Historical Fiction Books

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisEcho Desjardins just can't stop slipping back and forth in time.In Northwest Resistance, Echo travels to 1885, a period of turmoil. The bison are gone, settlers from the East are arriving daily, and the Métis and First Nations of the Northwest face hunger and uncertainty as their traditional way of life is threatened. The Canadian government has ignored their petitions, but hope rises when Louis Riel returns to help. However, battles between Canadian forces and the Métis and their allies lead to defeat at Batoche. Through it all, Echo gains new perspectives about where she came from and what the future may hold.Trade ReviewSelected for the Junior Top 10 reading list * Loan Stars *Among CBC Books' Best Canadian Comics of 2020 * CBC Books *Henderson’s lifelike illustrations are striking and filled with raw emotion. Yaciuk’s infused colour-work further elevates this historical account. This is a well-conceived story, which links the past to the present. A tremendous way for teens to learn history * Mighty Village *This book, along with so many others that HighWater Press publishes, [is] fantastic. The melding of history and fantasy that focus on Own Voices is something the publisher does beautifully. * The Tiny Activist *If you are a Canadian history nerd like me, check out the third volume of A Girl Called Echo. A graphic novel that tells the story of the Northwest Resistance, while continuing Echo’s journey in modern day Winnipeg. -- Ellen Bees * Books for a Beautiful World *Among Best Books for Kids & Teens, a starred selection of exceptional caliber * The Canadian Children's Book Centre *Among AICL's Best Books of 2020 * American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Road Allowance Era, Echo’s story picks up again when she travels back in time to 1885.The government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis, and many flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout from the Northwest Resistance, their advocate and champion Louis Riel is executed. As new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, and unscrupulous land speculators and swindlers take advantage, many Métis settle on road allowances and railway land, often on the fringes of urban centres.For Echo, the plight of her family is apparent. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, they make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment of her story, Echo is reminded of the strength and resilience of her people, forged through the loss and pain of the past, as she faces a triumphant future.Trade ReviewIs enthralled the correct word when describing such a dark chapter in Métis dispossession, along the road allowances in the western prairies? Or is enraging more apt? Or maybe brilliant blinding beauty? Because that's what Vermette has achieved here. Even as the graphic novel closed, I was reflecting on this staggering and respectful work. A swell in my chest, a pride in my spirit; you'll feel the strength of our people, the Free People, the Otipemisiwak, against the injustice of Canadian imperialism in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. -- Jesse ThistleThis fourth volume in the A Girl Called Echo series rounds out the history of Métis dispossession from their land and subsequent social marginalization brilliantly. While dealing with the hard issues of colonialism, Vermette sensitively points to the resilience, determination, and power of Métis people. In Road Allowance Era, the stories of Ste. Madeleine and Rooster Town take their place alongside the more prominent stories of Métis nationalism situating the power of Métis family as the source of their survival. -- Brenda Macdougall, University of OttawaAmong CBC Books 22 Canadian comics to watch for in spring 2021 * CBC Books *Brilliantly mixes the portrait of a contemporary teen named Echo...with a time travelling adventure that takes her back to four key moments in the history of her people. Beautifully illustrated..., this concluding book offers a heart-wrenching look at how appallingly the Métis were treated.... -- Jeffrey Canton * The Globe and Mail *Among The Globe and Mail's Spring break 2021 reading list: 15 new books for kids and young adults * The Globe and Mail *Among Penn GSE’s Best Books for Young Readers 2021 list * Penn GSE *This series is relatable for many young readers faced with the same situations of fitting in, popularity, connection and finding their place in the world. These volumes draw out the realities of many Métis who find their way home by finding strength and pride in their histories. * The Ormsby Review *Highly Recommended! -- Jean Mendoza * American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) *Among CBC Books Best Canadian Comics of 2021 * CBC Books *

Read more less

