Book picks similar to
Fire and Sword by Louise Turner


historical-fiction
scotland
historical
medieval

Farewell Bergerac: A World War II Thriller (World War II Adventure Series)


Fredrik Nath - 2012
    Fredrik Nath is one of those few."- The Masked PersonaFrom the author of wartime adventure novel 'The Cyclist', the Historical Novels Society editor's choice February 2011.A reluctant hero in war-torn France...A teacher in St Cyprien, a small town in Aquitaine, France, descends into an alcoholic daze, after his son dies in the Spanish Civil War. His life seems meaningless and he moves to Bergerac where he survives by poaching and fishing. Isolating himself from the world, he ruminates over his hatred of the Fascists who killed his son. He is dragged back to reality when, after the occupation of France by the Nazis, he witnesses Security Police beating a young Jewish girl. He reacts by killing the Germans and hides Rachelle, the young teenager. She breathes life into the world in which he has hidden himself and gives him a reason to go on.Dufy begins a path of revenge on the occupying Germans. A sniper in the Great War, he uses his skills to devastating effect, always posing as the town drunk.Then the British drop supplies and a beautiful SOE agent whom Dufy falls in love with. But as the invaders hunt down the partisans in the deep, crisp woodland, nothing works out as Dufy had hoped.Farewell Bergerac is an unforgettable wartime tale of fragile love, loss and redemption.

Submariner Sinclair


John Wingate - 1959
    Submarine Rugged are on a high-stakes, high seas mission.Mediterranean, 1942Britain is at war with Germany.Responsible for protecting British convoys in the Channel in a small Chaser, young Peter Sinclair, R.N., is thrown head-first into the horrors of war.Sent to serve in H.M. Submarine Rugged, defending convoys delivering food and supplies to the besieged island of Malta, Sub-Lieutenant Sinclair finds himself 120 feet beneath the sea, surrounded by deadly mines and just three miles from the enemy’s doorstep.In a bold night raid on a small harbour on the north African coast, the famous ‘Fighting Tenth’ Submarine Flotilla comes under attack by enemy E-boats, whose relentless depth-charging threaten to sink Rugged to the bottom of the ocean.When the Captain of a British submarine is captured, Sinclair, Able Seaman Bill Hawkins and a crack team of Commandos undertake a deadly mission to rescue the officer from a German-controlled prison on an Italian island.But can they outwit a lethal enemy? Or will Sinclair’s first taste of submarine warfare be his last?SUBMARINER SINCLAIR is the first book in the Submariner Sinclair naval thriller series: rip-roaring authentic historical adventures following a British submarine crew during World War II.

The Wake


Paul Kingsnorth - 2014
    English society was broken apart, its systems turned on their head. What is little known is that a fractured network of guerrilla fighters took up arms against the French occupiers.       In The Wake, a postapocalyptic novel set a thousand years in the past, Paul Kingsnorth brings this dire scenario back to us through the eyes of the unforgettable Buccmaster, a proud landowner bearing witness to the end of his world. Accompanied by a band of like-minded men, Buccmaster is determined to seek revenge on the invaders. But as the men travel across the scorched English landscape, Buccmaster becomes increasingly unhinged by the immensity of his loss, and their path forward becomes increasingly unclear.      Written in what the author describes as “a shadow tongue”—a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable to the modern reader—The Wake renders the inner life of an Anglo-Saxon man with an accuracy and immediacy rare in historical fiction. To enter Buccmaster’s world is to feel powerfully the sheer strangeness of the past. A tale of lost gods and haunted visions, The Wake is both a sensational, gripping story and a major literary achievement.

River Jordan


Augusta Trobaugh - 2004
    Set in a small town well below the Mason-Dixon line, River Jordan features an improbable friendship among three people who come to depend on one another like family. Jordan, a girl with an adventurous imagination, is hungry for warmth and companionship, since she gets no more than scolding from her strict mother and stepfather. When Jordan’s step-grandmother, Miss Amylee, needs a live-in nurse, the family’s housekeeper suggests her sister, Pansy—newly saved and released from prison—for the job. Pansy, Jordan, and Miss Amylee form an unlikely trio, and through small and large triumphs, each recovers a part of herself that was lost.

