One of them, in particular, stands out as the grubbiest, most ill-spoken child they have ever met, but with her warmth and friendliness, Gloria Mulligan soon wins a special place in Sally???s heart. Sally hasn???t been lucky enough to have children of her own and she sees in Gloria the daughter she???s always wished for. Meanwhile Gloria, who has been starved of genuine affection from her own large family, secretly wishes that she will never have to go home again. But life seldom works out as we would wish and when the horror of war begins to take its toll, Sally, Gloria and the entire Blackpool community must face the consequences???

    "The Lion and the Leopard" takes place during the Great 1914-18 War when German forces invaded Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. Martin Russell ("The Settler") and his step-daughter, Clare, travel to the war front, while the Spaight family (Alan, from "Lake of Slaves", and his son Drew, and daughters Mandy and Kirsty) are also drawn into the conflict. A young British officer falls in love with Mandy, but she finds her true love elsewhere. Kirsty's friend, a Britsh naval reservist, joins the gunboat flotilla on Lake Tanganyika. The Chilembwe Uprising in Nyasaland provides an unwelcome distraction early in the war. The loves and tragedies in the families unfold during the long and bitter campaign.

    Instead they live out of doors, only minimally protected from the elements, and must travel long and difficult distances each year to protect themselves against the vagaries of weather. As a consequence of the long treks each year these people fail to accumulate tools and treasurers to make their lives easier. Two young friends wish to change the migratory pattern of their people's lives by living through the winter which they call The Dark Times, instead of making the annual, long and hazardous journey southward.

    Ultimate mission. But can the SAS break in to a Colombian island prison and snatch an Argentine killer?1996: a terminally ill father desperately seeks answers to what happened to his son, missing for twenty years. He has the names of two Argentine men – one in Mexico City, the other imprisoned on the Colombian island of Providencia – but no one to ask the questions.A missing girl’s family have given her up for dead when they stumble upon a Miami newspaper story mentioning two of her friends. One has just died; the other, half-deranged, tells a garbled story of sexual slavery on a Caribbean island which sounds suspiciously like Providencia.MI6 and the British government are certain that a huge drug-trafficking empire is being run from the prison, and know that some of the profits are being funnelled by its Argentine ‘guest’ into financing a mercenary invasion of the Falklands. Ignored by the Colombian authorities and mysteriously obstructed by their American allies, the British have no choice but to send in their own elite force – the SAS.

    A wife and a new baby son, a successful acting career, a hit television show, and a beach house in Malibu. Things couldn't get any better ... but things could get worse. Now, back in his home town of Jensen Beach, Florida, everything he owns doesn't even fill the back of a small U-Haul truck. Just days after John's return home, the bodies of two female tourists are found in their hotel rooms. Join John and his childhood friend, Kurt Powell, as they piece together clues leading to the killer's identity.

    People living happy lives, some not-so-happy lives, people in love, hopeless romantics, people dealing with heartbreak, the ones who believe life is better with a bit of whimsy, this book, hopefully, has a little something that resonates with everybody, lets the reader find the silver lining when needed and discover the joie de vivre even when times are hard.

     Ari Thorgilsson builds a cargo ship, the Uxi, in a desperate attempt to save the family from poverty and ruin. Ari sails it out of his home in the fjords of Norway to the Orkney Islands and then into the Irish Sea, where a chance encounter makes an enemy of Ivar the Younger, a son of the Danish Viking Ivar the Boneless. While pursued by Ivar the Younger, a storm drives the ship onto the rocky coast of a hostile land, where the ship is wrecked he and the crew are captured by native Britons. Execution or enslavement seem to be their fate. But there is yet hope, for Artgal, king of the British kingdom of Alt Clut, is in need of warriors. He promises Ari a new ship if he and his companions garrison a fortress on the border with the Picts to the north, while he takes an army to fight the Angles in the east. Ari and his friends accept the offer, and plunge into a year of intrigue and battle in the depths of the land that one day will be known as Scotland, testing their mettle and their commitment to their honor. A Pictish invasion seems to spell the end of Ari’s dream of a new ship. And then a fleet of Danish Vikings sails into the River Clut to lay siege to Artgal’s fortress, thrusting that dream well beyond his grasp. Or does it?

    Out of desperation, she posts an ad and begins a correspondence with a widowed farmer, Thomas. Desperate to escape her grim situation, she accepts his marriage of convenience proposal, looking forward to a fresh start in Nebraska. As her heart fills with hope, she journeys to Nebraska, looking forward to a fresh start and new life. But when she arrives, it is not Thomas who meets her but his brother, Jay. And when Emma learns a terrible secret, she realizes that her life in Nebraska will be just as grim as it was in Chicago. Too late, she realizes that she has made the biggest mistake of her life; a mistake that will cost her dearly.

