Book picks similar to
Pirata: The Black Flag by Simon Scarrow
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Cavendon Hall
Barbara Taylor Bradford - 2014
Cavendon Hall is home to two families, the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them. Charles Ingham, the sixth Earl of Mowbray, lives there with his wife Felicity and their six children. Walter Swann, the premier male of the Swann family, is valet to the earl. His wife Alice, a clever seamstress who is in charge of the countess's wardrobe, also makes clothes for the four daughters. For centuries, these two families have lived side-by-side, beneath the backdrop of the imposing Yorkshire manor. Lady Daphne, the most beautiful of the Earl's daughters, is about to be presented at court when a devastating event changes her life and threatens the Ingham name. With World War I looming, both families will find themselves tested in ways they never thought possible. Loyalties will be challenged and betrayals will be set into motion. In this time of uncertainty, one thing is sure: these two families will never be the same again. Cavendon Hall is Barbara Taylor Bradford at her very best, and its sweeping story of secrets, love, honor, and betrayal will have readers riveted up to the very last page.
Collectors Edition 2008: Elected President Barack Obama: The Victory Speech
Barack Obama - 2008
Indeed, many view this historic win as a culmination of the sacrifice and courage of the Civil Rights movement - and even more people view President-Elect Barack Obama's win as a signal that America is indeed ready for a new direction and a new era. In Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, President-Elect Barack Obama gave his victory speech to an estimated crowd of 65,000 people - and tens of millions of people around the world watched the moment unfold on their television and computer screens, or listened to this monumental moment on the radio. This is the entire speech, including the interjections of the crowd screaming "Yes we can!". This speech is already in the history books, and you can read this anytime you need a stroke of hope or inspiration. This will make a great addition to any book collection.
Philippa Gregory's Wars of the Roses 2-Book Boxed Set: The Red Queen and The White Queen
Philippa Gregory - 2011
In The Red Queen, Gregory illuminates the fascinating woman who founded England’s most powerful ruling line, the Tudors: Margaret Beaufort. The White QueenElizabeth Woodville, a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition, secretly marries the newly crowned boy king of England. While she rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become the central figures in a famous unsolved mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the lost princes in the Tower of London. Philippa Gregory brings the artistry and intellect of a master writer and storyteller to a new era in history and begins what is sure to be another bestselling classic series.
The Saturday Evening Girls Club
Jane Healey - 2017
For four young immigrant women living in Boston’s North End in the early 1900s, escaping tradition doesn’t come easy. But at least they have one another and the Saturday Evening Girls Club, a social pottery-making group offering respite from their hectic home lives—and hope for a better future.Ambitious Caprice dreams of opening her own hat shop, which clashes with the expectations of her Sicilian-born parents. Brilliant Ada secretly takes college classes despite the disapproval of her Russian Jewish father. Stunning Maria could marry anyone yet guards her heart to avoid the fate of her Italian Catholic mother, broken down by an alcoholic husband. And shy Thea is torn between asserting herself and embracing an antiquated Jewish tradition.The friends face family clashes and romantic entanglements, career struggles and cultural prejudice. But through their unfailing bond, forged through their weekly gathering, they’ll draw strength—and the courage to transform their immigrant stories into the American lives of their dreams.
The Midwife of Hope River
Patricia Harman - 2012
Just beginning, she takes on the jobs no one else wants: those most in need-and least likely to pay. Patience is willing to do what it takes to fulfill her mentor's wishes, but starting a midwife practice means gaining trust, and Patience's secrets are too fragile to let anyone in.A stirring piece of Americana, The Midwife of Hope River beats with authenticity as Patience faces seemingly insurmountable conditions: disease, poverty, and prejudices threaten at every turn. From the dangerous mines of West Virginia to the terrifying attentions of the Klu Klux Klan, Patience must strive to bring new light, and life, into an otherwise cruel world.
