Concerned at the level of intimacy developing between Maren and the boy who helps her father with his farm work, the village priest takes it upon himself to remove her from school and bring her to one of the convent laundries, where he delivers her into the care of the nuns. Now, alongside many other "Magdalens" - named for Mary Magdalen - Maren must spend her days washing dirty linens, symbolically cleansing herself of her sins while repeating endless penance to a God that she soon comes to feel is no longer listening to her. Only the presence of Ceara, a young pregnant girl who befriends her inside the institution, gives Maren strength to continue through abuse, humiliation, beatings and near-starvation. Set in Ireland in 1961, The Magdalen Laundries is based on the true stories from one of the most shameful chapters in Ireland's history, and tells of the redemptive power of faith, friendship and forgiveness. NEW EDITION now includes pronunciation guide. Recent Reviews: If you began reading this book without seeing the cover or knowing what it was about, you would guess that you were reading a future dystopian fantasy about a horrific, oppressive torture prison. However, you are not reading fantasy, you are reading a novel based on a true story. It doesn’t take place in the future, instead the sad pitiful events took place in Ireland, and other English-speaking countries, including America, for over 100 years. “There is hope in Christ, not despair.” Author Odgaard’s story is set in 1961 at [a convent] near Dublin. Young and pretty, Maren grows up on her family farm, loved and cherished. Maren begins to awaken to feelings of love, when a hired farm hand catches her eye. Her innocent feelings lead her parish priest to commit her, without her family’s knowledge, to what were called the Magdalen Laundries. These laundries were ostensibly places for “fallen” girls and women to redeem themselves. But too many ended as victims of a system of torture and deprivation. At times slow-moving at the beginning, most of the book is compelling and engrossing. Maren and her best friend at the laundry are described with love and compassion by Author Odgaard. While not sugar-coating or endorsing the practices at the laundry, the author also extends this same understanding to the Catholic Church. The story features a heartfelt affirmation of the Gospel message. While, many elements of this book are difficult to read about, overall there is a message of hope. I am grateful to the Author for opening my eyes to the Laundries and the plights of the young girls. In the afterward of the book, the Author presents more information about the Laundries and encourages readers to research more on the internet. I did look up some information about the history. “She felt a joy in her heart and knew that her journey to find peace had ended here, In Glasvenin cemetery.” – Jena C. Henry, Readers Review Room

    Gripping, emotional and uplifting, the Trilogy is inspired by Catherine Cookson, her mother and grandmother.The Jarrow Lass: Brought up on her parents' smallholding in Jarrow in the harsh years of the 1870s, selling vegetables to poverty-struck Irish labourers such as the unruly McMullens, Rose dreams of the world beyond the grime of the town, a world she glimpsed at a fairytale wedding on the Ravensworth Estate as a child. Capturing the heart of handsome and respectable steelworker William Fawcett, it seems her wish for a better life is finally within reach. But tragedy strikes, and to save her young family from destitution, Rose must turn to wild John McMullen. The Jarrow Lass is the first novel in the Jarrow Trilogy and is inspired by Catherine Cookson's grandmother.A Child of Jarrow: To escape her possessive and drunken step-father, Kate is sent away from teaming Jarrow to work on the Ravensworth Estate. She is soon attracting the attention of charming, headstrong Alexander and dares to dream of a future with him. But when Kate discovers herself pregnant and alone she must return to face the wrath of her step-father. Yet she refuses to give up hope that one day Alexander might return to claim her and their love child. Poignant and compelling, A Child Of Jarrow is the second in the Jarrow Trilogy.Return to Jarrow: Rebellious Catherine (Kitty) McMullen, resentful of her mother’s new husband and yearning to escape impoverished Jarrow, determines to educate herself. Soon streetwise Kitty is a ghost of the past and the well-spoken, well-read Catherine leaves the north-east to follow her dreams. But this plucky and romantic heroine encounters hardship and heartbreak on the road to self-discovery. Return To Jarrow concludes the bestselling trilogy.

    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.

     When the German war machine rolled over the Netherlands in May 1940, Titia Wetselaar Bozuwa was an eight-year-old girl living in the southern city of Breda. She wrote about her family’s endurance of that five-year Occupation in her memoir, In the Shadow of the Cathedral. In Defiance, her first work of fiction, she pays tribute to the many who defied the German Occupation. Challenging the expectations of Dutch society, Anna Smits enrolls as a medical student at Utrecht University. But in a country occupied by Nazi Germany, student life is not what Anna expected. Social clubs are closed; Jews are forbidden from attending schools; and in 1943, students are ordered to sign a declaration of loyalty to the occupying German government. Anna and her seven closest friends—the Group of Eight—refuse to sign. Inspired by a sermon about the Good Samaritan—a sermon that got the minister thrown into prison—the Group of Eight vows to help the victims of Hitler’s brutal regime. They hide Jews and provide them with fake IDs; they keep desperately needed medicines out of the hands of the Nazis; they raise funds for orphaned Jewish children. But as the war drags on and the Nazis’ hold tightens, the Group of Eight shrinks. The few that remain defiantly resist the ever-onerous Occupying force. But how can they fight the lawlessness with which the Germans shoot first and don’t bother with questions? How can they fight the devastating Hunger Winter of 1945? Anna clings to her beliefs and mission, aided by her remarkable grandmother, Baroness van Haersolte, as the country waits for liberation. But will they all survive that long?