Book SynopsisCould you find the courage to do what’s right in a world on fire? Pulitzer-winning journalist and bestselling novelist (Freeman) Leonard Pitts, Jr.’s new historical page-turner is a great American tale of race and war, following three characters from the Jim Crow South as they face the enormous changes World War II triggers in the United States. An affluent white marine survives Pearl Harbor at the cost of a black messman’s life only to be sent, wracked with guilt, to the Pacific and taken prisoner by the Japanese . . . a young black woman, widowed by the same events at Pearl, finds unexpected opportunity and a dangerous friendship in a segregated Alabama shipyard feeding the war . . . a black man, who as a child saw his parents brutally lynched, is conscripted to fight Nazis for a country he despises and discovers a new kind of patriotism in the all-black 761st Tank Battalion. Set against a backdrop of violent racial conflict on both the front lines and the home front, The Last Thing You Surrender explores the powerful moral struggles of individuals from a divided nation. What does it take to change someone’s mind about race? What does it take for a country and a people to move forward, transformed?Trade ReviewPraise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s novel THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER:“Seamlessly integrates impressive research into a compelling tale of America at war—overseas, at home, and within ourselves, as we struggle to find the better angels of our nature. Pitts poignantly illustrates ongoing racial and class tensions, and offers hope that we can overcome hatred by refusing to sacrifice dignity.” —Booklist, starred review."The Last Thing You Surrender is a story of our nation at war, with itself as well as tyranny across the globe. It’s an American tapestry of hatred, compassion, fear, courage, and cruelties, leavened with the promise of triumph. A powerful story I will not soon forget.” —James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery series “Leonard Pitts, Jr. does it again. He interweaves stories that grip you from beginning to end. Set during WWII, it shows how race relations in America haven't advanced much. The Last Thing You Surrender will have you entranced with the story, and it will stick with you even after you complete the last page.” —Southfield Public Library "I couldn't put it down, and it left me stunned! It’s such a harsh novel, yet at the same time, it’s a hopeful novel that is so relevant today. I'm already telling people about it.” —Pete Mock, McIntyre's Books, Pittsboro, North CarolinaPraise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s novel GRANT PARK:"Grant Park is layered, insightful, and passionate. Pitts's subtly explosive language grips readers with the delicate subject matter and earnestly implores them to understand that '[race] has always meant something and it always will.' The scars will remain, but stunningly powerful examinations like Grant Park can be the salve that helps heal open wounds." —Shelf-Awareness, starred review"Leonard Pitts has written a taut thriller that weaves together a stark look at America's tortured racial past with a fast-paced tale of terrorist conspiracy and love rekindled." —Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun Times“. . . these ideas [are] perennially salient, and doubly so today, given a growing litany of American sorrows, from Ferguson to Charleston and beyond. . . . lays bare the extent to which Americans, black and white, still struggle to articulate the basic elements of our shared past." — Vinson Cunningham, New York Times Book Review"The book is a page-turner, but also one that commands deep reflection on history, racism, and personal choices." —Blanca Torres, The Seattle Times"A novel as significant as it is engrossing." —Booklist, starred review"Pitts masterfully revisits [election night on November 4, 2008] and four decades of the civil rights struggle to create one of the most suspenseful and spectacular fictitious moments you'll experience this fall." —Patrik Henry Bass, Essence"Pitts does a skillful job of building tension in the novel's historical sections as well as on Election Day. . . . He also does something not every political thriller writer does: builds believable, complex characters." — Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times"[A] high-stakes, hard-charging political thriller. . . . The sharply etched characters, careful attention to detail, and rich newspaper lore propel Pitts's socially relevant novel." —Publishers Weekly"And then there are those thrills—gasping, mouth-gaping page-turners that author Leonard Pitts Jr. weaves through another realism: truthful, brutal plot-lines about racial issues of the last five decades, mulling over exactly how far we’ve really come. That makes this will-they-live-or-won't-they nail-biter into something that also made me think, and I absolutely loved it." —Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez"An important book, one that honestly examines the current, tumultuous racial divide in our country and demands we not turn away from its harsh realities." —Amy Canfield, Miami Herald"Grant Park is a book that’s both socially relevant and a lot of fun." —NewCity"In the aftermath of this summer's racially motivated mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist, there's near-eerie prescience in Pitts' historical novel. . .