The old sailors, who could remember her past, said that she was jinxed and ought never sail again. But in the last days of 1940, as the phoney war drew to an end, Britain needed every ship she could lay her hands on, to challenge the might of Hitler’s Kriegsmarine. So it was that Lieutenant-Commander John Lamb found himself commanding the old destroyer Rose, with a crew of misfits and troublemakers, and set sail across the dark and icy seas in a desperate race to prevent the German invasion of Norway.... Duncan Harding is a pseudonym for Charles Whiting (1926-2007), who also wrote as Leo Kessler and John Kerrigan. Charles Whiting volunteered for the Army aged 16 in 1943, where he saw active service in Belgium, Holland and Germany with the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment. He has over 350 books to his credit, encompassing military history, espionage, biography and action fiction and holds the Sir George Dowty Prize for Literature.

    Is the emperor alive? Or is his death being kept a closely-guarded secret? It’s impossible to know for certain, since the spies and agents of the kingdom trade in misinformation and half-truths, and only heighten the tension between the brothers.In this atmosphere of palace intrigue and chicanery—as Murad acquires a reputation for overindulgence, Dara for sensitivity, and Shuja for impulsiveness—the stage seems set for a power-hungry Aurangzeb to make his ascent as emperor. However, will Aurangzeb’s quest for domination become his ultimate undoing? The Mughal High Noon, with master brushstrokes, explores questions of power, faith and contentment.

    Thousands settled in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a city where the skies were always black, the steel mills were always roaring, and life was bleak and harsh. One of them, Ewa Piekos, an orphan girl of 15 from Poland, wants simply to be loved and to feel like she is not alone. On the voyage to America, Ewa’s beloved sister dies, throwing her into an emotional tailspin. It’s only after arriving at Ellis Island that Ewa learns the real reason she was brought to the Land of Golden Opportunity. This secret is almost as crushing to her as the moment her sister died. From the time she arrives at Ellis Island, Ewa's life is never an easy one. It is filled with heartache and loss. But her life in America enables her to plant roots which eventually grow with the family she establishes there.

    

    She was the wealthiest woman in Europe. But only few knew the secret she was hiding. She was a normal little girl, daughter of the King of Portugal’s personal physician, and for many years she was convinced that she, just like all the people in her immediate surroundings, was a Catholic.Until one day, on her twelfth birthday, Doña Gracia was led down to the basement of their home by her mother where the family’s deepest secret was revealed to her—"We are Jews.”Doña Gracia did not remain indifferent to this shocking news and little by little, she began to investigate and become familiar with her Jewish roots.The Little Girl from Lisbon Is the wonderful story of Doña Gracia, one of the greatest women Europe has known, about her personal struggle in a world controlled by men, her escape from the persecution of the Inquisition, and all the nobility who coveted her wealth, while turning into a leader who was truly admired and followed by her people.

    35 pages of summaries and analysis on Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    She never overcame her humble beginnings and when Willie Eubanks rescued her from the orphanage by marrying her, she ended up right back where she started. Living in the same cabin, she was born in twelve and a half years earlier. However, she grew to love Willie and was determined that she and Willie were not going to end up as her parents had. In addition, she wanted to make sure her children were not going to have to suffer through the same experiences she had.

    1537. Henry VIII’s beloved third wife, Jane Seymour, has just died in childbirth. The king needs a new wife. Shown a flattering portrait of Anne of Cleves, Henry commits himself to marrying her. As soon as she arrives in England the lovesick and impatient king rides through the night to meet his future wife. This rushed and unplanned rendezvous has shocking results. He thinks that she looks nothing like the sweet and innocent Anne he saw in the portrait; she is shocked at his coarse and impulsive behaviour. Now Henry wants to renege on his promise - but the king must also do right by his kingdom. Thomas Cromwell, his wily adviser, is asked by Henry to provide a solution to his problem. The fate of Anne hangs in the balance. Will the blameless and wronged wife have her hopes fulfilled, or will she be sent to the Tower and share Anne Boleyn end? Recommended for fans Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory and The Tudors. Praise for 'Anne of Cleves: Unbeloved'. …very easy and enjoyable read, filling in my ignorance of one of Henry’s lesser-known wives. Iain K. Burns. Past Chief Executive of Macmillan Group (Worldwide) D.Lawrence-Young is the author of numerous historical novels, including 'Six Million Accusers', 'Catherine Howard' and 'Arrows over Agincourt'. Praise for Anne of Cleves: Unbeloved. …very easy and enjoyable read, filling in my ignorance of one of Henry’s lesser-known wives. Iain K. Burns. Past Chief Executive of Macmillan Group (Worldwide)

    A plot against the crown. Those she loves in terrible danger…Livia, a humble doctor’s daughter from the Italian countryside, arrives in Paris with her new husband. At first, she feels alone and isolated among the gray, rain-drenched streets. Until Elisabetta, the Emperor’s clever, beautiful mistress, takes her under her wing, and finally Livia has a true ally.The two women are soon inseparable, strolling arm in arm down Paris’s wide boulevards and dancing the night away at masked balls. At last, Livia feels happy in her new life.But when Elisabetta is mysteriously poisoned, the tables turn and it is Livia who has the power to shape the destiny of those around her. She must draw on all her knowledge of herbs and medicine to cure her friend. And the stakes soon become higher than she ever imagined, when her husband is falsely accused of treason and conspiring against the crown.With Elisabetta close to death and the future of France in peril, Livia will need to draw on all her courage to save the lives of those she loves… as well as her own…A totally gripping, richly imagined historical novel about the power held by women in a world run by men. Fans of Lucinda Riley, Kate Morton and Marie Benedict will be absolutely hooked from the very first page until the final, breathtaking conclusion.

