Stranger at the Dower House


Mary Kingswood - 2020
    The tiny village of Great Maeswood offers her the peace and quiet her heart craves, and perhaps it might provide a little entertainment, too. But the house she has leased has been empty for a quarter of a century and who knows what secrets it holds?Laurence Gage is still mourning his beloved wife, while raising his two children, and at forty, declining gently into a rather dull middle age. Until, that is, the intriguing Mrs Middlehope arrives in the village and upends his placid life. She’s nothing at all like his perfect wife, but he’s oddly drawn to her anyway and to his surprise, she seems to like him too. Whoever would have thought it? But what exactly is she looking for? Friendship, marriage — or something else entirely?This is a complete story with a happy ever after. Book 1 of a 6 book series. A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom.

The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure


Carl Hoffman - 2018
    The other vanished forever into an endless jungle. Had he shed civilization—or lost his mind? Global headlines suspected murder. Lured by these mysteries, New York Times bestselling author Carl Hoffman journeyed to find the truth, discovering that nothing is as it seems in the world’s last Eden, where the lines between sinner and saint blur into one.In 1984, Swiss traveler Bruno Manser joined an expedition to the Mulu caves on Borneo, the planet’s third largest island. There he slipped into the forest interior to make contact with the Penan, an indigenous tribe of peace-loving nomads living among the Dayak people, the fabled “Headhunters of Borneo.” Bruno lived for years with the Penan, gaining acceptance as a member of the tribe. However, when commercial logging began devouring the Penan’s homeland, Bruno led the tribe against these outside forces, earning him status as an enemy of the state, but also worldwide fame as an environmental hero. He escaped captivity under gunfire twice, but the strain took a psychological toll. Then, in 2000, Bruno disappeared without a trace. Had he become a madman, a hermit, or a martyr?American Michael Palmieri is, in many ways, Bruno’s opposite. Evading the Vietnam War, the Californian wandered the world, finally settling in Bali in the 1970s. From there, he staged expeditions into the Bornean jungle to acquire astonishing art and artifacts from the Dayaks. He would become one of the world’s most successful tribal-art field collectors, supplying sacred works to prestigious museums and wealthy private collectors. And yet suspicion shadowed this self-styled buccaneer who made his living extracting the treasure of the Dayak: Was he preserving or exploiting native culture?As Carl Hoffman unravels the deepening riddle of Bruno’s disappearance and seeks answers to the questions surrounding both men, it becomes clear saint and sinner are not so easily defined and Michael and Bruno are, in a sense, two parts of one whole: each spent his life in pursuit of the sacred fire of indigenous people. The Last Wild Men of Borneo is the product of Hoffman’s extensive travels to the region, guided by Penan through jungle paths traveled by Bruno and by Palmieri himself up rivers to remote villages. Hoffman also draws on exclusive interviews with Manser’s family and colleagues, and rare access to his letters and journals. Here is a peerless adventure propelled by the entwined lives of two singular, enigmatic men whose stories reveal both the grandeur and the precarious fate of the wildest place on earth.

Alien Superstar


Henry Winkler - 2019
    The tourists just think he’s part of the show. It doesn’t take long for Buddy to land a role on a popular TV show, playing (of course) an alien. He becomes an overnight heartthrob and is suddenly faced with legions of adoring fans, rides in glamorous limos, and appearances at “all-the-shrimp-you-can-eat” red carpet parties. But can Buddy maintain his secret identity while in the spotlight?

The Byzantine World War


Nick Holmes - 2019
    But why did they happen?Their origins are revealed in a new light. As part of a medieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its centre was an ancient empire – Byzantium.Told for the first time as a single, linked narrative are three great events that changed history: the fall of Byzantium in the eleventh century, the epic campaign of the First Crusade and the origins of modern Turkey.Nick Holmes not only presents the First Crusade in a wider global context but he also puts forwards new interpretations of the original sources, suggesting that its success was in fact largely accidental, and that the central role of Byzantium in the Crusades has been underestimated.

The Eighth Excalibur (The Excalibur Knights Saga Book 1)


Luke Mitchell - 2019
     Nate Arturi isn't a knight in shining armor. He sure as hell isn't a king. And the last time someone called him heroic, it was because he fetched his neighbor's corgi off the roof. But when an ancient alien beacon awakens on Earth, sounding the call to enemies near and far, the Merlin is left with little choice. Any Knight in a Doomsday, or so the saying goes. Ambushed by a hulking alien brute and tricked into accepting a foul-mouthed sword from a homeless wizard, Nate suddenly finds his senior year at Penn State more than a little out of hand. But when an armada of butt-ugly troglodans and exotic gorgon killers starts raining from the sky, one thing becomes inescapably clear: Unless he mans up and gets that damned beacon off of his planet, everything he knows is about to be burned to a crisp. Can Nate master the Excalibur in time to stop the trogs? Buy The Eighth Excalibur to find your freakin’ destiny today!