[Grant Park], with urgency and passion, makes readers aware that the mistakes of the past are neglected at the future's peril." —Kirkus Reviews"Grant Park is a monumental work, so all-encompassing in scope that reviewers will be hard-pressed to do it justice. Pitts’s passion for a solution holds strong to the end of his novel even as his central character seems to give up. Readers will find Grant Park is real." —Bookpleasures.com"Grant Park is a thriller, and readers will find themselves turning pages accordingly, although the interior stories of Bob and Malcolm regarding their younger selves may be the real action." —Brian Burnes, The Kansas City StarPraise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s previous novel FREEMAN:"A uniquely American epic. . . by a knowledgeable, compassionate and relentlessly truthful writer." —Howard Frank Mosher, Washington Post"A pretty powerful love story." —Audie Cornish, All Things Considered"Gorgeously written; a searing, wrenching read. Fans of Cold Mountain and Cormac McCarthy will love this story." —Jennifer Weiner, author of The Next Best Thing"Leonard Pitts has a passion for history and a gift for storytelling. Both shine in this story of love and redemption." —Gwen Ifill, PBS, author of The Breakthrough"Freeman is a myth of what’s humanly possible, a needed story about little-known heroism, and a shadow thrown forward to the struggles of American families in the 21st century." —John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer"A wonderful, moving, riveting novel." —Gabrielle Union, actress"Post-Civil War America is fertile ground for novelists, but few have tilled it with such grace and majesty as Leonard Pitts." —Herb Boyd, co-editor of By Any Means Necessary—Malcolm X: Real, not Reinvented"This book is an eye-opening commentary on devotion during this tangled chapter of American history." —Wendi Thomas, Memphis Commercial Appeal"Leonard Pitts, Jr. crafts a novel as well as the great storytellers of our time. Freeman captured my attention from the very first sentence and my heart throughout." —Sybil Wilkes, The Tom Joyner Morning Show"Freeman reminds us of our humanity." —Nancy Olson, owner of Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, North Carolina

Read more less

Book SynopsisSing Her Name follows two musically gifted women whose lives overlap across the boundaries of time. This third novel by Rosalyn Story, whose critically acclaimed books treat the central role of Black people in American music, is her best and most rewarding yet. Beautiful and brilliantly talented Celia DeMille is a nineteenth-century concert artist who has garnered fame, sung all over the world, and amassed a fortune. But prejudice bars her from achieving her place in history as one of the world’s greatest singers, and she dies in poverty and obscurity. In 21st-century New Orleans, Eden Malveaux, a thirty-something waitress with a beautiful but untutored voice, is the sole guardian of her 17-year-old brother. Motherless for most of their lives, she has struggled for years to make ends meet as she fights to keep the promise she made to their dying father: to protect her wayward brother and raise him as if he were her own child. After a hurricane displaces them to New York City, Eden seeks safe refuge—not only from the ensuing flood, but also to hide her brother from the law, while she works to divert him from a path of crime, prison, or worse. Months into their New York stay, Eden’s estranged Great Aunt Julia summons her back to New Orleans for a brief visit, and the older woman gives Eden something that alters the course of her life: a box she found in the midst of flooded rubble containing a hundred-year-old scrapbook and a mysterious and valuable gold pendant necklace belonging to one of the greatest singers in history—Celia DeMille. Eden returns to New York, but as she explores the artifacts of Celia DeMille’s extraordinary life, curiosity grows into obsession, then into an inspiration that propels Eden into a world she never dreamed. With the help of new friends, and buoyed by the diva’s story, Eden’s new life in New York takes a dramatic turn toward unimagined success. But just as she is poised to make her mark on the world stage, her brother’s dangerous choices catch up with them, and Eden must confront buried secrets from her complicated childhood. To face the promise of her future, Eden must first reconcile years of regrets and leave behind the guilt of the past—and perhaps even the brother she loves.