    

     He dreams of the sea. But his dream of an honest trade is wrecked on the Essex shoals. Swept away to the Spanish Main, Matthew is plunged into a bloody life of pillage and prize money. Struggling to adhere to his own code of honour yet seduced by life at sea, Matthew carries in his heart the hope of reclaiming his rightful legacy. Furthermore, he longs to be worthy of the hand of woman he loves – the woman he left behind in Whitby. Fierce sea battles, lawless privateers, naval skirmishes and ruthless slave traders combine in a story of adventure and high drama during one of the most colourful periods in maritime history. Matthew’s Prize is the first book in the Matthew Loftus series. Marcus Palliser left his job as Director of Communications at a big computer corporation to live on a small yacht and sail the Mediterranean. He crossed the Atlantic single-handed before returning to Britain to write a series of elegant and well-received historical seafaring novels. The three books in the series, Matthew's Prize, A Devil of a Fix and To the Bitter End, explore life in the Caribbean at a time when it was filled with pirates and warring imperial powers, and have a fresh and invigorating perspective backed up by painstaking historical research. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    Dan Callahan doesn’t know why he landed this coveted assignment or what to expect from 112-year-old Owen Trimbel, currently living with his daughter on a rural Minnesota farm even now beyond the reach of pervasive tech. But he sensed that it might be one of those rare opportunities to capture something singular: living memories from the last of a resilient, resourceful, and determined generation, a veteran from a war and a time encased in sepia tones in the minds of a distracted public. He finds his subject waning but still humored by life and surprisingly keen of mind. Dan spends the next three days riveted to Owen’s adventures as a young gunner with a night-flying crew, transported with him from New Guinea to the Mariana Islands on harrowing rescue missions to remote river outposts, and long flights over endless black seas broken only by sightings of enemy ships far below. And finally, the sweet homecoming, complicated by the challenges Owen faces while navigating a new life of unfamiliar circumstances and some very old secrets. Although fictionalized, The Last Word is an amalgam of stories and characters shaped and informed by filmed interviews with ten, real-life squadron members who served in the Pacific during World War II and who graced the author with their time, narratives, and importantly, their wisdom and good friendship.

    But the path that Jewish immigrants took to enter British-controlled Palestine was a difficult one, fraught with danger and political intrigue. The boat was intercepted by British forces and the refugees were placed in concentration camps.Uris’s blockbuster novel traces the lives of the men and women who brave British naval blockades to help Israel come into being, from Ari Ben Canaan, who works tirelessly to smuggle in settlers, to Kitty Fremont, an American nurse drawn into a vast, tragic history. Weaving together fact and fiction, history and dramatic storylines, Exodus stands today as one of the most influential narratives of the founding of the State of Israel.In QB VII, for Abe Cady, settlement is not an option when the facts of the Holocaust are on trial. A journalist and screenwriter, Cady produced the definitive account of the Holocaust just after World War II. But Polish doctor Adam Kelno, who was pressed into service in a notorious concentration camp, sues Cady for his book’s claim that the doctor conducted terrible experiments on camp inmates. The libel trial that follows tears open old wounds, disrupts lives, and becomes a battle for justice on behalf of tens of thousands of lost and damaged souls.QB VII is a gripping drama, largely based on author Uris’s own protracted libel defense against a former concentration camp surgeon named in his novel Exodus. It was made into the first miniseries in television history.

    And then it descends upon them - the infamous Children's Blizzard of 1888. Who will survive?With characters from Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan , "Blizzard: A Story of Dakota Territory" captures in one sod shanty the dramatic effects of a storm on the bodies and spirits of people who have internal storms of their own.Cover painting and design by Betsy Marsch, illustrator and cover designer for Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan.

    That child is the passionate and free-spirited Flora, daughter of Marion. Flora’s early years are spent roaming around her father’s cattle farm, running wild and free with her brother and his friends. From early on she adores fair Neil MacEachen. But when her father dies suddenly, Flora and her mother are plunged into poverty and it seems beautiful Flora is destined to skivvy in the kitchen and dairy for her harsh aunt. Until one night dashing soldier, One-eyed Hugh, her mother’s former lover, kidnaps mother and daughter and takes them to Skye where he swiftly marries Marion.Back on the Outer Isles they settle into family life and Flora is taken under the wing of the lively Lady Clan, the chief’s wife, who teaches her the skills of a noblewoman. Flora still dreams of the day she might marry the handsome Neil, who has by now disappeared to France. But when the Clanranalds are invited to the grand wedding of the MacDonald chief of Sleat in Skye, Flora finds herself irresistibly drawn to dark-haired, teasing and passionate Allan of Kingsburgh, one of the mighty Skye MacDonalds, who makes no secret of his desire for her. Her heart is torn; she loves the mysterious and increasingly elusive Neil but struggles to control her attraction to Allan, who is meanwhile being groomed for a prestigious match with the chief of MacLeod’s daughter.Before affairs of the heart can be resolved, the exiled Prince Charles Stuart lands on the Outer Isles in his bid to win back the crown and his arrival ignites the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Scotland is plunged into bloody civil war; families and clans are torn apart in their loyalties and Flora’s fate is changed forever. She faces the biggest decision of her life – whether or not to help the now fugitive Prince to escape the islands and certain execution – knowing that to do so will not only put her own life in danger, but those of the people she loves most in the world.Deeply emotional and uplifting, The Jacobite Lass is set in the turbulent times of 18th century Scotland and is based on the true story of Scottish heroine, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie.