Cow Tom, born into slavery in Alabama in 1810 and sold to a Creek Indian chief before his tenth birthday, possessed an extraordinary gift: the ability to master languages. As the new country developed westward, and Indians, settlers, and blacks came into constant contact, Cow Tom became a key translator for his Creek master and was hired out to US military generals. His talent earned him money--but would it also grant him freedom? And what would become of him and his family in the aftermath of the Civil War and the Indian Removal westward? Cow Tom's legacy lives on--especially in the courageous spirit of his granddaughter Rose. She rises to leadership of the family as they struggle against political and societal hostility intent on keeping blacks and Indians oppressed. But through it all, her grandfather's indelible mark of courage inspires her--in mind, in spirit, and in a family legacy that never dies. Written in two parts portraying the parallel lives of Cow Tom and Rose, Citizens Creek is a beautifully rendered novel that takes the reader deep into a little known chapter of American history. It is a breathtaking tale of identity, community, family--and above all, the power of an individual's will to make a difference.

    That's what she called it. Tom called it punishment. In it, he chronicles the adventures of the Caswell Gang, a group of siblings and friends with two things in common -- their love of adventure and their allegiance to Tom, their king.The 1950s book was misplaced a long time ago, and all the children have since grown up, but Harry, Tom's youngest brother, still remembers it and retells for us one of its stories in a nostalgic, heartwarming, and humorous way that will have you wishing for adventure, too.

    . . Magda Kline, the daughter of German immigrants, grows up on a rural farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her life is carefree and full of love in the beautiful home of Stone Croft. When her father, Jonas, expands Stone Croft's holdings, he hires farm hand Lars Sutler, and Magda falls in love. Soon the rumors of war become headlines of battles and she must let go of Lars when he joins the 11th Pennsylvania. The effects of the war are felt in Gettysburg, but it is not until the bloodiest, three day battle of the Civil War is fought at her door step that Magda experiences the true horror of war and her life is changed forever. S.S. Gee Buro boldly explore the acts of mankind during war and how far one woman will go to save the man she loves. "The Best Independently Published Book I've Ever Read"   - not a natural "Bob Bickel (Vine Voice)" "1 of only 4 books that have made me cry"  -Book Addict "Book Junkie" "A Truly Amazing Story, One I Could Not Put Down"  -Nancy of Utah "Historical Fiction Must Read!"  -Sadie Lynn

    Carpenter finds himself orphaned and alone on the Oregon trail in the middle of Nebraska Territory. He also finds himself smitten with the beautiful Emma Cooper, three years his senior, who has ridden off into the morning sunrise with the despicable Zeke Jones. Jed's will to reach his family's original destination in Oregon is hampered by his lack of survival skills and the specter of the oncoming winter. Through an unlikely true friendship with a "Damn Indian", Pete Scares-the-Ponies, Jedediah learns and hones those skills. Instead of heading for Oregon, though, Jed finds himself in a little mining camp called Buckskin Joe in the early days of the great Pikes Peak gold rush. His whole life takes a turn when the mysterious "Silverheels" comes to town and he experiences a love that will carry him through fifty years of solitude and beyond . . . the kind of love we all seek. Jedediah's story will draw you into the breathtaking beauty of the Rocky Mountains in the early days of the territory that became the state of Colorado. Along the way, you will experience joy, sorrow, love and adventure, in this fictional explanation of the naming of one of Colorado's prominent mountains, Mount Silverheels.

    Maggie Tanner's first recollection of life within the Victorian slums of London is at the age of six years, witnessing the death of her grandmother shortly followed by the tragic birth of her mother's stillborn twins.Born to an impoverished family who face the daily threat of disease, starvation and the cruel work-houses, she is forced at the age of twelve to seek work and is taken into service within an upper class family. But in an effort to escape the tribulations of her class Maggie only begins to discover an even worse fate than death itself - the shocking moral ostracization by society towards bastardy and the heartbreaking underworld business of baby-farming.'The Last Gift' exposes the gripping realities of the harsh and brutal facts of life for the poor, during the greatest class divide that British history has ever known.

    He sails with revenge in his heart—his beloved sister has been raped by her landlord, William Baxterhouse, who escapes on another ship with even grander plans for success in New South Wales. In Sydney, hard workers like Leary and ruthless newcomers like Baxterhouse find a city fired by the Gold Rush and dedicated to creating the finest buildings in the colony. Leary has a double motive to make his construction company succeed: he has fallen in love with the beautiful Clarissa McGuire, whose family despise him, and Baxterhouse continues to rise in wealth and influence, seemingly untouchable. Meanwhile another woman, Beth O’Hare, is in love with John Leary, and he makes some hard choices—including a climactic showdown with Baxterhouse.This is the first novel in The Sandstone Trilogy: a new, magnificent view of nineteenth-century Sydney from the ground up.Three novels, Unbound Justice, Unshackled and Succession, span 37 years of Sydney life in the second half of the nineteenth century. They follow the fortunes of 20-year-old John Leary, who in 1850 leaves his rural home in Ireland and sails as an assisted immigrant to New South Wales.His trade is carpentry but his ambition is boundless. By hard work, talent and opportunism he manages to create his own construction company, never ceasing the struggle to become the biggest and the best. The building industry becomes a metaphor for his chosen city, with its mixture of squalor and grandeur, of corruption and high ideals.The Sandstone Trilogy is a historical drama with a rich cast of compelling characters. It is also a family saga, in which love, revenge and tragedy all come to influence the Learys’ destiny.‘Well-written and thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a love story with a vivid background of those early days of European settlement—and all the drinking, hard work, treachery and jostling for position that was mandatory in those times. You warm to the characters as they make their way in this new land. More of it!’Wendy O’HanlonAustralian Provincial Newspapers

