Book picks similar to
Fireflies and Chocolate by Ailish Sinclair


tbr
hist-fic
historical-fiction
history-1700s

Last Vow of the Unyielding Duke


Hazel Linwood - 2021
    Ever. So when her father announces that she must wed a Duke she has never met before, she is more than a little furious. And while she might be forced to marry him, no one can force her to love him.Thomas Mccarthy, the Duke of Egerton’s dreams of marrying for love are crushed when his late father’s debts force him into an arranged marriage. And his new bride’s cold demeanor does not foreshadow a happy union .Just as Olivia’s walls start to melt like ice, her worst fears come alive before her own eyes. A note written in secret fills her heart with doubt. And when she goes missing, Thomas realises that no one can be trusted. For in the heart of their own home, enemies are disguised as friends, and revenge is disguised as justice…

Fifth Column


Christopher Remy - 2011
    A divided America is debating whether or not to go to war. The FBI and police, scrambling to thwart any attacks, round up the plotters. Experts declare that our intelligence capabilities are insufficient and that a new agency must be created. The year is 1941. Fifth Column is the story of Johanna Falck, a German immigrant who joins the new American central intelligence service. As Americans focus on the war in Europe and whether the United States should intervene, the FBI is rounding up scores of German spies. The German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi group of Americans suspected of being saboteurs and subversives, is at the center of the FBI's investigations. Johanna is recruited to infiltrate the Bund and discover what they and the Nazis have planned. Soon she is caught up in a far-reaching conspiracy, one that stretches from the top of the Nazi state to the streets of New York. What she finds shatters her most basic assumption about the Third Reich.

Born in a Treacherous time


Jacqui Murray - 2018
    It is a time in history when they are relentlessly annihilated by predators, nature, their own people, and the next iteration of man. To make it worse, Lucy’s band hates her. She is their leader’s new mate and they don’t understand her odd actions, don’t like her strange looks, and don’t trust her past. To survive, she cobbles together an unusual alliance with an orphaned child, a beleaguered protodog who’s lost his pack, and a man who was supposed to be dead.Born in a Treacherous Time is prehistoric fiction written in the spirit of Jean Auel. Lucy is tenacious and inventive no matter the danger, unrelenting in her stubbornness to provide a future for her child, with a foresight you wouldn’t think existed in earliest man. You’ll close this book understanding why man not only survived our wild beginnings but thrived, ultimately to become who we are today.This is a spin-off of To Hunt a Sub’s Lucy (the ancient female who mentored the female protagonist)

The Pearl-fishers


Robin Jenkins - 2007
    But how will they respond when love seems to blossom between local man Gavin Hamilton and the beautiful pearl-fisher Effie? The Pearl-fishers is a classic love story and the master storyteller’s last novel.

Ardnish Was Home


Angus MacDonald - 2017
    There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise, and she with him.The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens, how his family lived and the fascinating life of a century ago: bagpiping, sheep shearing, celidhs, illegal distilling, his mother saving the life of the people of St Kilda, the navvies building the west highland railway and the relationship between the lairds and the people. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in the Welsh valley: coal mining, a harsh and unforgiving upbringing.They get cut off from the allied troops and with another nurse are forced to make their escape through Turkey to Greece, getting rescued by a Coptic priest and ending up in Malta. By this time their love is out in the open, but there is still another tragic twist to their story waiting on the way back to Donald’s beloved highland home . . .

Prairie Brides Box Collection One: Books 1-4


Kit Morgan - 2018
    Three English gents who tame the west with their fists and impeccable manners! Enjoy these sweet, clean and wholesome stories of family, friendships, and love set in the old west! Included in this boxed set are: His Praire Princess: When Sadie Jones, the daughter of cattle baron Horatio Jones, set out on her own in search of her dying birth mother, she got more than she bargained for. She never dreamed the stage would be robbed and she herself taken along with the rest of the loot! After all, being kidnapped was the last thing on her mind that morning. Unfortunately, it was the foremost thing that afternoon. Harrison Cooke, raised by his English mother to be the perfect gentleman, simply went to get the mail, not rescue a damsel in distress! But here he was, attempting to rescue the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and of course, not get them both killed in the process. Her Prairie Knight: Belle Dunnigan hadn't expected Clear Creek to be so remote. It was a far cry from Boston society and she soon learned how hard life out on the Oregon prairie could be. But it wasn't prairie life that was hard. It was living with her Aunt Irene! The woman ruled with an iron fist and hated everyone. Especially the Cooke family. And unfortunately for Belle, the only decent men of the marrying kind within a hundred miles, WERE the Cookes! With spinsterhood starring her in the face, what was she to do? Even worse, she was terribly attracted to Colin Cooke, the one man her aunt hated most of all. HIs Prairie Duchess: Duncan Cooke had a problem. A really BIG problem. As the next Duke of Stantham, he would have power and position, a wealthy estate and the means to take care of his family for years to come. His father and mother could only dream something like this would happen to their eldest son and now their dream was a reality. So what was the problem? He had to get married in the next thirty-eight days or lose it all. Unfortunately, Duncan lived in Clear Creek. A place where there wasn't a single female around for hundreds of miles. Except one. Her Prairie Viking: Andel Berg came to Clear Creek under the guise of becoming the new blacksmith, but little did the townspeople of Clear Creek know that he was so much more! Madeline Van Zuyen came to Clear Creek for a new beginning and the chance to start a new life. Little did she know that SHE was so much more! Mr. Berg had a duty to perform. Find the Princess Madelaina at any cost, retrieve her, and deliver her to Count Rudge, one of the most despicable men Andel had ever known. Not an appealing task for a Captain of the King's Guard but unfortunately, Andel had no choice. If he didn't deliver the princess Count Rudge would kill his father and Andel was prepared to do anything to keep that from happening. But Andel hadn't counted on falling in love.

