The Ballad of John MacLea


A.J. MacKenzie - 2019
    Tasked with routing out enemy agents and thwarting an elaborate espionage ring, which includes beautiful American double agent Josephine Lafitte, MacLea’s mission is betrayed. Now, trapped in a dramatic showdown aboard a captured American warship headed for the breach at Niagara Falls, battle-hardened MacLea finds himself fighting not just for freedom, but for his life.

Ashoka: Satrap of Taxila


Ashok K. Banker - 2017
    But when he sees the brutality and disrespect to Mauryavansh by the Pashtun rebels, he cannot stay silent. His sword is as quick as his temper, and the result is swift and bloody justice. Taxila is saved—but the Emperor is furious. Emperor Bindusara, egged on by his favorite queen, Noor Khorasan, becomes convinced that Ashoka’s show of initiative is an act of treason. Even the wise words of nonagenarian Kautilya, emerging from retirement, fall on deaf ears. Queen Khorasan’s well-mounted plot to control the empire sweeps up everyone who opposes her. Suddenly, Ashoka is forced to choose between his mother’s life and his own. What will the young prince do?India’s epic storyteller brings alive the battles, brutality, lust and politics of ancient India in vivid detail with thrilling action, and no-holds-barred storytelling. Relive the extraordinary life story of India’s greatest emperor as a young man in Ashoka: Satrap of Taxila.

A Most Precious Gift


Jacqueline Freeman Wheelock - 2014
    Having never cooked a day in her life, she is terrified of being found out and banished to the cotton fields as was her mother before her. But when she accidentally burns the freedom papers of Jonathan Mayfield, a handsome free man of color to whom she's attracted, her fear of the fields becomes secondary.A gifted cabinetmaker, Jonathan Mayfield's heart is set on finally becoming a respected businessman by outfitting a bedroom at the palatial Riverwood—until a beautiful new slave destroys his proof of freedom and his fragile confidence along with it. When the mistress of Riverwood orders Dinah to work alongside the sullen Mr. Mayfield, sparks fly setting the two on a collision course. Is their mutual love for God strong enough to overcome deep-seated insecurities and set the couple on a path toward self-acceptance and love for each other?

Money and Good Things (The Olivia Series, #5)


Yael Politis - 2020
    Olivia, Nick, their two little girls, and Charlie still live in the old boarding house. It has been nine years since Mourning left Olivia. Nine years since the last time she saw him – though he has always arranged to have Charlie with him for a few weeks each year.But today Olivia is anxiously awaiting Mourning’s arrival. Yesterday he sent a message with Michelle – he needs to talk with Olivia. Why now? What will he say? Does he intend to take Charlie for good?On this already emotionally-charged day, a cryptic telegram from Missouri arrives. It will take Olivia, Mourning, and Nick on a different kind of journey together.Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Literary Fiction

Doctor Rose and the Outlaw


R.O. Lane - 2020
    She sets up her medical practice there. One night she's called out to help a gang of outlaws that have been shot to pieces while trying to rustle cattle. One of the outlaws is a young man that she develops feelings for, but he's in and out of her life for months on end. The outlaw attempts to change his life and go straight. It's a challenge that Rose encourages. It's the tale of two people who grow to care deeply for each other, and when Rose is kidnapped, the outlaw, now her husband, rides out to save her. Another novel of the Old West from the pen of R. O. Lane.

Heaven-high and Hell-deep


Peggy Poe Stern - 2003
    She knows God handed her a life of hardship, especially when her Dad gives her away in marriage to a man she doesn't know. However, she proves to be a true mountain girl with spirit, determination, feistiness and fiery spunk. Laine's unabashed account of events, before and during the first months of her marriage, draws the reader spellbound into a story that will linger like mists shrouding distant mountains.

Zetta's Dream: An Appalachian Coal Camp Novel (The Zetta Series Book 1)


Sandra Picklesimer Aldrich - 2015
    Determined to keep the family together, Zetta and their toddlers join Asa and her brothers at the Golden Gate coal camp just before Christmas 1922. She is eight months pregnant. During the first week in the dismal camp, Zetta suffers fearful nightmares of cut trees and fresh dirt--Appalachian signs of trouble. Asa dismisses his wife's pleas to return to their farm, insisting their three-month stay will provide the $400 they need to give their children better lives. Disappointed, Zetta draws strength from her plump red-haired neighbor, Dosha, and the strong willed granny woman, Clarie, who will deliver her baby. And each morning, she thanks the Lord they are one more day closer to home. Or are they?

Our Plantation: Life on a Southern Cotton Plantation during the Civil War


Richard E. Graglia - 2017
    Her husband and elder son rode off to save slavery in the Confederate Cavalry. Their plantation would now be controlled by a brutish slave master and sadistic slave overseers. Would their slaves revolt? Would Yankee armies attack and destroy their way of life? The slave master already had designs on Clare Ellen Fairchild and couldn’t wait until her husband rode off to war and hopefully die for his Cause. It was April, planting season. The very long and very hot summer awaited them. Clare Ellen was told that this war would be over by September and to ‘not worry her pretty little head’ about it. Clare Ellen was told wrong. She and her children should have worried their pretty little heads.

Mary Dannie


Patricia Keil - 2010
    It is the story of the struggles, simple joys and wisdom surrounding a young girl growing up in the 1940's in Appalachia.

The Collier's Wife


Chrissie Walsh - 2020
    When Amy visits her husband Hugh at Beckett's Park Hospital, he doesn't recognise her. Broken after serving four devastating years in the First World War, Hugh is a shadow of the man he once was. Can he ever again be the man Amy knew and loved?Barnsborough, 1912. The first time Hugh and Amy meet, the connection between them is instant and electric. While a librarian's assistant and a collier might not be the most conventional pair, the two come together over a love of books that quickly turns into more. Neither suspects their families have secrets that threaten to tear them apart...True love's path is rarely simple... but can Hugh and Amy find their way back to each other?