    Two years later he was a key man on one of Australia’s greatest cattle drives – the Durack family’s epic journey from Cooper’s Creek, Queensland – to the Kimberley. Drawing on Charlie’s largely unknown story, and filling in the gaps with fiction, the author has created a novel unique in Australian literature. An unprecedented adventure, and a passionate love story – Whistler's Bones is both a celebration of the good things in the settlement of Northern Australia – and a damning indictment of the bad.

    The Allies are wildly out maneuvered and sent home in disgrace. Back in the States things are looking rather grim as the ultra-secret Manhattan Project runs into snafus that greatly delay the final production of the atomic bomb. President Roosevelt's approval ratings drop dramatically. Congress is desperate and the country cries out for a hero. That hero might just be Douglas MacArthur, who vowed that he would return to his beloved Philippines. He plans to do so with the backing of the entire US Armed Forces.MacArthur's plan of action is simple: take the war back to the Japanese, island by bloody island, until standing on the shores of Japan, he can proclaim victory. And possibly gain the leadership of the United States as well.

    New light is cast upon past lives they thought they knew so well, and suddenly their futures become intertwined. The death of her uncle will leave eighteen-year-old Josephine King an orphan, an heiress and the owner of a priceless diamond, The Eye of the Khan. For Lilith Marks, a chance finally arises to end her life as a highly paid prostitute and to prove herself as a serious businesswoman. Set against the backdrop of the great gas-lit city, the two women are drawn together in their quest to discover just who killed the man they both loved. Diamonds & Dust is a page-whizzing narrative, with an intricate and absorbing plot that entices you through the teeming streets of Victorian London. If Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all washed up on a desert island, they might have come up with something like this.

    She was as aspirational as her brothers and craved the power and influence which could only be attained as the wife of England’s most powerful man. The fact that he already had a Queen did not deter her; she was focused, she was ruthless and she would let nothing stand in her way.This is the story of Jane Seymour and her rise from obscure country gentlewoman to royal consort.

    Finding the town all but deserted, she is party to the machinations of her socially mobile hosts in their attempts to gather a respectable crowd, and Austen assembles a classic cast of characters of varying degrees of absurdity of sense.The last of Austen’s fiction works, written in the year before her death, when she was gravely ill, Sanditon affords a glimpse of the ultimate creative powers and preoccupations of one of the greatest figures in English literature.

    Countess Julie Guicciardi’s life is about to change forever. The spirited eighteen-year-old is taking piano lessons with Ludwig van Beethoven, the most talented piano virtuoso in the musical capital of Europe. She is captivated by his volatile genius, while he is drawn to her curiosity and disarming candor. Between them, a unique romance. But Beethoven has a secret he’s yet to share, and Julie is harboring a secret of her own, one so scandalous it could destroy their perfect love story.When Beethoven discovers the truth, he sets his emotions to music, composing a mournful opus that will become the Moonlight Sonata. The haunting refrain will follow Julie for the rest of her life.Set against the rich backdrop of nineteenth-century Vienna, The Woman in the Moonlight is an exhilarating ode to eternal passion. An epic tale of love, loss, rivalry, and political intrigue. A stirring portrait of a titan who wrestled with the gods and a woman who defied convention to inspire him.

    Haunted by Custer's ghost, and also by his ability to see into the memories and futures of legendary men like Sioux war-chief Crazy Horse, Paha Sapa's long life is driven by a dramatic vision he experienced as a boy in his people's sacred Black Hills. In August of 1936, a dynamite worker on the massive Mount Rushmore project, Paha Sapa plans to silence his ghost forever and reclaim his people's legacy-on the very day FDR comes to Mount Rushmore to dedicate the Jefferson face.

    But with family to care for, circumstances have driven her to pickpocketing. In Celia’s harsh world, it’s a small step from picking pockets to prostitution. When a young man offers her a fortune to spend a week with him, she takes the money and runs. But Celia’s conscious can’t allow her to forget the money she stole, and she is soon brought face-to-face with her past . . .

    His hopes of inheriting his family's manor are dashed when Prince John takes power in his brother's absence. With a handful of men Sir Thomas is forced to travel to Sweden where he joins The Jarl Birger Brosa fighting the Estonians, Karelians and Slavs. Fighting in a the harsh environment of a Baltic winter makes Sir Thomas and his men stronger. There he learns of further treachery and dishonour among Bishops, Kings and Princes who value thrones more than men.