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR SING HER NAME:"Sing Her Name is an uplifting tale told with a sure command of narrative pacing and drama. Story reveals a knack for natural dialogue and writes movingly, both about music and the devastation caused by Katrina." — The Dallas Morning News"Musical talent blooms in Rosalyn Story's stirring, character-driven novel Sing Her Name, a powerful story about Black artistry, women's dreams, and overcoming strife. . . . Sing Her Name is a beautiful and triumphant novel in which a talented woman works to reconcile her sense of family loyalty with her fidelity to her own considerable gifts." —Foreword Review, starred review"Story's background as a musician and nonfiction writer about African American opera... primes her to tell this musical tale of the ghosts of wronged artists and the burdens they pass on, the legacy of place, and how we can forgive others and move on, with or without them. This truly is a novel that sings." —Booklist"Sing Her Name is a brilliant jewel of a novel, gorgeously crafted, intensely moving, and entirely fluent in the historical and musical worlds it portrays. Such is the mastery of Rosalyn Story's double narrative that this novel of two singers, bound in spirit but separated by some seventy years, captures so much of the weight and thrust of America—of promises broken, of possibilities dangling just out of reach. Sing Her Name gives us heartbreak and heroes in nearly equal measure, and it's in that nearly—paper-thin, and wide as the ocean—that this glorious story lives." —Ben Fountain, New York Times bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk"Rosalyn Story is a superb storyteller who has beautifully illuminated the life of Sissieretta Jones throughout her novel Sing Her Name. In her novel, the mystery and intrigue of the two main characters, Celia DeMille and Eden Malveaux, and how their lives are entwined, is what propels this moving story to an outcome that ends on a Magnificent High Note. As in her previous book, And So I Sing, Rosalyn has once again paid homage to the greatest singer of her generation, Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones. Like Rosalyn Story's novel, Sing Her Name, we will continue to let our voices rise in a loud crescendo to celebrate her life and legacy." —Harolyn Blackwell, Soprano, Metropolitan Opera"With Sing Her Name, more than any of her novels, Rosalyn Story establishes herself as a true artist. This novel demands the musicality of a classical musician, the love of bringing history into the present, and the desire to right the wrongs of African American women, and Story weaves them together as if she were a chief conductor. Sing Her Name is Rosalyn's masterpiece. Bravo.” —Sanderia Faye, author of Mourner's Bench, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy AwardPRAISE FOR WADING HOME: "New Orleans natives struggle to recover their lives as well as their property after Hurricane Katrina.... Story’s musical background infuses her novel with a lyrical rhythm...as engaging characters rebuild their relationships and their city. The current oil-spill crisis only makes the hopefulness of this novel more moving, if heart-wrenching." —Kirkus Reviews "Story writes with the plot-twisting precision of a veteran and a lyricism reminiscent of James Baldwin." —Black Issues Book Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby robbed the nation of the closure it so desperately needed following the death of John F. Kennedy. The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald asks what might have happened if the assassin had lived to stand trial for his murder of America’s beloved president. This meticulously researched and riveting courtroom drama follows prosecutors Abe Summer and Elaine Navarro as they work to bring Oswald to justice despite the legend in Oswald’s corner: famed attorney Percy Foreman. With mysteries and coincidences swirling around the case, Oswald’s conviction doesn’t seem set in stone. After Ruby fails to assassinate the assassin, can Summer and Navaro bring peace of mind back to the American people by sending a murderer to prison?Author William Alsup’s fair and thrilling novel is all the more compelling thanks in no small part to his experiences and expertise as a federal judge. With his background in research and jurisprudence, Alsup has become an expert on the Oswald case. From newspaper clippings to the Warren Report, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald is based on real and complicated history. Readers with a passion for the procedural will relish the details Alsup provides behind the scenes of a prosecution, demonstrating just how much time and effort goes into even cases that seem cut and dry. America never recovered from the killing of its king of Camelot, but The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald provides a window into what might have been.