From the best selling author of Fancy comes another most scandalous tale, often upsetting and disturbing.Resigned to the life of a mistress of a rich, white, Southern gentleman, Winnie decides that to better her life no sin is too great, no crime too horrendous, turning her back on man and God.

    However the advancing Japanese army soon leads to a mass evacuation of the island but, as Sylvie's family begins to board their ship, there is no sign of Sylvie. Somehow, in the confusion, Sylvie finds refuge with her governess, Virginia Chen. But neither Virginia nor her family believe they will escape the Japanese internment camps, where Virginia may have to pay the ultimate price for Sylvie's survival.For ten-year-old Sylvie Sambuck, Singapore seems a long way from the fighting of the Second World War. However the advancing Japanese army soon leads to a mass evacuation of the island but, as Sylvie's family begins to board their ship, there is no sign of Sylvie. Somehow, in the confusion, Sylvie finds refuge with her governess, Virginia Chen. But neither Virginia nor her family believe they will escape the Japanese internment camps, where Virginia may have to pay the ultimate price for Sylvie's survival.

    Conor Rafferty joins the Confederate army as a young infantry officer against the wishes of his father who, in his Irish anger, is adamantly opposed to a war with the North. Conor soon finds himself in many of the war’s most consequential battles, leading from the front and risking all inside that deadly space. He serves with distinction in General Robert E. Lee’s celebrated Army of Northern Virginia as it seeks the crowning victory that will end the war and stop the carnage. Along the way, Conor becomes a protégé of fellow Georgian John B. Gordon who eventually rises to command a Confederate army corps. At the conclusion of each chapter, the narrative transitions to the now aged Conor who answers the probing questions of his grandson Aaron, himself a captain in the U.S. Army and scheduled for duty in Europe during World War I. The grandfather and grandson thus spend a week together—a week of sharing, learning, and bonding. That Deadly Space is a compelling tale that portrays the drama, heroism, romance, and tragedy of the Civil War.

     In the midst of a deteriorating war in 1967 a senior CIA operative seeking to rearm the Mekong Delta’s anti-communist Buddhists in the hopes of transforming a failing military strategy is killed under mysterious circumstances. This changes everything for Navy Commander Michael Teague who was about to work with the Buddhists who’d been disarmed over a decade ago by Saigon. Within hours of the death of the CIA operative, Teague is recruited to lead the clandestine mission, code named The Third Force, knowing the secret operation to rearm the Buddhists is opposed by Saigon and MACV. By taking the assignment he accepts that it could cost him his career and might well trigger a major, bloody war-within-the-war in the jungles of the Mekong Delta. With the support of the powerful young female Buddhist leader, Thi Xam, the operation grows and spreads. It success triggers an explosive conflict between the CIA backed Buddhists and Saigon’s Special Forces who are supported by the American military command led by Colonel Stennride, to put an end to the Buddhist rebellion and continue with a strategy of body count.

    In the spring of 1665, England is recovering from a terrible winter, yet the country has other severe problems to face as the sun finally returns. The King, Charles II, had been welcomed back as a saviour on his restoration five years before, but is now resented by increasing numbers of his own people. And in March, the King declares war on the Dutch, England’s great seagoing trade rivals… Worse news comes to Restoration London, though, when there is an outbreak of the plague in April. This is terrible news in particular for the wealthy young physician and merchant Henry Raven, who believes that the outbreak is not natural but has been caused by an old enemy plotting his revenge against the city of London. Henry Raven, together with his friends from the Royal Society, Dr William Croone and Robert Hooke, organize the city’s fight against the spread of the disease. Raven’s delectable young mistress, Molly Titchen, is a precocious seventeen-year-old actress at the new King’s theatre in Drury Lane who is torn between her devotion to Henry Raven, and her love of strutting the stage in breeches parts. When Molly gives a bed for the night to one sick young actor, her kind action is misunderstood by Raven who believes that she has been unfaithful to him. Then Molly falls on hard times herself, and is aided not by her jealous lover, but by a strange Moorish apothecary, and a mysterious Frenchman, Philippe Desargues, Comte de Mésanger... Henry Raven has other problems to trouble his mind too, apart from his fight against the plague and his wish to save his relationship with Molly. Firstly, a close childhood friend, Esther Linney, has disappeared from her cottage on the estate of Raven’s family home in Dorset, Salwayash Manor, and gone to London. Raven’s sister Catherine asks her brother to find Esther in London, and discover why she left Dorset in such mysterious circumstances. Raven also has to deal with the fact that his sister has clearly fallen in love with their wealthy neighbour, the recently widowed Ralph Warboys, who is a handsome man yet one with a haunted past. And then strange events unfold in the quiet Dorset countryside when two young girls are found dead in suspicious circumstances... As the plague rages through London, Raven finds himself having to defend Esther Linney against a charge of witchcraft, while also trying to save Molly from an implacable enemy. But his greatest challenge is to discover the secrets of an old family curse, and to unmask a cruel murderer…

    These colorful, illustrated presentations use the latest features of the free Adobe Acrobat format to make compelling presentations easy to use on any computer. Each presentation contains dozens of slides detailing all of the background material that makes reading literature such a rich experience.