The German Girl
Armando Lucas Correa - 2016
Her family moved in Berlin’s highest social circles, admired by friends and neighbors. Eleven-year-old Hannah was often taken by her mother for an afternoon treat at the tea room of the beautiful Adlon Hotel, both dressed in their finest clothes. She spent her afternoons at the park with her best friend Leo Martin. But, in an instant, that sunlit world vanished. Now the streets of Berlin are draped with red, white, and black flags; their fine possessions are hauled away, and they are no longer welcome in the places that once felt like home. The two friends make a pact: come what may, they promise to have a future together.As Hannah and Leo’s families desperately begin to search for a means of escape, a glimmer of hope appears when they discover the Saint Louis, a transatlantic liner that can give Jews safe passage to Cuba. After a frantic search to obtain visas, the Rosenthals and the Martins depart from Hamburg on the luxurious passenger liner bound for Havana. Life aboard the ship is a welcome respite from the gloom of Berlin—filled with masquerade balls, dancing, and exquisite meals every night.As the passengers gain renewed hope for a bright future ahead, love between Hannah and Leo blossoms. But soon reports from the outside world began to filter in, and dark news overshadows the celebratory atmosphere on the ship; the governments of Cuba, the United States, and Canada are denying the passengers of the St. Louis admittance to their countries, forcing them to return to Europe as it descends into the Second World War. The ship that had seemed their salvation seems likely to become their death sentence.After four days anchored at bay, only a handful of passengers are allowed to disembark onto Cuban soil, and Hannah and Leo must face the grim reality that they could be torn apart. Their future is unknown, and their only choice will have an impact in generations to come.Decades later in New York City on her eleventh birthday, Anna Rosen receives a mysterious envelope from Hannah, a great-aunt she has never met but who raised her deceased father. In an attempt to piece together her father’s mysterious past, Anna and her mother travel to Havana to meet Hannah, who is turning eighty-seven years old. Hannah reveals old family ties, recounts her journey aboard the Saint Louis and, for the first time, reveals what happened to her father and Leo. Bringing together the pain of the past with the mysteries of the present, Hannah gives young Anna a sense of their shared histories, forever intertwining their lives, honoring those they loved and cruelly lost.
Forsaken by Love (His Heart's Long Journey Book 1)
Jeanne Hardt - 2019
. . Eight-year-old, Vern Harpole, wakes up on the front porch of a bakery he's never seen before. The frightened boy is discovered by the kind baker who returns him to the hotel where he'd been staying with his mother and young sister, only to learn they've left and have no intention of returning. With no trace of where they’ve gone or by what means they’re traveling, a search is impossible. Even the authorities have little help to offer. Being childless, the baker and his wife decide to give Vern a home. Initially, they see him as a means of cheap labor. But over time, a bond of love grows between them, and they find joy as a family. Yet Vern can't dismiss the hurtful feelings of abandonment, as well as many unanswered questions about his mother. Margaret Jordan has recently immigrated from Ireland to America. Like Vern, she's troubled by painful reminders of traumatic experiences that have irrevocably altered her life. She settles in Kansas City, where she finds employment at a local restaurant. When she and Vern cross paths, he immediately recognizes her pain and wants to help her, but it will take more than kindness to break through the protective walls she's built around herself. Determination pushes him to be persistent, needing to believe that love can be something more than forsaken.
Daughter of Providence
Julie Drew - 2011
summer, 1934: Anne Dodge, raised by her old-money father in a small Rhode island coastal town, has always been told that her mother abandoned them. But then Anne learns that she has a half- sister, Maria Cristina --and when Maria Cristina comes to live with Anne and her father, ugly truths begin to surface about the family.Within a context of jazz, the end of Prohibition, and stifling gender expectations, Daughter of Providence is a gripping and seductive summer read. this story of loss and rediscovery will resonate with readers long after the final page.
Blizzard: A Story of Dakota Territory
Cindy Rinaman Marsch - 2016
And then it descends upon them - the infamous Children's Blizzard of 1888. Who will survive?With characters from
Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan
, "Blizzard: A Story of Dakota Territory" captures in one sod shanty the dramatic effects of a storm on the bodies and spirits of people who have internal storms of their own.Cover painting and design by Betsy Marsch, illustrator and cover designer for Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan.
Exodus and QB VII: Two Leon Uris Classics
Leon Uris - 2013
But the path that Jewish immigrants took to enter British-controlled Palestine was a difficult one, fraught with danger and political intrigue. The boat was intercepted by British forces and the refugees were placed in concentration camps.Uris’s blockbuster novel traces the lives of the men and women who brave British naval blockades to help Israel come into being, from Ari Ben Canaan, who works tirelessly to smuggle in settlers, to Kitty Fremont, an American nurse drawn into a vast, tragic history. Weaving together fact and fiction, history and dramatic storylines, Exodus stands today as one of the most influential narratives of the founding of the State of Israel.In QB VII, for Abe Cady, settlement is not an option when the facts of the Holocaust are on trial. A journalist and screenwriter, Cady produced the definitive account of the Holocaust just after World War II. But Polish doctor Adam Kelno, who was pressed into service in a notorious concentration camp, sues Cady for his book’s claim that the doctor conducted terrible experiments on camp inmates. The libel trial that follows tears open old wounds, disrupts lives, and becomes a battle for justice on behalf of tens of thousands of lost and damaged souls.QB VII is a gripping drama, largely based on author Uris’s own protracted libel defense against a former concentration camp surgeon named in his novel Exodus. It was made into the first miniseries in television history.