    But wait? Meriday, the slave girl “You want every slave to walk behind you and be a fart catcher. I could never be like that. Not ever.” – Hatred of slavery is the lifeblood that compels her. The story of her life’s journey from the plantation South to Chicago mesmerizes in its brutality and soothes by its exploration into the human spirit. The men she encounters along her odyssey: a field-hand slave forced to shed his Christian name and accept the one his masters give him in jest, a dwarf with a giant’s heart, a ship’s captain, and a black Union army sergeant; they are heroes of epic proportion.Santine – Fascinated by a photo of Meriday taken more than a hundred and fifty years before, she has an affiliation with it, but doesn’t understand why. She is comforted and frightened at the same time by her daily talks with the slave girl, now an angel, that she believes has taken her under wing. Accepting a challenge with an unbelievably large prize on the line, the Harvard bound high school senior from Chicago leads her all black inner-city chorus to Boston in competition against the elite Ivy League High Schools. By nobody’s reckoning were they ever supposed to be there, and by nobody’s reckoning could they ever compete for the win. And by her reckoning, there was never supposed to be a boy in in the faraway Massachusetts city.Grandma Brown – Meriday’s second great granddaughter and Santine’s eighty-year-old mentor who never saw a computer she didn’t love. Going to the chorus competition as a chaperone, she’s feisty and fearless as she steamrolls over obstacles. The Beantown prima donnas never saw her coming.This delightfully unusual story easily flows back and forth through history, from slave times to modern African American consciousness while touching on the spiritual theme of guardian angels and the protections they so lovingly provide. A powerful novel that touches all the emotional bells. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fist pump till your arm tires. This is coming of age, contemporary and historical fiction, a page turner for the teen, young adult, mother, father, or grandparent reader who just enjoys a whopping good tale.Scroll to the top of the page and select the 'buy button' now.

    Now, she must learn to survive.Forced to be both mother and father to her siblings after Ada’s mother turns to gin, and no longer able to scour the banks of the Thames as mudlarks, Ada turns to picking up cigarette butts from the filthy streets and repurposing the tobacco into a saleable item.Assisted by Elijah the son of a stonemason the Blair family manages to keep a roof over their heads, until their mother’s addiction spirals out of control and they find themselves out on the street.Desperate for safety, Ada takes a risk and is befriended by the well to do Mr Beauregard. But not all things are as they seem and soon Ada is torn from her family and thrown into a world of corruption she could not have imagined.When a chance meeting with Elijah reveals the truth, Ada’s life is at a crossroadsCan Ada leave behind the new life she now finds herself in? Will Elijah ever forgive her for what she has become? Or should Ada let the past remain behind and leave her family in peace.Nell Harte writes sweet and clean Historical Romance.

    But the young man is reminded of his father’s counsel that “Whenever a task falls to you, don’t question the why of it, just get busy with the doin’ of it!” Now he must set aside his new job as Shotgun for the Overland Stage and gear up for the pursuit of a band of warrior renegades. A tall task for an unproven young man, but when none of the pilgrims believe in the cause, and the settlers of nearby LaPorte refuse to leave their homes unguarded, Talon realizes he must face this challenge alone. His commitment and determination lead to the making of a man and a bloody chase through the foothills of Colorado and the plains of the new territory. Along the way, he makes a bitter enemy of the Cheyenne war leader, Two Bears, who is determined to seek vengeance on this unknown white man and prove to his people that he is the chosen leader of the notorious Dog soldiers. But Talon is undaunted and even eager to show the renegade that this white man is more than his match. Follow the trail that takes a young man from the Cache La Poudre through intimidating country and back to the Overland Trail as he proves his worth as he rises to the challenge and the making of a man.

     The Napoleonic wars are brought to life with grit and gunpowder in this trilogy of hugely popular novels: Strike the Red Flag, The Normandy Privateer and Dead Man's Island. With a clear knowledge of the period, McDine skillfully uses actual events in the Royal Navy’s history as the backdrop to Anson's swashbuckling adventures. For fans of Hornblower, Bolitho, Ramage or Aubrey, Oliver Anson will be your next naval hero. David McDine, OBE, is a former Admiralty information officer, Royal Navy Reserve officer and Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, and the author of Unconquered: The Story of Kent and its Lieutenancy.