The Skylark's Secret


Fiona Valpy - 2020
    When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed.Decades later, Flora’s daughter, singer Lexie Gordon, is forced to return to the village and to the tiny cottage where she grew up. Having long ago escaped to the bright lights of the West End, London still never truly felt like home. Now back, with a daughter of her own, Lexie learns that her mother—and the hostile-seeming village itself—have long been hiding secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew.As she pieces together the fragments of her parents’ story, Lexie discovers the courageous, devastating sacrifices made in her name. It’s too late to rekindle her relationship with her mother, but can Lexie find it in her heart to forgive the past, to grieve for all that’s lost, and finally find her place in the world?

Black Douglas


Nigel Tranter - 1968
    The death of young Will Douglas's father plunged him into a world where might prevailed and the end justified the means.

Ma Polinski's Pockets


Sara Sheridan - 1999
    Setting off to discover why, she rocks her stable existence and uncovers secrets about her mother's experiences as a 5 year old in a concentration camp in WWII. What made Ma Polinski leave Rachel everything and will what she finds set her and her family free?

The Paladin


George Shipway - 1973
    From the author of Imperial Governor. Normandy: 11th century: Young Walter has grown up at the abbey of Evreux, believing himself the son of the abbey’s superintendent Dean Fulk, and earns the nickname Tirel for his skill at archery. An unfortunate incident leads to him being sent away to endure the rigorous training of a squire in William the Conqueror’s household. At the same time he learns his true lineage, and how he has been deprived of his inheritance. He finds a friend in the Conqueror’s second son William Rufus, but is disgusted by certain aspects of his behaviour. He must also attach himself to Rufus’s feckless elder brother Robert Curthose in the hope of making his fortune and regaining his inheritance, but this leads him to make new enemies, and brings him together with his childhood sweetheart, the warrior-lady Isabel of Conches. ‘George Shipway’s progress as an historical novelist has established him in the enviable position of matching such masters of the genre as Harrison Ainsworth. No sloppy romantic make-believe; instead, Mr Shipway creates a vivid, definitive adventure story of the period.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘You could easily vaunt George Shipway’s latest novel as a saga of nymphomania, homosexuality, torture, witchcraft and bloodshed. But that would be to do it a great deal less than justice, for THE PALADIN blends its … ingredients into a very civilized novel. Mr Shipway promises a sequel, which softens the blow of reaching the final pages of this story.’ Daily Mail ‘Here is a rattling good yarn in the form of a historical novel. .. the details of life in castle and countryside are animated and evocative.’ Evening Standard ‘Vivid reconstruction of violent period of history probably nearer the truth than conventional notions of romantic chivalry.’ The Evening News ‘As delectable a piece of historical collage as you could wish for.’ Liverpool Daily Post ‘Power passion rather than rosy romance is the preoccupation of the giant Norman knights who stalk the pages of THE PALADIN by George Shipway . . . Its earthy often horrific images have a great physical presence...His sheer professionalism is a joy.’ Eastern Daily Press ‘This “account” of the young Norman lord’s (Tirel’s) earlier life is so vividly told that one waits eagerly the culmination in a second novel.’ Western Mail ‘George Shipway’s new book.… should make you late for dinner….In diamond-hard style he tells a meaty tale of bad barons, sadistic soldiery and persecuted peasants in post-Conquest Normandy. A disturbing picture of the so-called Age of Chivalry.’ Coventry Evening Telegraph This book was first published in the 1970s and has since been out of print. Contains passages which may be offensive to LGBT readers. ABOUT THE AUTHOR George Frederick Morgan Shipway was in 1908 in India and was educated at Clifton. He then attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1928. He was attached the 2nd Battalion The Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire), for one. After his year Shipway was posted to the 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers. He spent two years (1936-1938) as Adjutant of the Mekran Levy Corps. In 1940-41 he became a General Staff Officer, at General Headquarters, India. He remained on the staff until 1944 when he was posted to serve with the Hyderabad Lancers.

Where Fortune Lies


Mary-Anne O'Connor - 2020
    For fans of Nicole Alexander, Colleen McCullough, and Fiona McIntosh.1879: 'Invisible' Anne Brown fears she'll never escape the harshness and poverty of her life in County Donegal, Ireland. Until, one heartbreaking Beltane night, her life is changed forever and she leaves to seek her fortune in far-flung Australia.Upon the death of their father, charismatic Will Worthington and his beloved sister Mari are stunned to find he has left all their money and a ticket to the far shores of Australia to an enigmatic painted woman. It seems their only hope for a brighter future also lies in Australia, where together with Will's best friend, the artist Charlie Turner, they seek their fortunes.Charlie finds love with a mysterious exotic dancer, yet there is trouble on the horizon. His new friends up in the Victorian Alps might be teaching him to run with the wild horses and find his talent with a brush at last, but life in a bushranger gang is a dangerous game.As Charlie struggles to break free from his fate, all four are left with impossible choices as fortunes waver between life and death, loyalty and the heart.