Mischling
Affinity Konar - 2016
In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood.As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain.That winter, at a concert orchestrated by Mengele, Pearl disappears. Stasha grieves for her twin, but clings to the possibility that Pearl remains alive. When the camp is liberated by the Red Army, she and her companion Feliks--a boy bent on vengeance for his own lost twin--travel through Poland's devastation. Undeterred by injury, starvation, or the chaos around them, motivated by equal parts danger and hope, they encounter hostile villagers, Jewish resistance fighters, and fellow refugees, their quest enabled by the notion that Mengele may be captured and brought to justice within the ruins of the Warsaw Zoo. As the young survivors discover what has become of the world, they must try to imagine a future within it.A superbly crafted story, told in a voice as exquisite as it is boundlessly original, Mischling defies every expectation, traversing one of the darkest moments in human history to show us the way toward ethereal beauty, moral reckoning, and soaring hope.
Kin of Cain: A Short Bernicia Tale
Matthew Harffy - 2017
Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical tale set in the world of The Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell. Winter grips the land in its icy fist. Terror stalks the hills, moors and marshes of Bernicia. Livestock and men have been found ripped asunder, their bones gnawed, flesh gorged upon. People cower in their halls in fear of the monster that prowls the night. King Edwin sends his champions, Bassus, Octa and band of trusted thegns, to hunt down the beast and to rid his people of this evil. Bassus leads the warriors into the chill wastes of the northern winter, and they soon question whether they are the hunters or the prey. Death follows them as they head deeper into the ice-rimed marshes, and there is ever only one ending for the mission: a welter of blood that will sow the seeds of a tale that will echo down through the ages. What readers are saying about KIN OF CAIN: 'The tale is full of suspense, it's dark, gritty and gruesome ... what more could you possibly want?' 'Absolutely gripping, edge of the seat reading. If you're into Bernard Cornwell you'll love this!' 'Clever short story by a master story teller'
Can't wait for the next instalment of the Bernicia Chronicles? Search 9781784978853 to pre-order KILLER OF KINGS!
The Great Game
S.J.A. Turney - 2015
Tasked with uncovering a plot against the newly-crowned emperor Commodus, his mission takes him from the cold Danubian border all the way to the heart of Rome, the villa of the emperor’s scheming sister, and the great Colosseum. What seems a straightforward, if terrifying, assignment soon descends into Machiavellian treachery and peril as everything in which young Rufinus trusts and believes is called into question and he faces warring commanders, Sarmatian cannibals, vicious dogs, mercenary killers and even a clandestine Imperial agent. In a race against time to save the Emperor, Rufinus will be introduced, willing or not, to the great game. "Entertaining, exciting and beautifully researched" - Douglas Jackson "From the Legion to the Guard, from battles to the deep intrigue of court, Praetorian: The Great Game is packed with great characters, wonderfully researched locations and a powerful plot." - Robin Carter
The Girls with No Names
Serena Burdick - 2020
Not far from Luella and Effie Tildon’s large family mansion in Inwood looms the House of Mercy, a work house for wayward girls. The sisters grow up under its shadow with the understanding that even as wealthy young women, their freedoms come with limits. But when the sisters accidentally discover a shocking secret about their father, Luella, the brazen older sister, becomes emboldened to do as she pleases.But her rebellion comes with consequences, and one morning Luella is mysteriously gone. Effie suspects her father has made good on his threat to send Luella to the House of Mercy and hatches a plan to get herself committed to save her sister. But she made a miscalculation, and with no one to believe her story, Effie’s escape from the House of Mercy seems impossible—unless she can trust an enigmatic girl named Mable. As their fates entwine, Mable and Effie must rely on each other and their tenuous friendship to survive.The Home for Unwanted Girls meets The Dollhouse in this atmospheric, heartwarming story that explores not only the historical House of Mercy, but the lives—and secrets—of the girls who stayed there.
The Masterpiece
Fiona Davis - 2018
But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different.For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future, which she is certain will shine as the brightly as the constellations on the main concourse ceiling. It is 1928, and twenty-five-year-old Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art. A talented illustrator, she has dreams of creating cover art for Vogue, but not even the prestige of the school can override the public's disdain for a "woman artist." Brash, fiery, confident, and single-minded—even while juggling the affections of two men, a wealthy would-be poet and a brilliant experimental painter—Clara is determined to achieve every creative success. But she and her bohemian friends have no idea that they'll soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression, an insatiable monster with the power to destroy the entire art scene. And even poverty and hunger will do little to prepare Clara for the greater tragedy yet to come.Nearly fifty years later, in 1974, the terminal has declined almost as sharply as Virginia Clay's life. Full of grime and danger, from the smoke-blackened ceiling to the pickpockets and drug dealers who roam the floor, Grand Central is at the center of a fierce lawsuit: Is the once-grand building a landmark to be preserved, or a cancer to be demolished? For Virginia, it is simply her last resort. Recently divorced, she has just accepted a job in the information booth in order to support herself and her college-age daughter, Ruby. But when Virginia stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor hidden under the dust, her eyes are opened to the elegance beneath the decay. She embarks on a quest to find the artist of the unsigned masterpiece—an impassioned chase that draws Virginia not only into the battle to save Grand Central but deep into the mystery of Clara Darden, the famed 1920s illustrator who disappeared from history in 1931.