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Parnell: A Novel by Brian J. Cregan
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Monday's Child
Linda Finlay - 2016
But when she was summoned to help out at Red Cliffs - a haven for poverty-stricken children from the cities - by her godfather Samuel she also found her own second chance within its walls. Now she will do anything to help the mischievous, loveable children there. Especially Monday whose continued silence tears at her heart.But with Samuel's health failing and his grasping nephew Christian eager to inherit, Red Cliffs is under threat. Sarah needs to fight - the children need her, and surprisingly she find she needs them. Will she be able to save the school and protect the little girl she's come to love so much, the one she's named Monday's Child?Monday's Child is the first in the Red Cliff Ragged School series, soon to be followed by Orphans and Angels.
Praise for Linda Finlay
'Warm and atmospheric, you can practically taste the sea breeze' The Express'Take time out for a page-turner about family mysteries and betrayal' Take-a-Break'A compelling saga . . . with a surprising and emotional ending which weaves together the storylines in a most satisfying way. Strongly recommended and a great read on a Cornish holiday' cjbrownecrimewriter.com'A captivating and emotional novel about a strong woman struggling to find her own way in the world when others wish to see her fail' Winstone Books
Letters from a Patchwork Quilt
Clare Flynn - 2015
Just as the ship is ready to sail Jack is arrested and dragged from the ship, leaving Eliza alone en route to New York with just a few shillings in her pocket." A story of love, loss and tragedy; a heartbreaking and moving tale". Readers’ Favorite.
The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Joel F. Harrington - 2013
But what makes Schmidt even more compelling to us is his day job. For forty-five years, Schmidt was an efficient and prolific public executioner, employed by the state to extract confessions and put convicted criminals to death. In his years of service, he executed 361 people and tortured, flogged, or disfigured hundreds more. Is it possible that a man who practiced such cruelty could also be insightful, compassionate, humane—even progressive? In his groundbreaking book, the historian Joel F. Harrington looks for the answer in Schmidt’s journal, whose immense significance has been ignored until now. Harrington uncovers details of Schmidt’s medical practice, his marriage to a woman ten years older than him, his efforts at penal reform, his almost touching obsession with social status, and most of all his conflicted relationship with his own craft and the growing sense that it could not be squared with his faith. A biography of an ordinary man struggling for his soul, The Faithful Executioner is also an unparalleled portrait of Europe on the cusp of modernity, yet riven by conflict and encumbered by paranoia, superstition, and abuses of power. In his intimate portrait of a Nuremberg executioner, Harrington also sheds light on our own fraught historical moment.
The Thief and the Noble
Dana LeCheminant - 2022
She is young, beautiful, and wealthy—but catching an eligible husband is the last thing on her mind. Marian is disillusioned with how the upper class lives while the poor of London suffer, and she is determined to right this imbalance. When she comes face-to-face with a mysterious man who steals from arrogant aristocrats and redistributes the spoils to the poor, Marian recognizes a motivation that mirrors her own. She is determined to discover the true identity of the unscrupulous hero and offer her assistance. When she unmasks the bandit Robin, he begrudgingly agrees to train the lovely Marian in the art of thievery in exchange for her silence, quickly realizing that his heart may be stolen next. But when they discover a copycat thief operating in London, they are faced with a foe whose purpose is far from noble. Amid distracting suitors, becoming a champion of the poor, and a growing attraction Marian can’t ignore, can she and Robin expose the renegade pilferer without risking themselves.
Making Faces
Amy Harmon - 2013
He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have . . . until he wasn't beautiful anymore. Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.