The Soldier's Seed (Southern Skyes)


Sharyn Bradford Lunn - 2012
     In this sweeping story of love and loss, fortune and fate, this masterful storyteller recounts the journeys of the McCabe and Skye families, along with the people who shape their lives, as they strive to make good in the penal colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land during the early 1800s. The saga chronicles the two families’ trials and triumphs, joys and injustices, and the inner torment as their lives come full circle and old secrets are revealed. The epic begins with the love of a soldier in the New South Wales Corps for a high-spirited convict woman, but tragedy leads him to the arms of a beautiful native woman. From these unions arise generations of proud Australians who play their part in forging the Great Southern Land. The story of these courageous men and women, their dreams, their dynasty, and the heritage they share is as unique as the land from which they sprang. Southern Skyes brings Australia's history to life with compelling characters, rendering the Australian landscape in all its rugged magnificence. The Soldier’s Seed – Book 1 of Southern Skyes The Soldier’s Seed, the first book of the Southern Skyes family saga, is a novel that captures the wide range of relationships between colonial, convict, and indigenous families during the tumultuous events that defined the early penal colonies of Australia. Nicholas Thomas, a soldier in the New South Wales Corps, loathes his life in Sydney Town and through a series of events of his own making he finds himself running from his past to what could be an even worse fate. While pioneering a new settlement that encounters one problem after another, he struggles to find his true self and identify what he really wants from life . . . until he meets a woman a soldier shouldn't love. When tragedy strikes, he is forced to make choices that will affect his descendants for decades to come. The Soldier's Seed is a heart-rending adventure and an exciting introduction to Australian history and the epic Southern Skyes series. PLUS a Bonus Chapter! Take a sneak peek at Southern Skyes Book 2 – The Divergence

Operation Chaos


Himanshu Rasam - 2015
    A breathless chase to acquire a forgotten artefact. A game designed to take hostage an entire country. An experiment of total chaos by a mysterious psychopath. The Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, India: An anonymous phone call traced by the Indian Intelligence sets up a chain of disasters and the President suddenly gets pulled into a vicious whirlwind of murders and explosions. Within a few minutes of the President declaring a National level high alert, a mysterious tape is discovered in the Durbaar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The tape reveals a threat- a strange demand from a nameless psychopath. When the nation's elite task force- 'The Black Cats', finds out that a major terrorist operation is about to commence, the loose links begin to connect. But then hell breaks loose when suddenly the country's prototype Hypersonic cruise missile 'BrahMos-X' goes missing from the DRDO's top secret facility. It is the work of the same unidentified maniac. The fate of an entire country now rests on the fingers of that madman. But the President soon understands that they are not fighting against a normal enemy or a psychopath. They are up against a brilliant scientist, an eccentric psycho, a sly mastermind and a monster. He realises that it is no longer a battle of power. It is a battle of intellects and now it is his responsibility to thwart the psychopath's devious design. The Black Cats commander David D'costa along with his team and the Intelligence Bureau works on finding the mastermind and to unravel the mystery behind the unusual demands made by him. The search turns into a breathless chase from the monumental halls of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to the hidden locations in the heart of the nation’s capital, through the remains of Nalanda to the dark caves of Ajanta. Exploring the trail left by the Buddhist monks hundreds of years ago, breaking the codes and unlocking the keys, they find the unrevealed secrets of the inner guilds of the monks..... Where does the trail lead them? EXPERIENCE THE THRILL !!

Forging the Shilling Girl (The Hudson Sagas Book 1)


Emma Hardwick - 2020
    Young, widowed Clare Byrne, is escaping the famine in Ireland. On the coffin ship from Dublin, in the final hours of the journey to England, Clare goes into labour. Weakened and alone, the young, beleaguered mother gives birth near the quayside. Unable to look after the newborn, the child is bought for a single shilling by a curious gentleman, the industrialist Samuel Hudson. What will happen to the young girl? What plans does Mr Hudson have for her? Will the child thrive, or merely survive? Also by Emma Hardwick ----------------------------------- The Urchin of Walton Hall

Touching Distance


Rebecca Abrams - 2008
    After ten years’ training in the great medical schools of Europe, Alec Gordon has returned to Scotland to take up the post of physician in the Aberdeen Dispensary. Alec has ambitious plans for modernizing medical practice in the town, starting with the local midwives, whose ignorance and old-fashioned methods appal him.But Alec’s dreams of progress are thrown into disarray when a mysterious disease suddenly strikes the town, attacking and killing every newly delivered mother for miles around. Alec alone recognizes it as childbed fever, a disease more deadly than the plague, a condition that has baffled the greatest physicians of the age, an illness with no known cause and no known cure.Desperate to save his patients’ lives, Alec sets out on an astonishing medical quest to conquer the disease. But while Alec struggles to find solutions that lie far in the future, his wife Elizabeth is increasingly lost in the past, prey to terrifying memories of her childhood in Antigua. As she knows and he will learn, some diseases lie beyond the reach of reason.Based on a true story, Touching Distance is a stunning historical novel that brings to life a fascinating period in world history, exploring the tragic limitations of knowledge and the deep-seated tension between reason and passion in the Age of Enlightenment.

