Book picks similar to
The Fragile Hour by Rosalind Laker
historical-fiction
historical
romance
fiction
Willow Pond
Carol Tibaldi - 2011
Now that the world is falling apart, bootlegging is a flourishing business, and she's queen of that castle. Then her infant nephew is kidnapped. Her niece, Laura, and Laura's philandering movie star husband, are devastated. The police have few leads, and speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the celebrity abduction. Only one reporter, Erich Muller, seems to care enough about the child's welfare and the parents' feelings to report the case responsibly. Over the course of the investigation, Erich Muller and Laura fall in love, but their relationship is doomed to failure since he suspects her beloved aunt Virginia is behind the kidnapping. Laura, jaded when it comes to men, sides with Virginia.But Virginia has figured out the truth, and she can't tell anyone for fear of losing her niece's affections and having the police ransack her life. So she pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another during her search.Little Todd's absence shapes everyone's lives. When he is finally found, the discovery will bring disaster for some and revelation for others.
The Dutch Wife
Ellen Keith - 2018
As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labour camp or—for a chance at survival—to join the camp brothel.On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl Müller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. But faced with a brutal routine of overseeing executions and punishments, he longs for an escape. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever.Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave. From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances.
The DI Skelgill Series Books 5-7: compelling British crime mysteries
Bruce Beckham - 2020
This Magnificent Dappled Sea
David Biro - 2020
His only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. After an exhaustive search, a match turns up three thousand miles away in the form of a most unlikely donor: Joseph Neiman, a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, who is suffering from a debilitating crisis of faith. As Luca’s young nurse, Nina Vocelli, risks her career and races against time to help save the spirited redheaded boy, she uncovers terrible secrets from World War II—secrets that reveal how a Catholic child could have Jewish genes.Can inheritance be transcended by accidents of love? That is the question at the heart of This Magnificent Dappled Sea, a novel that challenges the idea of identity and celebrates the ties that bind us together.
The Venice Sketchbook
Rhys Bowen - 2021
Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than sixty years.It’s 1938 when art teacher Juliet Browning arrives in romantic Venice. For her students, it’s a wealth of history, art, and beauty. For Juliet, it’s poignant memories and a chance to reconnect with Leonardo Da Rossi, the man she loves whose future is already determined by his noble family. However star-crossed, nothing can come between them. Until the threat of war closes in on Venice and they’re forced to fight, survive, and protect a secret that will bind them forever.Key by key, Lettie’s life of impossible love, loss, and courage unfolds. It’s one that Caroline can now make right again as her own journey of self-discovery begins.
Command
Antony Melville-Ross - 2017
Or so Lieutenant Peter Harding thought. The Trigger has just left UK shores and is on its way to northern Norway when the relentless storm hits. Harding’s crew are barely surviving the Artic conditions which face them. The ship is slowly dying and cracks are beginning to show, in both the ship and in relations between the men on board. The navy of Nazi Germany are under orders to destroy The Trigger, but how much will it take before Harding and his men surrender to the enemy? A thrilling, nautical adventure, Command presents a heart-warming tale of the loyalty and brotherhood of the Royal Navy in their courageous fight against German forces. For fans of Alan Scholefield and Philip McCutchan comes another classic naval adventure from Anthony Melville-Ross. Praise for Anthony Melville-Ross “A thriller of unusual quality” – The Independent Anthony Melville-Ross was born in Hastings, East Sussex on November 11 1920. He published six novels between 1978 and 1985, all inspired by his background as a sub-mariner in the Second World War. He had an extremely successful career in the navy, rose to command his own boat and transferred into the Secret Service after the end of the war. He died in his hometown on January 10 1993, aged 73.
The Walls of Lucca
Steve Physioc - 2018
An enchanting debut novel by Steve Physioc As Italy tries to heal from the shocks of World War I, one young woman brings together a number of strangers from disparate sections of the struggling country’s society. Isabella Roselli has an inner strength that defies understanding and her mission will touch those still hurting from the scars of war and violence. When the orphaned Isabella happens on the Martellino vineyard, she pulls in a widowed mother of four, a shell-shocked soldier, and an imperious matriarch. As these and other characters in the town of Lucca get to know Isabella, they are challenged to surrender their fears. Fascism is taking hold of the heart of Italy, and it is ensnaring all Italians in a web of brutality and dictatorship. Will Isabella’s unconditional love and strength be enough to break its hold? Find out in this compelling novel about love, hope, and the family we choose for ourselves. Don’t wait! Buy The Walls of Lucca today!
First Bite: Steven Becker Starter Library
Steven Becker - 2016
Mac Travis was doing his best to keep a low profile: diving, fishing, and enough salvage work to pay his bills. It's a good life until he discovers something while spearfishing that could change the pristine Keys forever. Pirate "A gripping tale of pirate adventure off the coast of 19th Century Florida!" After decades at seas, pirate legend Jose' Gasparilla is prepared to retire. As he and his crew split their treasure, the promise of one final prize lures the ship back into action. Little do they know that the purported riches are nothing but a trap set by the fledgling U.S. Navy! Bonefish Blues "I just couldn't put this book down. A great plot filled with action. Steven Becker brings each character to life, allowing the reader to become immersed in the plot." A mob boss and a corrupt realtor team up to sell a pristine island in the Florida Keys - but the island has secrets that the brochures doesn't show. When a local fishing guide sees something not meant for his eyes, he becomes embroiled in their plot, trying to save his own life as well as the island.
God Save the Spy (Operation TINKER #1)
John Ellsworth - 2020
He begins passing KGB secrets to the Brits. It is 1962, and Nikolai smuggles Russian war plans for Cuba. President Kennedy needs the plans immediately, must talk.The Russians discover his deception and kidnap him back to Moscow. But the British have a plan, terrible as it is. For they can save him and his wife, or him and his daughter, but not both. He must decide, does he escape with his wife or with his one-year-old? The KGB will murder whichever one he leaves behind. The choice is made in a way no one expects. Britain's escape plan is activated, and the wheels begin to turn.Colonel Viktor Bucharov of the KGB falls in behind them. Bucharov is the KGB’s best and most violent. A desperate attempt to shake Bucharov from their tail, as they jump from buses, change moving subway cars, dash into malls, and underground passageways. Then they head for the escape rendezvous, with Bucharov minutes behind.Get ready to stay up late tonight.