The Slayer Rune


John Snow - 2013
    It's a story of love and hate and Viking action, infused with Norse mythology. Does Sigurd’s love for Yljali lead to his dark deeds, or do other powers force him to act?The stage is set in the Scandinavian Viking Age in 967 AD. Young Sigurd is in love with Ylajali, a mysterious foreign thrall girl. Helgi Blackbeard, the king's captain of arm, discovers her beauty and wants to marry her. Blackbeard is a powerful man, a friend of the king, but he is not the only one to lust for the girl. Harald Chieftain, Sigurd's father, has sworn an oath never to touch Yljali.Sigurd has friends. Grim teaches him the use of runes, and Gisli owns the best sword at Vik. When Sigurd decides to act, he sparks a chain of event he is unable to control. In the book you’ll meet Odd the Squinter, Big Bork and his brother Bork Berserk, Skarphedin the Second-Sighted, Hakon, Hild, Sigrunn Silkyhair, and the Witch from Spedale. They are all unique characters who play pivotal roles in the plot. Will Sigurd get Yljali?The Slayer Rune is the first book in The Viking Series.

Bhima


Vikas Singh - 2015
    I am the mightiest warrior of mytime. I have violated my dharma and murdered a man in cold blood.I have, single-handed, wiped out a whole generation of my kinsmen.I have committed acts of unspeakable brutality on the battlefield.I have done it all for the love of one woman. A woman who lovesmy brother.I am Bhima, the second Pandava. This is my story.Possessed of amazing strength, fierce loyalty and greattenderness, Bhima as a character is almost always eclipsedby Yudhishtira and Arjuna. In spite of his many virtues,he is destined to be remembered as all brawn and biceps.Now, in Vikas Singh’s retelling of the Mahabharata,India’s greatest epic is narrated through the eyes of ahero who has never got his due. A fascinating accountof a fascinating character—his extraordinary courage,his obsessive love for Draupadi, his deeply conflictedemotions about his brother, Arjun—this stunning work,written in a racy, entertaining style, provides the definitiveanswer to the question: What was it like to be Bhima?

Son of Anger: A fast-paced Viking Saga filled with action and adventure


Donovan Cook - 2020
    This tale of vengeance is nothing short of exciting." Reedsy ReviewUlf is like a storm, slowly building up its power, he grows more dangerous with each passing moment. And like all storms, he will eventually break. When he does, he will destroy everything in his path.Ulf is one of a long line of famous Norse warriors. His ancestor Tyr was no ordinary man, but the Norse God of War. Ulf, however, knows nothing about being a warrior.Everything changes when a stranger arrives on Ulf’s small farm in Vikenfjord. The only family he’s ever known are slaughtered and the one reminder of his father is stolen -- Ulf’s father’s sword, Ormstunga. Ulf’s destiny is decided.Are the gods punishing him? All Ulf knows is that he has to avenge his family. He sets off on an adventure that will take him across oceans, into the eye of danger, on a quest to reclaim his family’s honour.The gods are roused. One warrior can answer to them. The Son of Anger.

Maharaja in Denims


Khushwant Singh - 2014
     Chandigarh based Khushwant Singh, itinerant writer, columnist and TV show host, pays tribute to the City Beautiful by setting his latest book–a work of fiction–amidst its broad, tree-lined boulevards. And its trappings: snazzy SUVs, glitzy homes and fast-paced lifestyles. Maharaja In Denims, a tale of love, intrigue and passion rallies around a teenaged protagonist, Hari Singh Sandhu, present-day resident of one of Chandigarh’s tony sectors, and Suzanne his girlfriend.Very early into their relationship Hari begins to get flashes of a past life that includes Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire. Clearly suggesting to a much-surprised teenager the very real possibility of him being Ranjit Singh’s incarnate! Alarmed at these happenings in his hitherto unencumbered and happily aimless existence, he needs little persuasion when Suzanne requests him to undergo a past life regression. Coughing up an incredible number of surprises, not least that of other, more horrific past lives.The author deftly interweaves the youthful love story with vignettes of Ranjit Singh’s life, loves, valour and conquests. With past life after past life unravelling before them, Hari and Suzanne, stumble upon people and incidents that link the present-day to the turbulent and disturbing history of Punjab. The story continues to England and then on to Mumbai before ending in an astonishing twist set in the future. Maharaja In Denims is indeed a modern tale told in a bold, moving and racy narrative.The author’s earlier works include Sikhs Unlimited, a well-received chronicle of the Sikh Diaspora in both the UK and USA, and Turbaned Tornado–an inspiring biography of the iconic 100 year-old Fauja Singh, marathon runner.

Dancing on Deansgate


Freda Lightfoot - 2003
    But when the Blitz reaches Manchester, she is locked in the cellar by her feckless mother, Lizzie. As bombs rain down from a sky turned blood red with flame, Jess waits for Lizzie to return.But fortunes are fickle, and soon Jess finds herself packed off to live with her tyrant Uncle Bernie, a bullying black marketeer. Though he treats her like a servant, she seeks refuge in the Sally Army and her natural musical talent offers both an escape route and the chance for love.But Uncle Bernie never forgives his niece for refusing to join his illegal schemes and threatens to deprive Jess of her hard-won freedom once and for all. This is a sweeping saga of hope and resilience perfect for fans of Kitty Neale and Rosie Goodwin. Praise for Dancing on Deansgate ‘A heart-wrenching story’ 5* Reader review‘It drew me in straight away’ 5* Reader review‘Another gem from a great writer’ 5* Reader review‘A compelling story of separation and hardship, and heartache overcome at last’ 5* Reader review