Book picks similar to
Penny's Secret Mission (Women And War Book 2) by Rachel Wesson


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Destiny's Children: A Saga of Early California


Roger E. Herst - 2009
    DESTINY’S CHILDREN is a powerful story of love and desire, ambition and greed, danger and courage. It is a tale of men and women drawn by the promise and magic of untamed California.The novel plays out over a large canvas and is based on the actual pioneers whose super human struggles forged the modern west. The story follows a wide range of characters: from the railroad's financial mavericks who conned their way to fame, fortune and ruin, down to the hard luck laborers toiling out of desperation and the hope of a better tomorrow. One leading figure is an iconoclastic female physician who arrives in San Francisco to practice medicine in an era when women doctors were restricted to midwifery. Another is a clever deserter from the Manchu army in China who takes on the most dangerous jobs laying track through the impassable mountains of California's Sierra Nevada. DESTINY’S CHILDREN has the kind of scope, humanity, and factually inspired story of best sellers like Michener's HAWAII and Steinbeck’s GRAPES OF WRATH. This is one of those big, emotionally charged novels that readers love to recommend to friends. DESTINY’S CHILDREN is written in a light, sometime humorous style reminiscent of Amy Tan's celebrated JOY LUCK CLUB.

Okefenokee Rifles


R.O. Lane - 2021
    

Goodbye to Ribbons


W.S. Ishida - 2020
     Shy country girl, Rosie, only wants one thing ~ which is to be exactly like her well-loved mother. That is until the truth begins to emerge and her dream threatens to become her inescapable destiny. Upon discovering a family secret, Rosie finds herself drawn into a world of deceit and betrayal, and soon faces the decisions of how many morals she is willing to sacrifice, how much cruelty she is willing to tolerate, and how many lies she is willing to tell to prevent her family from being torn apart. Reaching her lowest ebb, whilst training at the local hospital, the confident and brash Teddy Miller falls off the back of a motorbike and into her life. Teddy proves to be the only person who is willing to stand up for Rosie, but being a slave to his emotions it seems he loves her too much to be the saviour she so desperately craves. Rosie's struggles continue as she lives a paradoxical double-life. Domestically she’s a timid mouse under the constant shadow of her tormentors. Yet, in her work life, she excels in whatever she sets her mind to, from a hardworking trainee nurse to a machine operative in a male-only working environment, where she not only defies the gender conventions of the times but turns them on their head. However, as her domestic struggles weigh heavy upon her, they begin to seep into her professional life and threaten to undo everything she was worked so hard to achieve. As she loses her delicate grip on her true identity, she begins to slide down the slope of despair. And so begins a seemingly endless journey to set herself free

Sea of Wolves


Philip K. Allan - 2020
    Across the stormy North Atlantic battle rages between wolfpacks of U-boats and escort ships fighting to protect the Allies’ vital convoys. Meanwhile teams of codebreakers at Bletchley Park struggle to penetrate the German Navy’s Top-Secret Dolphin code, and unlock the flow of vital intelligence that will swing the battle in the Allies favour.Sea of Wolves plots the lives of three people caught up in the centre of the battle. Vera Baldwin, a young crossword-enthusiast, lifted from her quiet suburban life and thrown into the middle of the greatest codebreaking effort the world has seen. Otto Stuckmann, the rookie commander of U70, a German naval veteran struggling with the ceaseless demands being placed on him. Leonard Cole, the newly appointed first lieutenant of HMS Protea and a man with unfinished business to resolve.Each is unknown to the others as their fates spiral around each other, touching and twisting towards a final encounter that will change their lives forever.

Flames Over Norway


Robert Jackson - 1996
     In the winter of early 1940, freezing in their cramped cockpits, the pilots set out to photograph German targets that will be attacked when the ‘Phoney War’ gives way to a shooting war — the heavy industries of the Ruhr Valley and, above all, warships of the German Navy, standing ready to break out into the Atlantic and prey on Britain’s vital convoys. Suddenly, in the early days of April 1940, an armada of German warships begins to move from the north German ports. Armstrong and his fellow pilots have the task of shadowing them, and soon establish that the invasion of Norway is beginning. Shot down during a photo-recce sortie over Norway, Armstrong finds himself fighting with Allied ground forces before reaching an RAF fighter squadron operating from a frozen lake in the far north. He is soon involved in an amazing intrigue with Norwegian government officials, desperate to salvage Norway’s remaining gold reserves and fly them to England. Finding an aircraft capable of doing the job is a problem — which Armstrong and his new friends set about solving. The obvious answer is to steal one from under the noses of the conquering Germans … 'Takes you to the heart of the action.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of Cold Kill. Robert Jackson (b. 1941) is a prolific author of military and aviation history, having become a full time writer in 1969. As an active serviceman in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve he flew a wide range of aircraft, ranging from jets to gliders. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

The Light We Left Behind


Tessa Harris - 2021
    Bugged with listening devices in every room, it’s up to Maddie to gain the Nazis’ trust and coax them into giving up information. When Max Weitzler, a Jewish refugee, also arrives at Trent Park with the same mission, Maddie finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of chess.The two met in Germany before the war, and Maddie’s heart was his from the moment they locked eyes.But Maddie has finally gained the trust of the Nazi officers at the house, and her love for Max must remain a secret. When the walls have ears, who can you trust?Based on the true events that took place at Trent Park during WWII, this is an emotionally gripping, and heart-breaking novel about love, sacrifice, and betrayal, perfect for fans of The Rose Code and The Lost Girls of Paris.