    "Take some water," one of them said. Catherine shoved the cup aside, afraid she'd be sick. The floor rocked. The air smelled of the sea. She clambered to her feet, staggering, and fought the panic threatening to overwhelm her. He'd put her aboard a ship. Unlike the other women aboard ship, Catherine de Villeroy had assumed Fate intended her to live an aristocratic life of ease and luxury. Instead she is transported to a fetid jungle to be tied to a secretive stranger who reeks of pigs. Catherine's shipmate Marie Claude has had few expectations in life, and even they have been disappointed. When her only options become prostitution or starvation, Fate decrees she will become the wife of a stranger in a strange land. Even if her new husband is a cruel man, how can life not be better in this rough paradise of alligators and wild orchids? Agnes expected a life spent in her father's bookstore, perhaps married to a gentle, scholarly man. Betrayed and ruined, Agnes retreats into herself and hardly notices when she is transported to Louisiana. Married to a stranger who desires only an amenable bed partner, Agnes strives to stay present in her new life and to explore what more Fate allows a ruined woman.

    As the storm clouds of war gather over Europe, a chain of events is set in motion which will reach across the decades to haunt the neglected place once known as Oyster Shore.A lifetime of regrets…In the winter of 1964 one of the richest men in England lies dying. Alone and consumed by guilt, Gerald Snowe leaves behind the dark secrets which have driven him to despair and his last wish is that restitution might be made. But who will remain on Oyster Shore long enough to hear the past whispering?A lost story…Over fifty years later, broken-hearted writer Lowenna Scott seeks solace in a remote riverside hideaway. Swirling mists and ghostly tales soon draw her into a decades’ old mystery and the company of the enigmatic Noah Wilson. When a long-concealed betrayal unexpectedly comes to light, Lowenna and Noah must look to the past to uncover the truth behind a love affair that changed history, haunts Oyster Shore and possesses the power to alter their own future forever…Taking the reader on a captivating journey through time, place and war, Oyster Shore is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and most of all hope.

    

     On the Manhattan, Kansas frontier of the 1870s, D’Arcy Curran, her adopted son, Dan, and her new husband, Royce Quinn, want nothing more than to raise a family and live in peace. Their plans are waylaid when the renegade Jayhawker who killed D’Arcy’s father returns from prison looking for revenge. Human treachery isn’t the only thing D’Arcy and Royce battle on their prairie home. As Dan grows from a boy to a man and more children arrive, they struggle against the forces of nature, animals that are not as tame as expected, and disease. When Dan meets Kathleen O’Malley, he’s only sixteen but is convinced she’s the girl for him. He sets out to win her heart, but he wonders, can the pampered daughter of a New York millionaire learn to love a rough-hewn cowboy?

    Bryan Hale and Bluebird Squadron fight on into the autumn of 1940, chasing down the new threat of ‘Jabo’ hit-and-run raids by bomb-laden enemy fighters over the capital’s rooftops.Bryan’s chance encounter in a London pub with Jenny, an acquaintance from his school-days, starts them both down the road to a relationship that neither wants or can afford. But the deadly perils of London’s Blitz ignite a passion that neither can resist.Bluebird Squadron rotates out of the front-line to Scotland. Bryan transfers to night-fighters, partly to sate his desire for combat, but also to stay close to Jenny.Struggling with fledgling radar technology, Bryan and his operator, Tommy Scott, eventually become calculating hunters of the night, stalking and slaying Nazi raiders in a chilling, deadly game of cat-and-mouse in England’s pitch-black winter skies.The stresses of combat, the loss of friends and the daily grind of mortal danger weigh ever more heavily. As the new year dawns on the battered, bohemian streets of the blitzed capital, Bryan’s life begins to fray and unravel.

    Detective Sergeant Lee Hollister and his partner Max Baxter find themselves fighting a dual tsunami from the shock of a demanding media and police department brass pressing for answers. A puzzling trail leads to studio executives with ties to millions of dollars and a skilled assassin. It is a deadly mix that crosses oceans and continents putting the two detectives in a struggle to not only solve the case but save their own lives.

     Sabine always minded her own business, closing her eyes to the sinister events engulfing Germany. War is always ugly, and it's best to simply stay out of harm’s way. That changes the moment the Gestapo needs information from her. With her husband held captive, his very life depends on her willingness to cooperate in this evil enterprise. Soon, she’s thrust into the midst of the resistance, smuggling people out of Nazi Germany. Her task? Find the leader and hand him over to torture and certain death. If she does as she is asked, she betrays her own people. If she does not, her husband will be executed by Hitler's forces. Can she silence her conscience and save her husband? Read Reluctant Informer now - a WWII tale of love, courage, and impossible choices. Previously published as part of the USA Today Bestselling Anthology, The Darkest Hour – Tales of Resistance, this standalone novella will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what Sabine will do next.

    She soon discovered her mama had been hiding secrets from her since she was a small child. These secrets start to unfold when she opens a box hidden in the back of a closet. Opening this box will create an entirely different world that Karlee never dreamed was waiting for her. Will Karlee have the strength and courage to face the secrets, or will she close the box keeping everyone from knowing the truth? If you like funny, heartwarming Southern stories with a touch of mystery, you will fall in love with the characters in The Problem with Pearls.

    He never had a place to call home. While camping out one night, hoping to find the next town, he had a feeling he was being watched. He ignored his instincts and went to sleep to wake up in the morning with a splitting headache from being hit on the head, and his horse, food, and saddlebags stolen. Following the footsteps left behind by the thieves, he found it led to a cabin and to a patchwork family in dire need of help. Sadie Carman lost her pa and took in two boys and a little girl that needed her to care for them. The boys were a trial, but she loved them like her own children. When Stryker Steele showed up at her door and told her that someone stole his horse and belongings, she was worried the boys had something to do with it. She agreed to let him stay until he could figure out what to do, but she never figured that he would give them a Christmas like they never had and forgive the boys for what they did. She worried Stryker would leave and she wished he'd stay forever.