most ruthless and powerful monarchs. Her life became a testament to the ambitions demonstrated of her parents. Just how much of an influence did Henry VIII’s most notorious wife have on her child? And was Elizabeth's accession Anne Boleyn's final triumph over death?
A powerful and compelling tale about the tumultuous beginnings of the Virgin Queen, this is the perfect read for fans of Anne O’Brien, Elizabeth Chadwick and Alison Weir. It is the first of four newly reissued classics of historical fiction, which also include
The Tudor Heritage, The White Lion of Norfolk and The Danish Queen.
Lynda M. Andrews, who also writes as Lyn Andrews, is the Sunday Times Number One bestselling author of over 34 sagas, and one of the top 100 bestselling authors in the UK. She was born and raised in Liverpool, which serves as the inspiration for many of her novels. She now divides her time between Merseyside and the Isle of Man, where she has lived for several years.