Book picks similar to
Survival of the Blood by Beth Bristow


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Yellow Crocus - excerpt from 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Entry


Laila Ibrahim - 2011
    That knowledge must have filled me as quickly and surely as the milk from her breasts. Although my family ‘owned’ her, although she occupied the center of my universe, her deepest affections lay elsewhere. So along with the comfort of her came the fear that I would lose her some day. This is our story...So begins Lisbeth Wainwright’s compelling tale of coming-of-age in antebellum Virginia. Born to white plantation owners but raised by her enslaved black wet nurse, Mattie, Lisbeth’s childhood unfolds on the line between two very different worlds. Growing up under the tender care of Mattie, Lisbeth adopts her surrogate mother’s deep-seated faith in God, her love of music and black-eyed peas, and the tradition of hunting for yellow crocuses in the early days of spring. In time, Lisbeth realizes she has freedoms and opportunities that Mattie does not have, though she’s confined by the societal expectations placed on women born to privilege. As Lisbeth grows up, she struggles to reconcile her love for her caregiver with her parents’ expectations, a task made all the more difficult as she becomes increasingly aware of the ugly realities of the American slavery system. When Lisbeth bears witness to a shockingly brutal act, the final vestiges of her naiveté crumble around her. Lisbeth realizes she must make a choice, one that will require every ounce of the courage she learned from her beloved Mattie. This compelling historical novel is a richly evocative tale of love, loss, and redemption set during one of the most sinister chapters of American history.

Viking Storm


Julian Brazier - 2014
    Each Anglo Saxon kingdom is overwhelmed in turn by ferocious, battle-hardened Viking warriors who can strike at a time and place of their choosing thanks to their famous longships. Viking armies have conquered Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Now they are coming for Wessex and the young king Alfred cannot even rely on his own nobles. Driven to the remote marshes in Somerset, Alfred must regroup his loyal supporters and organize the fight back. He finds some unlikely allies: two young Saxon nobles out for revenge and, above all, Constantinos, a Byzantine soldier and diplomat and his bodyguards who all find their own reasons to fight – and die – in someone else’s war.Viking Storm is the first in an action-packed trilogy that reveals just how narrowly England survived the Vikings, and why Alfred is the only English king known as ‘The Great’. ‘Julian Brazier has shone a light on the Dark Ages and given Alfred the Great the rip-roaring yarn he deserves. This generation has all but forgotten the astonishing achievements of the Saxon King, and how he saved England from a blood-crazed enemy - and re-founded the City of London. Viking Storm is a pacy and suspenseful blockbuster. Alfred lives!’ - Boris Johnson‘New recruits to the territorial army should perhaps consult a copy of Viking Storm, a racy new novel by Julian Brazier, for tips on how to behave under fire. Brazier displays an alarming flair for describing violent conquest’ – Sunday TimesEducated at Wellington and Oxford, Julian Brazier is the Member of Parliament for Canterbury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence responsible for reserve forces. He served for thirteen years as an officer in the Territorial Army, including five years with the SAS Reserves. He is married with three children.Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

The Castilians (Seton Chronicles #1)


V.E.H. Masters - 2020
    A few among the Scottish nobles, for both political and religious reasons, are eager for this alliance too. They kill Cardinal Beaton, who is Mary’s great protector, and take St Andrews Castle, expecting rescue any day from England.For a sister and brother – spirited Bethia, living outside the castle in St Andrews, and Will among the rebels inside the castle – the long siege becomes a fight for survival. But it’s also a struggle over loyalties and the choices they each must make: whether to save their family, or follow their hearts…This debut novel closely follows the tumultuous events of the siege of St Andrews Castle, and its dramatic re-takingRunner up SAW Barbara Hammond TrophyFinalist Wishing Shelf Book Awards

The Prince of Patliputra


Shreyas Bhave - 2015
    Almost five decades ago, his father had laid the foundations of this vast Samrajya guided by the famed Guru Arya Chanakya. But now, the wealth and glory of the past has subsided...As the Samrat’s health continues to decline due to an unknown illness, problems are arising all over his realm. There is infighting and rebellion. No clear successor to him is present. Ninety nine of his sons stand in line waiting for his throne...Bharathvarsha needs a Chandragupta once again. And it needs a Chanakya too. Can the young Prince Asoka, who is the least favorite son of the Samrat, fill in the boots of his grandfather? Can Radhagupta, a mere Councilor of the Court be what Chanakya was to all the Aryas? Begin a new adventure with the first book of the Asoka trilogy as you read to find the answer to one great question-'That who shall be the next Samrat of this holy land of the Aryas?'