In the Shadow of the White House: A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years, 1968-1978
Jo Haldeman - 2017
While her husband, Bob, built his career in advertising, Jo comfortably settled into her role as mother of four, housewife, and community volunteer.In 1968, Jo’s world changed dramatically. Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States, and Bob was offered the job of a lifetime—White House Chief of Staff. As Jo and Bob discussed the opportunities and challenges that this move would entail, little did she anticipate the course that her life, and her relationship with Bob, would take over the next ten years.In this insightful, poignant, and guileless memoir of those ten years, Jo shares her story as the wife of H. R. Haldeman, often referred to as the second most powerful person in the White House. She offers a window into the world of trips on Air Force One, weekends at Camp David, and events at the White House, as well as family vignettes and the growing stresses of her husband’s demanding job.Then a bungled burglary at the Watergate erupted into a national scandal. The news began to feature the Haldeman name. Blaring headlines and vicious political cartoons accompanied new revelations of a cover-up. Multiple investigations and Senate hearings followed. Criminal proceedings loomed.Jo’s compelling account takes the reader on her journey from the heady heights of Washington life through an excruciating public resignation and trial to her husband’s conviction and imprisonment. In a true period piece, Jo illuminates the story of the “woman behind the man” and personalizes the Watergate experience. Enhanced by her personal photographs and the immediacy of her present tense delivery, In the Shadow of the White House is a fascinating work of nonfiction that reads like a novel.
Fluke: A Novel
Martin Blinder - 1998
In America, anybody can become president. In 1920, anybody did. Harding was a strikingly handsome man, a high school graduate of impenetrable ignorance whose only two qualifications for the presidency were that he looked and sounded presidential--provided you didn't look or listen too closely. Ohio's "favorite son" at the nominating convention, he recognized his deficiencies, did not want such high office, and never expected to be nominated, no less elected. But his destiny was to become the first packaged candidate, elected largely on the strength of a carefully crafted image. Thus began 12 years of Republican rule that fostered unbridled capitalism and willful isolation, leading to the Great Depression and the rise of European dictatorships, which set the stage for World War II. Greatly complicating things was the relationship between Harding and Nan, who shared a deeper intimacy and hotter sex than anything enjoyed by more contemporary White House occupants. But woven around and through their furtive couplings is the tapestry of corruption and scandal generated by a half-dozen uniquely odious presidential cronies. But this tale is not unremittingly bleak. After having been content all of his life to just slide by, Harding reinvented himself in his last year, proving that nobility can triumph over selfishness, that listening to your heart may be more reliable than listening to your head, and that love which is pure can transcend death itself.
Even If I Fall
Abigail Johnson - 2019
Brooke and her family became social pariahs, broken and unable to console one another. Brooke’s only solace remains the ice-skating rink, where she works but no longer lets herself dream about a future skating professionally.When Brooke encounters Calvin’s younger brother, Heath, on the side of the road and offers him a ride, everything changes. She needs someone to talk to…and so does Heath. No one else understands what it’s like. Her brother, alive but gone; his brother, dead but everywhere. Soon, they’re meeting in secret, despite knowing that both families would be horrified if they found out. In the place of his anger and her guilt, something frighteningly tender begins to develop, drawing them ever closer together.But when a new secret comes out about the murder, Brooke has to choose whose pain she’s willing to live with—her family’s or Heath’s. Because she can’t heal one without hurting the other.
A Time for Us
Josephine Cox - 1996
The only daughter of local grocers, Sally and Mike Nolan, she's grown up in a home of total love and security. The one thing her heart desires is that Jack Hanson might ask her to marry him, and when he does eventually propose, Lucy is prepared to give up everything to be with him - even though it means leaving her beloved parents to live abroad where Jack has been offered an exciting business opportunity.But then, almost on the eve of the marriage itself, tragedy strikes. And for the first time in her life, Lucy is forced to realise that Fate, which has been so kind to her, can also be just as cruel.
The Last Lynching: How a Gruesome Mass Murder Rocked a Small Georgia Town
Anthony S. Pitch - 2016
During incidents of racist violence, lynchers tortured their victims before murdering them. Most killers were never brought to justice.In 1946, the bodies of two men and two women were found near Moore’s Ford Bridge in rural Monroe, Georgia. Their killers were never identified. And although the crime reverberated through the troubled community, the corrupt courts, and eventually the whole world, many details remained unexplored—until now.In The Last Lynching, Anthony S. Pitch reveals the true story behind the last mass lynching in America in unprecedented detail. Drawing on some ten thousand previously classified documents from the FBI and National Archives, The Last Lynching paints an unflinching picture of the lives of the victims, suspects, and eyewitnesses, and describes the political, judicial, and socioeconomic conditions that stood in the way of justice. Along the way, The Last Lynching sheds light into a dark corner of American history, which no one can afford to ignore.
