With understanding and sensitivity, Shtetl limns the culture that influenced Christian villagers' decisions to conceal or betray Jewish neighbors when the Nazis invaded. A New York Times Notable Book.

    Collection of the following titles: A Bag of Gold Coin, Choice of Friends, How Friends are Parted, Tiger and the Woodpecker, Friends and Foes

    But Alicia never forgets the painting and what it represents, and after the war, she resolves to find the artist and recover what is hers.

    Elizabeth has always suspected her mother harbours a secret from her time as a young woman in Nazi Germany. But her mother, suffering from dementia, is lost to her now.When Elizabeth stumbles across a Nazi certificate amongst her parent’s paperwork, it forces her to question the very foundations of her 1950s childhood and her first love; a childhood, she now realises, was built on lies.Elizabeth’s quest to find the truth leads her to Germany where she’s met with a wall of silence. She knows that beyond this wall, is the truth, a truth that exists deep within the dark and twisted soul of Hitler’s Germany.Germany, 1944. 18-year-old Hannah, beautiful and naive, volunteers to work in a home for evacuated children. But Doctor Heinkel, a loyal Nazi, decrees that there’s a better way for Hannah to serve the Fatherland.Drawn further into the doctor’s distorted world, Hannah only realises what’s expected of her when it’s too late. Confronted with evil, Hannah makes an impossible choice, a choice that will reverberate down the generations…Part of The Love and War Series, novels set during the 20th century's darkest years.20th Century Historical fiction with heart and drama.

     In the depth of winter, Helen Lloyd spent three months cycling solo across one of the most remote, coldest inhabited regions of the planet - Siberia. In temperatures down to -50°C, she battled against the cold, overcoming her fear of wolves and falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Alone in a hibernating land with little to stimulate the senses, the biggest challenges were with her mind as she struggled with the solitude. With flashes of humour and riveting, graphic descriptions that will have you living each moment with her, Helen Lloyd describes the fear, uncertainty and joy of riding through a frozen, icy world. Yet, A Siberian Winter’s Tale is a touching story full of warm-hearted moments that are gifted to Helen by strangers along the Road of Bones.

    Another guards her secrets in order to stay sane. When Julia Rosenthal returns to England and visits her suburban childhood home, the memories and unspoken tensions of family life come flooding back. Looking for clues and determined to find some answers, she tries to make sense of her odd childhood and understand why her free-spirited brother has a much easier relationship with her teenage daughter. In a different place and time, Julia’s mother struggles to tell her own story, gradually revealing the secrets of her early years in wartime Germany—secrets she has carried through the century—until past and present collide with unexpected and haunting results. This gripping and beautifully crafted post-Holocaust novel unravels the impact of a war that resonates across generations and interweaves universal themes—the nature of identity, the meaning of family, and the emotional legacy of the past.

    Being caught up in war is not what Ana Mellor expects when she lands in Malta to join her Wing-Commander father. In the midst of horror and destruction, the courage and resilience of the Maltese people is revealed as they struggle to survive. Ana falls in love but treachery intervenes with catastrophic consequences. Meanwhile, disillusioned with Ireland's fight for political independence, Ernie McGuill leaves home to join the British Army. Due to the outbreak of war he trains as a fighter pilot and is posted to Malta.It is against this background that the characters of Ana, Ernie and many others are interwoven in a story of betrayal and intrigue. This is not unravelled until generations later when two women make a journey to Malta - a journey that is to have astonishing consequences.

    It was 53 years since the day she'd been forced to flee. In part, this is the remarkable story of what she found, the account of a woman coming face-to-face with her own past. But it is also the reconstruction of a world which vanished in 1939 when Soviet tanks rolled into eastern Poland.

    In an epic journey, he navigates some of the Earth’s toughest terrain, first travelling through the glittering landscape of Scandinavia, then on to the isolated islands of Iceland and Greenland, as far as the infamously treacherous Northwest Passage. His final frontier is Canada and Alaska, where his journey ends on the international dateline between the USA and Russia. His travels will form a major three-part series for ITV in autumn 2015.It’s a voyage that takes Alexander half way around the planet, experiencing many of its natural wonders and living alongside some of its more extraordinary people. Getting stuck in wherever he goes, he learns from the Marines how to survive wildly unpredictable weather and temperatures as low as minus 40°C, drives along a hair-raising 800-mile road that's a river in summer and takes a plunge in freezing Arctic waters. And that’s all before wrestling Viking-style with a sporting legend called Eva as part of a traditional Icelandic winter festival.Combining adventure and humour, Land of the Midnight Sun is an entertaining travelogue that takes readers on an exhilarating journey to this rarely seen corner of the world. It is an exploration of man's relationship with the harshest climates, set against the stunning backdrop of the Arctic landscape.