The Travels of Sherlock Holmes (A Sherlock Mystery Book 1)


John Hall - 1999
     While mourning and memorialising Sherlock, the best and the wisest man he has ever known, Watson suffers an additional bereavement - the death of his wife. Alone in the world, Watson’s only choice is to move forwards with his life and also move out of London, a place where he knows the past will haunt him. While working in a convalescent hospital in Surrey, Watson meets a patient who claims to know the truth and can answer his painstaking questions. The patient, delirious with pain, says he witnessed Sherlock in Tibet, Persia and other exotic locations. Thus begins Watson's hunt for the truth which leads him from the darkest alleys of London all the way to the upper echelons of the British Empire. The Travels of Sherlock Holmes is the First of John Hall's Sherlockian pastiches and a brilliant addition to the Holmes and Watson casebooks. John Hall spent many years in the civil service before becoming a professional writer specialising in crime fiction. His book Death of a Collector won the Sherlock Magazine’s competition for the best new fictional detective. He is also the author of several other Sherlock mysteries.

Japanese Fairy Tales


Yei Theodora Ozaki - 1903
    Some are "Momotaro, "The Son of a Peach", "The Jellyfish and the Monkey", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", "The Bamboo Cutter and the Moon Child", "The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa."

The Grub-And-Stakers Move a Mountain


Alisa Craig - 1981
    Sergeant MacVicars polices close-knit Lobelia Falls, where every citizen is an archery addict. Aided by author Arethusa Monk, the crew find out who shish-kebobbed the Water Works man, run a campaign, plan a 25th anniversary party, and inhale unwholesome amounts of Fig Newtons.

The Time Traveler's Handbook: 19 Experiences from the Eruption of Vesuvius to Woodstock


Johnny Acton - 2015
    Forget museums and history books—The Time Traveler's Handbook gives you unprecedented access to a wide range of milestones, including Celebrations & Exhibitions; Moments That Made History; Cultural & Sporting Spectaculars; Epic Journeys and Voyages; and Extreme Events. Observe Mount Vesuvius erupt (and survive), see the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, boogie with the Beatles in Hamburg, accompany Marco Polo to Xanadu, attend the opening night of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, smell the cordite at the battle of Bull Run, and sit ringside at Foreman and Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa.Illustrated with color and black-and-white paintings and photographs of famous figures and locations, as well as detailed maps and illustrations to aid in your journey through time, The Time Traveler's Handbook is the ultimate guide to exploring history that unlocks the wonders of the past as never before.

Conquest of Granada


Washington Irving - 1829
    The story is based on the fragmentary remains of Fray Antonio Agapida's contemporary chronicles and other historical documents.

Helen of Pasadena


Lian Dolan - 2010
    She's a sharp and funny speaker who is much in demand.

The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire


Susan Ronald - 2007
    Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II, she employed a network of daring merchants, brazen adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her stalwart Privy Council to anchor her throne—and in doing so, planted the seedlings of an empire that would ultimately cover two-fifths of the world. In 'The Pirate Queen', historian Susan Ronald offers a fresh look at Elizabeth I, relying on a wealth of historical sources and thousands of the queen's personal letters to tell the thrilling story of a visionary monarch and the swashbuckling mariners who terrorized the seas to amass great wealth for themselves and the Crown.

The Racketty-Packetty House


Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1906
    When Tidy Castle arrives, brand-new and grand in every way, the Racketty-Packetty House has never looked shabbier, and it is shoved in the corner of Cynthia's nursery. But the Racketty family still dances, sings, and laughs louder than all the fancy dolls combined. When a real-life princess visits the nursery, the Rackettys learn that the humans are planning to destroy their house. Only a miracle -- or some very unusual magic -- can save them now! Since its publication in 1906, the story of how Queen Crosspatch and her band of fairies rescued the Racketty-Packetty House has inspired dreamers and readers of all ages in the tradition of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Now Wendy Anderson Halperin's illustrations, brimming with whimsy and wonder, unlock the magic of two dollhouses -- one posh and one proud -- to a whole new generation of readers.

Something Fishy


P.G. Wodehouse - 1957
    When Keggs was a butler he eavesdropped on a meeting between his employer, J.J. Bunyan, and a covey of tycoons--J.J. and his associates each agreed to put up fifty-thousand dollars, the total to go to whichever of their sons was the last to marry. Thirty years later, Keggs wants to cash in on what he knows.

Rome: The Emperor's Spy


M.C. Scott - 2009
    I, your Emperor, order it.'The Emperor: Nero, Emperor of Rome and all her provinces, feared by his subjects for his temper and cruelty, is in possession of an ancient document predicting that Rome will burn.The Spy: Sebastos Pantera, assassin and spy for the Roman Legions, is ordered to stop the impending cataclysm. He knows that if he does not, his life - and those of thousands of others - are in terrible danger.The Chariot Boy: Math, a young charioteer, is a pawn drawn into the deadly game between the Emperor and the Spy, where death stalks the drivers - on the track and off it.From the author of the bestselling Boudica series, The Emperor's Spy begins a compelling new series of novels featuring Sebastos Pantera. Rich characterisation and spine tingling adventure combine in a vividly realised novel set amid the bloodshed and the chaos, the heroism and murderous betrayal of ancient Rome.