    Along with the floating grog shop and brothels come ‘war tourists’ – aristocratic gentlemen travelling to see the war first-hand.When Viscount Bullivant is taken prisoner by the Russians, it falls to Commander Kit Killigrew to negotiate his release. But the Russians suspect his lordship has vital information and before long Killigrew is a prisoner of the Third Section – the feared Tsarist secret police.In the ensuing forty-eight hours, Killigrew must escape, rescue Bullivant, steal back his yacht, sail through the treacherous Ekenäs Archipelago and take on a Russian ship with an unarmed schooner. And in Captain-Lieutenant Count Mikhail Yurievich Pechorin, he may finally have met his match… Praise for the Killigrew Novels ‘Leaves the reader breathless for his next voyage’ Northern Echo‘Action-packed and well-researched… in the vein of Forester and O’Brian but with its own distinctive flavour’ Good Book Guide‘A rollicking tale with plenty of punches’ Lancashire Evening Post‘A hero to rival any Horatio Hornblower. Swashbuckling? You bet’ Belfast Telegraph The Kit Killigrew Naval Series Killigrew of the Royal Navy Killigrew and the Golden Dragon Killigrew and the Incorrigibles Killigrew and the North-West Passage Killigrew’s Run Killigrew and the Sea Devil

    Many Southerners were losing everything they had, many more people than just those few who had held slaves. While most tried to stay and hang on to the decorum of Southern gentility, a few decided that rather then lose their family farms and businesses it would be better to build a new life elsewhere. This is the story of one such group, who determined that their future and the futures of their friends and families was to be found in Texas. Jed Simpson and his partner Roscoe Sartain are joined by families from both North and South, black and white, and on the advice of a fellow Confederate, they stop in Rusk. Finding an old, now vacant, plantation, they manage to buy it and start rebuilding it as a small ranch, The Chalice. All is going better than any of them expected, until Jed’s past comes calling. Aided by friends both new and old, blood flows freely as Jed tries to put that past behind him once and for all. But the toll it takes may be too much for him as he faces down the last of his tormentors.

    Award-winning author Rick DeStefanis introduces readers to the world of the 1970s through the eyes of Billy Coker, a nineteen-year old boy who realizes his blind obsession with the other sex has led to his tour of duty in Vietnam. With his carefree and innocent time at Raeford High still fresh in his memory, Coker attempts to make sense of the horrors of war, the guilt of surviving the violent conflict, and a future where no one seems to understand his terrible experience. Billy has escaped death in battle, but faces the futureless void of post-traumatic stress syndrome and a psychological impotence that plagues him at the worst possible times. His only hope for finding himself is to find someone special he lost along the way. From the jungles of Vietnam, Billy returns home as he embarks on another adventurous journey to find healing and reconnect with himself, his country, and a little fat girl from his past named Bonnie Jo.

    Along the way he learns the horrors of war, the evils of slavery, the plight of the slave, and the cost of freedom. By a twist of fate he becomes the pastor of a church of black slaves.

    

    

    Beauregard Kearny be all that he seems? Will he find it in his heart to forgive her when he finds out the whole truth she’s been hiding? Can Summer rise above her misfortune and find true love and happiness?Will they survive what Mother Nature has in store for them?So come on down and hang out with the folks at Laramie including intimidating US Marshal Beauregard Kearny with a menacing smile, happy Mary, and of course beautiful petite feisty Miss Summer Percy from Pennsylvania.… “a story of hope, fear, romance, suspense and true love.” Rayne's Meadow ~ Book #2 Meet Rayne, she ain’t getting any younger, and its slim Pick'ens for eligible men in her tiny Wisconsin town of Taylor falls. What is it that Wyatt Earp’s brother told Rayne that shakes her trust in her fiancé and their love before it even starts? Will she find it in her heart to get over the secret about him that she discovered? Will Mr. Joseph Hunter be all that he seems? Can she find true love and happiness in these Montana Meadows?Mother Nature can be cruel, will they be able to survive what is coming their way? June's Choice ~ Book #3 Meet June Dennings her husband died she’s running out of money there is no good local man left to marry. Her generosity and kindness has her meet a stranger named Belle one fateful afternoon.What is it that she has in here power that can save her fiance’s cattle ranch and their lives? Will she find it in her heart to forgive him when she finds out the whole truth? Can June rise above her misfortune and find true love and happiness?Will they survive what some no good for nothing cattle rustlers have in store for them?So come on down and hang out with the folks at Amarillo including the tall handsome cattle farmer Mr. Jarrod Bedford that scares the heck out of our pretty miss June, the faithful friend foreman Yancey Williams and Belle the attractive strong woman who holds the key to their lives.… “a story of hope, fear, romance, suspense and true love.” April's Dilemma ~ Book 4 Meet April at 23 years old if she doesn’t find a husband soon it will be too late and her native town of Ohio holds no hope for a husband.she had no choice….… waiting for her future husband to appear. Despite her appearance of bravado, her heart thundered, her palms grew clammy, and if knees really could knock, hers would certainly be doing so. For a second she felt a wave of uncertainty passed through her….