The Calgary Chessman


Yvonne Marjot - 2011
    To Cas, torn between Scotland and her New Zealand home, the object seems as odd and out-of-place as herself. Intrigued, she begins to search for its origins, thinking it will bring a brief respite from isolation. Instead, the Calgary chess piece opens the door to friendships and new hope. Her son, meanwhile, brings home his own revelation to shake her world.

The Road Back


Liz Harris - 2012
    Set against a cultural background rarely featured in novels - that of the Buddhist part of Ladakh, a country to the west of Tibet - it tells of a passion that crosses cultures, of a love that lasts a lifetime, and of hope that can only come from revisiting the past.When Patricia accompanies her father, Major George Carstairs, on a trip to Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the early 1960s, she sees it as a chance to step out from the shadow of her dead brother, James, and finally to win her father’s love.What she doesn’t expect to do is meet Kalden – a local man destined by circumstances beyond his control to be a monk, but fated to be the love of her life.Despite her father’s fury, the lovers are determined to be together, but their plans go tragically awry, and thirty -two years later a young woman comes knocking at Patricia’s door, looking for answers.The Road Back is a love story that spans two continents. It tells of a passion that crosses cultures, of a love that endures for a lifetime, and of the hope that can only come from revisiting the past.*Liz describes Kalden, the hero, in terms of chocolate:“Definitely a dark chocolate with a luscious soft centre.”

Union Pacific: A Western Story


Zane Grey - 2009
    Warren Neale is a brilliant civil engineer who is constantly confronted with construction problems. He is sided by Larry Red King, a Texas gunfighter and friend. Allie Lee, who is heading east from California on a wagon train, is the sole survivor of an Indian raid in the Black Hills. Neale and a small company of US cavalry find Allie hidden at the scene and nearly out of her mind in terror. Al Slingerland, a trapper and buffalo hunter, has a cabin in a nearby valley, and Allie is taken there to recover.Benton is the wild town set up overnight to service the vices of the multitude of railroad workers. The only law is that which the soldiers impose, but their concern is not really in enforcing law in Benton, but in protecting the men laying the tracks and the supply trains. In addition to the natural obstacles that impede the building of the Union Pacific, workers must contend with the equally great weight of constant graft and corruption, against which Larry Red King’s guns can afford no protection.In this magnificent panorama of constant danger and adventure, the many lives involved, including ruthless gamblers and women of the evening, and the slow but monumental progress of the laying of the track through the wilderness, Zane Grey vividly brings to life a lost time and society in a grand novel, now published as he had first written it.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns—books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians—are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Not Yet Drown'd


Peg Kingman - 2007
    When had he sent it? And why had he retitled a certain tune "Not Yet Drown'd"?Irresistibly, Catherine is drawn to India to search for answers. With her stepdaughter and their two maids—one an enigmatic Hindu, the other a runaway American slave—she follows an obscure trail of tea, opium, and bagpipe music. In the course of their journey they meet botanists, smugglers, engineers, soldiers, and artists—as well as love and betrayal. And as they copy, translate, and finally understand certain Scottish and Indian paintings and music, they discover unsuspected truths about the man they are seeking.This luminous and accomplished romance is the author's first novel.

Mamie Garrison: A Tale of Slavery, Abolition, History & Romance


Teresa McRae - 2015
    Everything in her young life has led her to this moment, this decision. She will embark on the greatest adventure of her life.Approximately one hundred and fifty years later, her ancestor, Bella Garrison, inherits a house from her grandmother and finds Mamie's journals in a trunk in the attic. Bella with the help of her historian boyfriend, Andrew, will follow Mamie's journey through her writings, to find out more about this intrepid woman and what she achieved. However, someone is trying to stop them from learning about Mamie. What do they not want Bella to find out? And... what is the meaning of the strange events occurring in Bella's house?