    He abandons roots that are his foundational strength and hides behind his charm, living every moment as if life’s daring him to fail―again. He’s reckoning with his father’s God who could have delivered better outcomes but didn’t.This first installment in an epic trilogy that begins in the 1920’s, unique in its purposeful illumination of the human condition and its ideological indifference to God, asks the question: “Why was God silent when I needed him?” Simon’s return to the notion of forgiveness is the catalyst for a new beginning as it reunites Simon to the place he once thought was the impossible dream. The answer for Simon isn’t blowing in the backwinds of his dream chase; rather, it unfolds in the outstretched hand of a villain.

    When the magic tree house whisks them back to India over four hundred years ago, they discover an amazing and exotic world filled with great danger. Dogs in the Dead of NightJack and Annie must find a rare flower to save one of their best friends! So when the magic tree house whisks them back in time to the Swiss Alps, they’re confused. How can they find a flower buried under ice and snow? Jack thinks their mission is hopeless!  Abe Lincoln at Last!When the magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie back to Washington, D.C., in 1861, Jack can’t wait to meet Abraham Lincoln himself! But the new president is too busy to see them, as he is desperately trying to save a nation in crisis.When Jack and Annie ask for some magical help, they go back even further in time to a mysterious woods.  A Perfect Time for PandasJack and Annie are off to a village in the mountains of southeast China, close to a world-famous panda reserve. Will it be their easiest adventure yet? Not a chance! Jack and Annie don’t know it, but they’ve arrived on the day of a historic earthquake!

    Decades before Crockett, Bowie or Houston even set foot in Texas, Frederick Stockman was already there. Author Elizabeth Schwartz, a ninth-generation Texan, has delved deep into her ancestral roots to create this moving story of the Frederick Stockman familys' courageous determination to make Texas their home during the turbulent period between 1806 and 1836. The Texicans was inspired by a Texas history book calling her ancestral clan a "congenial society for evil"--rogues "skilled in many forms of villainy" for their role in the tumultuous years of first Spanish, the Mexican rule. Frederick Stockman and his family immigrate to Spanish Texas in 1806 to ranch, but soon find themselves inexorably drawn into the bitter conflict between Mexico and Spain. They join forces with a dashing young Spanish deserter, Miguel Gonzales, in his successful campaign to liberate Mexico and Texas from Spanish rule. Their ties are further cemented when Gonzales marries into the family. As Heroes of Mexico, the Texicans--staunch supporters of Mexican rule for Texas--find themselves vilified by North American settlers illegally flocking across the unprotected border. These newcomers, calling themselves Texians, view Mexico, Mexicans and Texicans as the enemy. Targets of bigotry, the Texicans themselves are torn along cultural lines as their hero-turned-despot, General Santa Anna, propels them towards a deadly showdown.

    

    Dylan Ryan arrives in Texas just as the Runaway Scrape is in full swing and the Battle at San Jacinto nears. He misses going to war when he comes to the aid of Mort Lems, severely wounded by outlaws who seek information on the location of an old trail used by the Spaniards to transport gold bullion from Texas to New Orleans. It is said gold bars are still buried along that trail. Dylan and Mort escape to the prairie of North Texas and the safety of the Red River Wilderness. But instead of having the land to themselves, they discover peaceful settlements springing up around trading posts all along the river. Peace is fleeting, as Indians grow angry at the homesteaders breaking the soil with their plows on land that was promised to them for hunting grounds. The newly organized Republic of Texas is unable to provide the settlements protection, so it is the trading post owners who hire gunmen to act as ranger forces to repel the hostiles. A new war has begun, this time with an unpredictable enemy. Dylan, Mort and the settlers watch their dreams for a new beginning end as clouds of dark smoke rise into the clear blue sky as homesteads burn. Indians begin to raid every community, burning, stealing horses and taking women and children as slaves. Overnight the promise of a better life in Texas has been replaced with one of a living hell. Blood Trail is the first in a series.

    First it took his mother, then his father, and now it threatens to end his own life as well. Merciless killer Kip Lane found Brett and his sweetheart, Allie, while they were out for an afternoon ride. Now Allie is missing and Brett lies at the bottom of a deep hole carrying three bullet holes. He’s got to escape and then rescue Allie from Kip’s clutches, but first he’s got to survive the cold lonesome night. Kip Lane isn’t Brett’s only concern though. There’s another man lurking behind the dashing outlaw. A dangerous man with money, powerful friends, and more than one gunfighter on his payroll. He aims to be the territory’s biggest rancher and Brett’s ranch is the key. Brett has a few allies he can count on. Gideon Sweeney and his daughter Lisa at the local Mormon settlement along with Red Elk, an old Crow medicine man, and Mourning Song, a beautiful Cheyenne woman with her own tragic history. Will it be enough to take back Brett’s heritage or will young Rawlins find his end beneath the guns of his enemies? Either way there will be Blood on the Bighorns.

    Friend or FoeCan a wimpy rodent cope with the scary bullies at school? Will he be able to stop the bullies from terrorizing him and his friends, and make it back in one piece? Is Rodent really different from us? You'll be surprised at what you discover. So, jump into this adventure and find out!. Get your Copy for FREE with Kindle Unlimited!