    Would you pay someone to bear your sorrow? Lady Celeste is overwhelmed with grief when her infant son dies. Desperate to find relief, she begs a passing peddler to buy her sorrow. Jean, the cynical peddler she meets, is nobody’s fool; he does not believe in superstitions and insists Celeste include the valuable ruby ring on her finger along with the nail in return for his coin. Jean and Celeste both find themselves changed by their transaction in ways neither of them anticipated. Jean finds that bearing another’s sorrow opens him to strange fits of compassion, a trait he can ill afford. Meanwhile Celeste learns that without her wedding ring her husband may set her aside, leaving her ruined. She determines to retrieve it before he finds out—without reclaiming her sorrow. But how will she find the peddler and convince him to give up the precious ruby ring?If you like realistic medieval fiction with evocative prose, compelling characters and a unique story, you’ll love this incredible, introspective journey into the south of France in the 12th Century, based on an actual medieval belief. Winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award for Historical Fiction."J. A. McLachlan is a terrific writer -- wry and witty, with a keen eye for detail.” ~ author Robert J. Sawyer"Strong, character-driven fiction -- McLachlan makes you both care and think. You can't ask for more.” ~ author Tanya Huff

    In it, the hero of the story learns that it is better to be honest than to cheat, and that honesty will bring real rewards.

    Even when it wasn't raining, it was about to rain, or had just rained. It's a very angry sky.” – Colin Hay Scotland is a fascinating and ancient land filled with history. It has produced explorers, warriors, inventors, writers, and more than a few murderers. For many centuries, it fought bitter wars against England to maintain its independence, and even when those wars were finally lost, Scotland retained its distinct culture and identity. Though a part of the United Kingdom, it would be a mistake to lump it in with England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as Scotland has its own tales to tell and traditions to maintain. Not everything in Scotland is as it appears, however. Some Scots say this is a land haunted by spirits, a place of strange disappearances and unexplained phenomena. There is no shortage when it comes to the strange stories Scotland has to offer, and the legends and lore have compelled many to dig a little deeper and even explore this wonderful land for themselves. Some of those tales are downright grisly. Scotland has always been a rival to its southern neighbor, and the rivalry extends to the number of hauntings in its medieval castles, stately homes, and old cobblestone streets. While many Englishmen claim that their country is the most haunted, the Scots can point to their own stories of ghosts as evidence they may beat the English in this dubious distinction. The Ghosts of Scotland: A Collection of Ghost Stories across the Scottish Nation is a collection of such tales, just a few among the thousands of local legends and modern sightings that make Scotland one of the most haunted countries in the world. It is part of a collection of other books written by Sean McLachlan, including The Ghosts of England: A Collection of Ghost Stories across the English Nation and The Ghosts of Ireland: A Collection of Ghost Stories across the Emerald Isle. For other strange occurrences in Scotland, ranging from Nessie to jelly falling from the sky, check out another title in the series, Weird Scotland: Monsters, Mysteries, and Magic Across the Scottish Nation. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the ghosts of Scotland like never before.

    Twenty-five thousand feet above Malta--that is where the Spitfires intercepted the Messerschmitts, Macchis, and Reggianes as they swept eastward in their droves, screening the big Junkers with their bomb loads as they pummeled the island beneath: the most bombed patch of ground in the world. One of those Spitfire pilots was George Beurling, nicknamed "Screwball," who in fourteen flying days destroyed twenty-seven German and Italian aircraft and damaged many more. Hailing from Canada, Beurling finally made it to Malta in the summer of 1942 after hard training and combat across the Channel. Malta Spitfire tells his story and that of the gallant Spitfire squadron, 249, which day after day ascended to the "top of the hill" to meet the enemy against overwhelming odds. With this memoir, readers experience the sensation of being in the cockpit with him, climbing to meet the planes driving in from Sicily, diving down through the fighter screen at the bombers, dodging the bullets coming out of the sun, or whipping up under the belly of an Me for a deflection shot at the engine. This is war without sentiment or romance, told in terms of human courage, skill, and heroism--a classic of WWII military aviation.

    Gold! For as long as the castle had stood, alchemists had struggled to make gold from the simple elements of the earth. And for as long as the castle stood they had failed. Then comes the greedy, ambitious Spinifex, who promises the king riches and glory beyond his wildest dreams. Arthur, the alchemist's young apprentice, cannot see the point - after all gold cannot make you happy, heal the sick, or make people love you - and he watches in amazement as the experiments grow more elaborate and fantastic. As time ticks on Spinifex becomes a man obsessed, plundering the country for more gold to aid his experiments, even tearing the rings from people's fingers. Then, as the Millennium approaches, Spinifex constructs his last great experiment - a monstrous machine stretching up from the cellar through the castle to the roof. But the great gold-making machine only suceeds in destroying its creator, leaving just one tiny nugget of gold. However, gold of another kind floods the castle - glorious sunlight rains down on the kingdom, dispelling darkness and gloom forever. As for Arthur, he takes the tiny nugget and fashions a sunflower pendant for the king. One day the king loses it while out swimming, but he doesn't even notice, it is forgotten.

    To find the answer to their question, the Super Readers fly into the classic story Twas the Night Before Christmas?. While in the story, the Super Readers meet Santa and discover that he visits all the children because it makes both him and them happy.