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a ship to call his own at last, Royal Navy Lieutenant St Vincent Halfhyde sails for the Dardanelles in command of the little torpedo-boat Vendetta, part of a flotilla sent to rescue a Britsih sailing-ship unlawfully detained by the Russians. Unfortunately, Halfhyde's first command comes complete with a pompous flotilla captain in love with his own voice, and the looming threat of the irascible Admiral Prince Gorsinski. Cutting out the sailing-ship from amidst the Russian fleet and sneaking her back through the Narrows under the deadly batteries of the Turks and the Russians is the easy part. Facing Gorsinski's vengeance and the legendary wrath of the Romanovs is another matter!Trade Review"The military-series genre hasn't a finer craftsman than McCutchan." -- Publishers Weekly"Halfhyde is a fine hero, insubordinate and ingenious." -- The New York Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpain has produced two books that changed world literature: Don Quixote and Lazarillo de Tormes, the first picaresque novel ever written and the inspired precursor to works as various as Vanity Fair and Huckleberry Finn. Banned by the Spanish Inquisition after publication in 1554, Lazarillo was soon translated throughout Europe, where it was widely copied. The book is a favorite to this day for its vigorous colloquial style and the earthy realism with which it exposes human hypocrisy.The bastard son of a prostitute, Lazarillo goes to work for a blind beggar, who beats and starves him, while teaching him some very useful dirty tricks. The boy then drifts in and out of the service of a succession of masters, each vividly sketched and together revealing the corrupt world of imperial Spain. Its miseries are made all the more apparent by the candor and surprising good cheer with which young Lazarillo recounts his ever more curious fate.This version of Lazarillo, by the prizewinning poet and translator W.S. Merwin, brings out the wonderful vitality and humor of this universal masterwork.The author of Lazarillo de Tormes is unknown.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Murderess is a bone-chilling tale of crime and punishment with the dark beauty of a backwoods ballad. Set on the dirt-poor Aegean island of Skiathos, it is the story of Hadoula, an old woman living on the margins of society and at the outer limits of respectability. Hadoula knows about herbs and their hidden properties, and women come to her when they need help. She knows women’s secrets and she knows the misery of their lives, and as the book begins, she is trying to stop her new-born granddaughter from crying so that her daughter can at last get a little sleep. She rocks the baby and rocks her and then the terrible truth hits her: there’s nothing worse than being born a woman, and there’s something that she, Hadoula, can do about that.Peter Levi’s matchless translation of Alexandros Papadiamantis’s astonishing novella captures the excitement and haunting poetry of the original Greek.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA New York Review Books OriginalIn 1905 the young Swiss writer Robert Walser arrived in Berlin to join his older brother Karl, already an important stage-set designer, and immediately threw himself into the vibrant social and cultural life of the city. Berlin Stories collects his alternately celebratory, droll, and satirical observations on every aspect of the bustling German capital, from its theaters, cabarets, painters’ galleries, and literary salons, to the metropolitan street, markets, the Tiergarten, rapid-service restaurants, and the electric tram. Originally appearing in literary magazines as well as the feuilleton sections of newspapers, the early stories are characterized by a joyous urgency and the generosity of an unconventional guide. Later pieces take the form of more personal reflections on the writing process, memories, and character studies. All are full of counter-intuitive images and vignettes of startling clarity, showcasing a unique talent for whom no detail was trivial, at grips with a city diving headlong into modernity.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the beginning of this masterpiece of African literature, Clarence, a white man, has been shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. Flush with self-importance, he demands to see the king, but the king has just left for the south of his realm. Traveling through an increasingly phantasmagoric landscape in the company of a beggar and two roguish boys, Clarence is gradually stripped of his pretensions, until he is sold to the royal harem as a slave. But in the end Clarence’s bewildering journey is the occasion of a revelation, as he discovers the image, both shameful and beautiful, of his own humanity in the alien splendor of the king.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn NYRB Classics OriginalAlexander Pushkin’s short novel is set during the reign of Catherine the Great, when the Cossacks rose up in rebellion against the Russian empress. Presented as the memoir of Pyotr Grinyov, a nobleman, The Captain’s Daughter tells how, as a feckless youth and fledgling officer, Grinyov was sent from St. Petersburg to serve in faraway southern Russia. Traveling to take up this new post, Grinyov loses his shirt gambling and then loses his way in a terrible snowstorm, only to be guided to safety by a mysterious peasant. With impulsive gratitude Grinyov hands over his fur coat to his savior, never mind the cold. Soon after he arrives at Fort Belogorsk, Grinyov falls in love with Masha, the beautiful young daughter of his captain. Then Pugachev, leader of the Cossack rebellion, surrounds the fort. Resistance, he has made it clear, will be met with death. At once a fairy tale and a thrilling historical novel, this singularly Russian work of the imagination is also a timeless, universal, and very winning story of how love and duty can summon pluck and luck to confront calamity.