The Woman in the Green Dress
Tea Cooper - 2018
But when word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a sizable family fortune. Refusing to accept the inheritance, she heads to his beloved home country of Australia in search of the relatives who deserve it more.In spite of her reluctance, she soon finds herself the sole owner of a remote farm and a dilapidated curio shop full of long-forgotten artifacts, remarkable preserved creatures, and a mystery that began more than sixty-five years ago. With the help of Kip, a repatriated soldier dealing with the sobering aftereffects of war, Fleur finds herself unable to resist pulling on the threads of the past. What she finds is a shocking story surrounding an opal and a woman in a green dress. . . a story that, nevertheless, offers hope and healing for the future.This romantic mystery from award-winning Australian novelist Tea Cooper will keep readers guessing until the astonishing conclusion.Praise for
The Woman in the Green Dress
:“Refreshing and unique, The Woman in the Green Dress sweeps you across the wild lands of Australia in a thrilling whirl of mystery, romance, and danger. This magical tale weaves together two storylines with a heart-pounding finish that is drop-dead gorgeous.” —J’nell Ciesielski, author of The SocialiteA USA TODAY bestsellerFull-length historical fiction with both mystery and romance Stand-alone novelIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
Undocumented: A Worker's Fight
Duncan Tonatiuh - 2018
Every day, these men and women join the work force and contribute positively to society. The story is told via the ancient Mixtec codex—accordion fold—format. Juan grew up in Mexico working in the fields to help provide for his family. Struggling for money, Juan crosses over into the United States and becomes an undocumented worker, living in a poor neighborhood, working hard to survive. Though he is able to get a job as a busboy at a restaurant, he is severely undercompensated—he receives less than half of the minimum wage! Risking his boss reporting him to the authorities for not having proper resident papers, Juan risks everything and stands up for himself and the rest of the community.
The Education of Nevada Duncan: A Family Business Novel
Carl Weber - 2021
N. Phillips for this fresh, enthralling spin-off to the Family Business series as the heir to a crime family finds himself targeted by an enemy and he'll need more than his family by blood to save him...Nevada Duncan is the heir to the Duncan and Zuniga crime family fortunes, but before he can take the mantle of power, he has to be educated about the family business. So, with the encouragement of his father and grandfather, he enrolls in his father's alma mater, Chi's Finishing School. Chi's is the world's most elite school for the children of underworld figures.On Nevada's first day of school, he hooks up with a group of misfit freshmen from around the world who quickly become his new best friends. However, Nevada is unaware of the deadly adventure that awaits him with a sinister new enemy lurking in the shadows. Montez wants what Nevada has, and he will do anything to get it.Accustomed to relying on his family and his superior intelligence, Nevada Duncan will soon learn the importance of friendship when the threats are aimed directly at him and he's the only Duncan around.
The Traitor and the Thief
Gareth Ward - 2017
Caught by the enigmatic Eldritch Moons, Sin is offered a way out of his life of crime: join the Covert Operations Group (COG) and train to become a spy. At Lenheim Palace, Sin learns spy craft while trying not to break the school’s Cast-Iron Rules. Befriended by eccentric Zonda Chubb, together they endeavour to unmask a traitor causing havoc within the palace. After an assassination attempt on the founder of COG, Sin realises that someone closest to him could be the traitor. With no other option, Sin is forced into an uneasy alliance with the school bully, Velvet Von Darque.But can he trust her? And will COG try to bury him with the secrets he discovers? Secrets, spies and steampunk gadgets abound in this fantastic adventure story!
Hometown Lover
Annabelle Love - 2019
So, how did I end up in my best friend's bed?
Well, he did rescue me from my broken down car. Plus, he’s grown into a complete hunk of a man and is hardly the beanstalk that I recall growing up with. It just... happened. I mean, if you call being trapped inside due to a snowstorm and then finding yourself being ravished in bed 'just happening'. A fling… that’s what we agreed. We know this can’t last, I’m only back in my hometown for a couple of weeks. My life is in Vegas with the job I love. And his is here with his ranch. We physically can't be together… So, why don’t I want to leave? ***Hometown Lover is a stand-alone read with toe-curling romantic scenes. There's no cheating, no cliffhangers, no escaping the steamy nights (and days), and a guaranteed HEA***