The Fuhrer’s Orphans : a moving and powerful novel based on true events


David Laws - 2020
    Their parents have been sent to concentration camps and they have nowhere else to go.Teacher Claudia Kellner discovers the group when she first takes in two homeless victims, risking her own safety by giving them shelter.Meanwhile, Commando Peter Chesham, a spy working for the British, succeeds in entering Third Reich territory. But his top-secret mission is threatened when he discovers the hiding place of the orphans.If he continues with his mission it will have fatal consequences for everyone around him, but if he doesn’t, the Nazis could win the war. Peter faces the agonising dilemma; obey orders or save the children.Will he lead the ultimate escape operation or complete the task he has been given?What he decides could determine the fate of history…Based on true events The Fuhrer’s Orphans is a powerful and moving novel set during the Second World War and is perfect for fans of Heather Morris and Robert Harris.

Michener's South Pacific


Stephen J. May - 2011
    Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame. Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.

The Breckton Trilogy


Mary Wood - 2013
    Bridie O’Hara, a beautiful young girl, is torn away from her native Ireland by her father – a freedom fighter, turned traitor, when he has to flee the wrath of the Fenians. Violated by him she ends up in a correction convent. Her escape, and meeting up with Bruiser Armitage, a pimp, sets her fate. One man tries to save her, Will Hadler, a kind, hard-working miner, whose love for Bridie knows no bounds. His rescue of her brings her happiness, but the demons inside her never give her peace. When Andrew Harvey, master of Hensal Grange, takes a fancy to her it is the beginning of Bridie sinking back into degradation. Her daughter, Bridget pays the price. Unprotected by her drunken mother, Bridget suffers rape and the heartbreak of having to give up her child, Megan.Book Two: AN UNBREAKABLE BOND: It is 1913 and for Megan and her friend, Hattie, the time has come to take up their placements and make their way in the world. Megan’s path leads her to fall into a marriage with a man she does not love and at whose hands she suffers beatings and rape. With Hattie’s help she finally escapes, but her path crosses that of the beautiful, rich and powerful, Laura Harvey. It is Laura’s need to have her wish at any price that triggers an eruption of violence that brings Megan near to death and sends Jack, the man both Megan and Laura love to prison, for a murder he did not commit.Hattie’s path crosses that of paedophile, Lord Marley. She is raped by him and his companion. Her ten pound silence money buys her an abortion but her choices have gone and she is forced into a life of prostitution. It is when she stumbles across an evil, child sex ring and is determined to break it that she once more encounters Lord Marley and though she succeeds in her quest and gets her revenge, she pays a terrible price. Hers and Megan’s enduring friendship bring them through.Book Three: TOMORROW BRINGS SORROWSet in 1939 – 1959, As the world faces many changes brought on by war, Megan has found happiness with Jack, but the threat of Megan’s schizophrenic son Billy, still casts a shadow over them. His release is imminent and for Sarah, Jack’s daughter, this opens up a fate she cannot fight. With her love and respect for Billy eroded over the years as she came to realise he has an evil core, Sarah now lives in fear of him and what he will do if she refuses him. Forsaking her true love, she marries Billy in an attempt to protect those who are very dear to her, but love and hate will out and the consequences are devastatingThose consequences are compounded by the incestuous love between twins Theresa and Terrence Crompton and their taking of all they need from whatever source they please.

A New Dawn: A Titanic short story


AnneMarie Brear - 2016
     Escaping a brutal father, Briony runs to James, the man she loves. With his family’s blessing, they marry and prepare for a new life in a new country – America. A wedding gift of two tickets to travel on an ocean liner is a wonderful surprise. Full of anticipation and hope, they set sail. Only, fate has sent them a challenge that tests, not just their strength and love, but their very survival.

The Black Sheep


Peter Darman - 2019
    Luca Baldi, a young shepherd, is catapulted into the violent world of mercenary warfare when he is forced to flee his native Sicily. He falls in with the Almogavars – ruthless mercenaries from the Catalonia region of Spain who have just finished butchering the French during a 20-year war on the island. He and they take ship to Constantinople when they are hired by the Byzantine emperor, whose empire is disintegrating in the face of remorseless Muslim advances. Alone and marooned amid danger and violence and surrounded by enemy forces, Luca must master the Almogavar way of war to survive. Plunged into the brutal world of Medieval warfare when the mercenaries take the fight to the emperor’s many enemies, can Luca live through fighting impossible odds as he battles to preserve a crumbling empire that has stood for a thousand years? ‘The Black Sheep’ is the first volume in the Catalan Chronicles, a Medieval saga set in the early 14th century. Maps of the Byzantine Empire and western Anatolia at this time can be found on the maps page of my website: www.peterdarman.com