Spirals of Fate


Tim Holden - 2019
    This riveting story effortlessly captures both the hardships of daily life and the political realities of Tudor England. 1549 - A COUNTRY DIVIDED Two years after the death of King Henry VIII, England is a turbulent realm. His son, Edward, the child monarch is too young to rule, and the government is factious. The nobility jostle for personal power and prestige. The treasury is empty and the elite of wealthy landowners are bent on exploiting the poor. AN UNLIKELY LEADER When a yeoman farmer from Norfolk, Robert Kett, finds himself at the centre of a local dispute, his impulsive actions plunge him into a precarious alliance with the dissenting commoners. THE AFFRAY To prevail, Kett must bring order to the chaos, impose his own justice, overcome the deception and betrayal that surrounds him and stay true to his cause. As events spiral and disobedience sparks rebellion, can his leadership withstand the dangers and opportunities of a country struggling to leave its past and discover its future? BASED ON REAL EVENTS

Caledonia


William Kelso - 2013
    At the battle of Mons Graupius the Roman army led by Governor Agricola destroys the Caledonian confederation that has formed to oppose the Roman invasion.In the aftermath of the battle a Caledonian boy reveals a secret that has the potential to change Roman strategy in the north forever.Marcus, an auxiliary Roman cavalry soldier is ordered to investigate andpromptly disappears into the remote trackless wastes of the north.In Rome his estranged father and retired Legionary, Corbulo sets out to find his only son and bring him home. So starts an adventure that will take Corbulo to the remotest parts of Caledonia and plunge him into the low intensity conflict that is raging between the scattered Caledonian war bands and the Roman forts and garrisons of Agricola's occupying army. Corbulo will need all his wits, courage and experience to fend off hostile and proud Barbarian warriors, a gang of murderous mercenaries and the lure of a dazzling prize."

Way to Go


Alan Spence - 1998
    First US publication for the Scottish Spence.Neil McGraw is a lad in Glasgow, an only child, the son of a dour undertaker permanently embittered by his wife's death during childbirth. Whenever the boy misbehaves, he's locked in the basement among the coffins, so it's not surprising he asks every body: What happens when you die? Against his will, he finds himself learning the trade. This is less gloomy than it sounds. The story moves at a good clip as the resilient Neil experiments with drinking and dating.The crisis comes when his dad finds him and his girl making out in a coffin. Soon, it's Neil's turn to lock his old man, dead drunk, into the basement, before hightailing it to the London of the Swinging '60s. A friendly queer, Abe Morris, offers him a crash pad, no strings attached, where Neil finds drugs, straight sex, and Zen. The party ends when Abe, stoned, is killed in traffic and Spence abandons conventional narrative to send Neil hopscotching around the world before depositing him, 15 years later, beside the funeral pyres of the Ganges. Here, he gets very sick but is rescued by a vision in a sari: Lila, a Londoner, back home for her father's funeral. The two fall in love and marry, lickety-split, before Neil is summoned back to Glasgow. His father has died, leaving him the business, which Neil gives a hippie twist, producing brightly painted coffins in unusual shapes, with Lila a business partner.The mood is light and buoyant, but novelistic concerns (what makes Lila tick? why do the couple decide not to have kids?) are shelved in favor of a scrapbook of original last rites, seasoned with Eastern mysticism. There's an appealing freshness to Spence's writing; too bad he gives up on credible plotting and characterization.

Blood and Sand Trilogy Box Set


Jon Kiln - 2018
     The sacred city of Tir'an'fal has stood for centuries amid the arid desert plains. When invading soldiers breach its walls, its peaceful citizens are put to the sword. Vekal, as one of the city's few remaining warrior priests, is both feared and reviled for his otherworldly skills, even by those he helped. Only now, he may be their only hope. Contains all three books in the series: Crimson Spear Desert Forged Gate of Heaven

The Great Pagan Army


Vaughn Heppner - 2010
    They are the Great Pagan Army—the largest array of Vikings ever assembled into one host. No army or city can resist them; no one dares… until a crippled young count finds an old Roman book on tactics. With a handful of desperate knights, Count Odo fortifies the river fortress of Paris and awaits the savage host. Neither he nor the Vikings realize that this will be young Paris’s most brutal siege and of incredibly fateful importance. THE GREAT PAGAN ARMY is the recreation of a historical campaign of brutal savagery. It is a full novel, 113,000 words in length by bestselling author Vaughn Heppner.