The Challenges of a King (The Road to Hastings #1)


K.M. Ashman - 2021
    

Oaklayne, The Reconstruction


Karen Shriver - 2013
    Oaklayne Plantation is in ruins, a stark reflection of the condition of a once prosperous country and her families who have been torn apart by war. Was anything gained by the deaths of so many Americans? Is all hope for restoration gone?The Reconstruction Era is an often overlooked, but politically charged time in American history. Oaklayne, The Reconstruction presents an engaging mix of heart rending tragedy, sabotage, murder, corruption and intrigue, together with humor, romance, joy, faith, hope and love. Come along with General Adam Layne as he walks the tumultuous road toward rebuilding his live, his family, his childhood home and his country in this historically accurate portrayal of a man who refuses to accept meaningless loss.

I'll See You in Paris


Michelle Gable - 2016
    Laurel expects the pain might lessen but does not foresee the beguiling man she meets or that they’ll go to Paris, where the city’s magic will take over and alter everything Laurel believes about love.Thirty years later, Laurel’s daughter Annie is newly engaged and an old question resurfaces: who is Annie’s father and what happened to him? Laurel has always been vague about the details and Annie’s told herself it doesn’t matter. But with her impending marriage, Annie has to know everything. Why won’t Laurel tell her the truth?The key to unlocking Laurel’s secrets starts with a mysterious book about an infamous woman known as the Duchess of Marlborough. Annie’s quest to understand the Duchess, and therefore her own history, takes her from a charming hamlet in the English countryside, to a decaying estate kept behind barbed wire, and ultimately to Paris where answers will be found at last.

Daniel


Keith Yocum - 2009
    17, 1972, during some of the darkest days of the Vietnam War, an American soldier walked out of the jungle and onto an isolated US Army firebase in the Central Highlands. The stranger had no identification, was in good health and otherwise seemed normal. But there was a problem. While the stranger said his name was Daniel Carson, he could remember almost nothing else. Quiet and reserved, he could not explain where he came from or why he had mysteriously shown up on Firebase Martha. Attempts by the base commander to confirm Daniel’s identity turned up even more odd details. Battalion reported that a soldier named Daniel Carson and fitting the description provided by the commander had been Killed In Action the week before. Who was Daniel? Was he a deserter? A faker? A lunatic? Or was he something altogether different? Was he a lucky charm or a savior sent to rescue the unfortunate soldiers on Firebase Martha? The answers to these questions are not revealed until 1976 when three survivors from the firebase meet after the war in a bar in Washington, D.C. and agree spontaneously to visit Daniel’s parents in nearby suburban Virginia. What they find shakes them to the core.

Cordelia


Winston Graham - 1959
    Widowed in mysterious circumstances and compelled to marry again by his domineering father Frederick, Brook Ferguson selects as his new bride the beautiful, strong-willed Cordelia. But after she comes to live with Brook and Frederick, as well as their household of eccentric family members, it isn't long before Cordelia is locked in a quiet war of dominance with the elder Ferguson. In the stifling atmosphere of the Ferguson's manor house, petty arguments escalate and any small defiance becomes a grand betrayal, until the tension forces Cordelia out into the world in search of something more.

The Searcher


T.J. Alexander - 2021
     “This is an important as well as an entertaining story and should be a must-read for those bored with traditional Victorian fiction, those concerned with the unfolding historical role of women and those who just love a great story based on truth and told with utter believability and real compassion.“ Crime Review January 1822: A child is found dead on wasteland in London's Liberty of Norton Folgate. Adah Flint, the Liberty's Searcher, must examine the little girl's body to determine her identity and discover the cause of death. MEET ADAH FLINT AND DISCOVER THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SEARCHERS Adah's search for the truth takes her through the cosmopolitan backstreets of early 19th century London, with its inns and prisons, street markets and prostitution, cruelty and compassion. Written by Australian history professor T.J. Alexander and based on real characters and a true crime. This novel takes readers into the long-forgotten world of the women searchers who once played an important role in the solving of crimes, and eventually into the twenty-first century, where mysteries are resolved and new enigmas unfold. A MYSTERY WHICH WILL ENTRANCE AND HAUNT YOU.