LEVIATHAN


Gordon John Thomson - 2014
    In Newgate prison, an innocent surgeon, Dr Jonathan Silver, is waiting in the condemned cell to be hanged for the murder of his wife, Marianne. Fate intervenes in the unlikely shape of a nineteen-year old thief, Elisa Saltash, who, in trying to break her burglar father free from Newgate on the eve of his execution, ends up freeing Dr Silver instead. Silver and Elisa end up in the riverside world of Wapping, among the seething and dangerous world of the London docks. Silver has only one clue to the identity of his wife’s real killer - with her dying breath she had said to him the word “Leviathan”... This leads Silver to suspect a former suitor of his wife’s - a marine engineer called Daniel Strode who works at the Napier shipyard on the Isle of Dogs where Brunel’s Leviathan is being readied for launching. Silver gets a job as a carpenter at the yard, trying to find some real evidence against Daniel Strode. On Silver’s trail are a couple of formidable human bloodhounds: Detective Sergeant Charlie Sparrow of the Shadwell and Wapping police; and an even more devious young turnkey from Newgate, James Minshall, who is determined to gain the reward on Silver’s head for himself. Elisa soon becomes as much a fugitive as Silver when she steals a priceless pearl necklace called the Tears of the Prophet and finds her own secret life as a thief about to be exposed. Then other young women begin to be murdered in Wapping, and the fogbound riverside streets and alleyways become a place of fear... As the net closes around Silver, he has to try and discover the real reason behind his wife’s death, while also being drawn unwillingly into the mystery over the deaths of these other murdered women. Silver finds himself in a race to discover the truth before he is himself recaptured. With the help of Elisa, and another equally mysterious young woman called Amy McLennan, the story reaches a climax on the day of the launch of Brunel’s Leviathan... Set against the romantic and thrilling backdrop of London of the 1850s - the bustling centre of the greatest empire in the world, with its music halls and brothels and bare knuckle fighting - this thriller is an historical crime story full of mystery, murder, suspense and romance...

Decebal Triumphant


Peter Jaksa - 2020
    The Roman Empire expanded its conquered territories north to the Danubius (Danube) River. One kingdom is still a serious threat – the third most powerful military power in Europe and the richest nation in the region. That nation is Dacia, led by its young and brilliant military leader King Decebal.Decebal Triumphant is the story of the early days (85 – 99 A.D.) of the Roman – Dacian wars. It is told from the point of view of King Decebal and the Dacian people fighting for their freedom and survival, and also examines the intrigues of Emperor Domitian, a rising military star named Trajan, and the Roman nobility fighting for power. Going beyond historical myths and Hollywood stereotypes, this novel tells the rich story of an epic clash of cultures and of brutal military conflicts that shaped the future of two nations.

Bluebirds: A Battle of Britain Novel


Melvyn Fickling - 2018
    Bluebirds, a novel based on true stories, climaxes in 1940, the world's most dangerous year. A meticulously researched Battle of Britain novel based on the true stories of an East Anglian war hero and the first American volunteer to fire guns against the Nazis, a man who became his friend and brother-in-arms. The Battle of Britain defined the future for Britain, Europe and America. Bluebirds tells the story of four ordinary young men who are thrown together as Hitler plunges the European continent into its darkest hours. Andrew Francis and Gerry Donaldson were born on different sides of the Atlantic just before The Great War. Together with the mildly psychotic Bryan Hale, they fly Spitfires through the summer of 1940. Invasion is imminent and England faces almost certain defeat after Hitler’s unstoppable armies slice through France to the Channel coast. Fighter Command risks total destruction as they rise to meet the Fuhrer’s Luftwaffe hordes in what would become The Battle of Britain. Flying with The Few - Review in FlyPast Magazine October 2017 The first part of a proposed trilogy, Bluebirds stands alone as a gripping fictionalised account of The Battle of Britain, documenting how the lives of its four central characters become intertwined. This has clearly been a labour of love for author Melvyn Fickling, who writes with great clarity about the fast-moving events of that pivotal summer, and who imbues his descriptions of flight with boundless enthusiasm. Structured in time-linear format, Melvyn adheres closely to history, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere that becomes all too tragic when the cost of war is realised. The story follows the path of four pilots, starting with the formative years of three of them, and working its way forward, documenting the fears of war in Europe, and how the threat influences the decisions of all. Andrew Francis joins the pre-war RAF - idealistic and well-mannered, he is somewhat shocked at the fiery antics of fellow pilot Bryan Hale, with whom he nevertheless becomes friends. When war erupts, they are joined at Kenley by American pilot Gerry Donaldson, a volunteer facing pressure from British authorities to document his experiences - a propaganda bid to involve the US more closely in the conflict. Eventually Vincent Drew comes under their wing. Troubled by years of childhood abuse and hiding a serious health condition, with Vincent comes tragedy. In an excellent narrative, the author captures the mood of the times - the fear of invasion, the differing attitudes to the enemy, and the carry-on-regardless spirit that kept Britain in the war. FlyPast Magazine - At the heart of aviation heritage.

Robin Hood and the Castle of Bones


Angus Donald - 2020