Sing for Us


Steven Wise - 2015
    A widow herself, her gentle touch and fiercely protective personality bring comfort and courage to the soldiers in her care. When Granville Pollard, a Northerner who spurned his Union father to fight for the Confederacy, enters the ward, Letha is captivated by his cultured bearing and singing voice. Granville has lost both his fiancée and his feet to the war, leaving him emotionally and physically crippled. Together with a gruff patient named Sergeant Crump, Letha mends Granville, restoring his hope for a future. But the war is not over and death hovers, striking a blow that will plunge Letha and Granville into an abyss from which only the most faithful love can save them.Based on a true story, Sing for Us is a riveting tale of love and hope in the last days of the Civil War.

To Do or Die


Max Adams - 2010
    His task completed, he anticipates an early return to Britain, but instead he's sent to the Saarland region, where the French have launched an ill-advised invasion into German territory. Dawson's demolition skills are needed to clear a way through a minefield. Within hours everything goes wrong and Dawson and a fellow sapper are caught on the wrong side of the front line. Their obvious escape route blocked, they head north, but their troubles have only just begun.

The Stony Path


Rita Bradshaw - 2001
    And her heart belongs to her beloved cousin, Michael. Polly knows that one day they'll be man and wife. But a terrible secret is to change everything: Michael is her half-brother, the fruit of an incestuous relationship between her father and his own sister; Michael's mother. The lovers are rent apart and Polly is left to bear the responsibility of the farm alone; for her father kills himself, unable to live with his shame. Life is now a battle for survival, and Polly wonders if she will ever find happiness. But the answer to her prayers is closer than she thinks...

Winter King: Murder in Henry's Court


Anne Stevens - 2015
    He is without a male heir, and the future of the English throne hangs in the balance. Powerful men, such as Cromwell, Lord Percy and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk vie for power. Into this world rides Captain Will Draper, a soldier fresh from the wars, and with an important message. Cardinal Wolsey is dead. Intrigue follows intrigue, and Will finds himself in a race to uncover a murderer. The politics and chicanery of court life threaten to ruin his investigation, and leave the way clear for the most heinous crime of all. This is the debut novel of Anne Stevens, and captures Tudor England in all its moods: Palaces, fine houses, Bawds, rich nobles and the poorest, all mingle to create an atmospheric book that entwines historical fact with fast paced fiction. Winter King is a whodunnit not to be missed.

Along the Far Shores


Kristin Gleeson - 2014
    Aisling, despite her best efforts has failed to become the seer her mother desired, so when her mother dies leaving her alone, she departs Ireland for Wales to be with her brother, Cormac, at the royal court at Gwynedd. There she finds he is joining Prince Madog's voyage to the western lands in order to escape the threatening war. After Madog refuses to let her come with them she stows away, desperate to remain with her brother. A terrible storm arises and she is tossed overboard by a resentful Welshman and washes up on the shores of the Gulf Coast. Caxna, a Tlingit trader and former shaman, finds her and reluctantly agrees to let her join him on a trading journey to the Mayan city of Xicallanca, and later Etowah (in modern day Georgia) in the hopes she might find Madog and her brother. Caxna must succeed in this trading journey in order to free his clan but with Aisling along everything changes ....Gleeson leaves us with a memorable and poignant love story and a vision of a wonderful culture, unique in my experience of literature. Karen Charlton, author of 'The Heiress of Linn Hagh' and 'Catching the Eagle' The underlying sexual tension is all the more powerful for the beautifully restrained writing, which makes the slightest touch electric; a medicinal massage becomes a moment of physical communion.... This is what Kristin Gleeson does best; portraying different cultures and showing how humanity can cross them. Jean Gill, author of 'Song at Dawn' and 'Bladesong'

Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero (An Anthology of Legacies and Controversies)


Ronnie Espergal Pasigui - 2006