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1933, Victor Serge was arrested by Stalin’s police, interrogated, and held in solitary confinement for more than eighty days. Released, he spent two years in exile in remote Orenburg. These experiences were the inspiration for Midnight in the Century, Serge’s searching novel about revolutionaries living in the shadow of Stalin’s betrayal of the revolution.  Among the exiles gathered in the town of Chenor, or Black-Waters, are the granite-faced Old Bolshevik Ryzhik, stoic yet gentle Varvara, and Rodion, a young, self-educated worker who is trying to make sense of the world and history. They struggle in the unlikely company of Russian Orthodox Old Believers who are also suffering for their faith. Against unbelievable odds, the young Rodion will escape captivity and find a new life in the wild. Surviving the dark winter night of the soul, he rediscovers the only real, and most radical, form of resistance: hope. 

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA timely debate on women's rights and abortion. A unique and nostalgic study of Southern America following World War II. A dramatic mother/daughter conflict. In The Farm, Olaf “Ollie” Weber, a wounded Nazi prisoner of war, escapes a POW camp in Tennessee intent on assassinating President Truman. Ginger “Snaps” Wright accidentally helps Ollie elude prison guards, and when confronted, he rapes and impregnates the wannabe actress, who must then choose between Hollywood and motherhood. Finally, after years of shortages and suffering, it's time to dream big, and the Wright family, “Snaps,” her mother Mary Lou, Uncle, and sisters Millie and Anne face tumultuous societal and economic changes. But the family must also grieve the loss of Millie’s hero husband, Stanley, and help her find a way to find new meaning in her life. A battlefield medic, Stanley was one of the eighty-four victims of the Nazi war crime; the Massacre at Malmedy. The Farm is an exciting new story from the author of the critically acclaimed literary historical novel Gettysburg by Morning.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor the first time in one place, the reader will see all the likely conspirators revealed.The Warren Commission and the FBI agreed that President John F. Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. Fifteen years later, the HouseCommittee on Assassinations re-examined the evidence. They announced that he was not killed by a single gunman, but probably murdered as the result of aconspiracy.This House Committee hesitated to speculate on who might have been involved in that conspiracy or why John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas on November 22, 1963In 1979, Michael Burke and former congressman Harold Ryan were asked to continue that investigation. This historical novel will take the reader back to that time. Burke and Ryan will peel back the passage of time and the layers of secrecy and denial to reveal the reasons so many elites were determined to stop the Kennedy agenda.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJohanna is one of the daughters of a migrant cobbler from the eastern backwoods of Pomerania, born in the German Empire of the 1880s. Aching for a life of accomplishment and respect, she resolves to escape her dad's fate of early death, the stigma of his mixed Slavic-German heritage, and the poverty that followed him.A headstrong girl, she refuses to be exploited as a housemaid for a wealthy family - the only choice for girls like her. She loses her job when the master of the house tries to rape her.With nothing to lose, she accepts a job as the concession shop operator with the railroad. On the first day of work, she sets up shop (and home) in an empty passenger railcar and meets Hendrik, a Dutchman, and the construction superintendent. Head over heels, they marry when Johanna becomes pregnant.It doesn't take long before the first babies arrive and continue arriving: within three years, Johanna delivers five children. The couple buys a farm with their savings in Hendrik's hometown.Then Johanna's real test of loyalty starts when the Nazis invade.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFantasy, time travel, reincarnation, war, and romance in an ancient historical setting!Explore a captivating retelling of well-known stories in "Sophia and Cassius," a novel by Anna Canic. Weaving a tapestry of religious, philosophical, and esoteric themes, this gripping story throws new insight into the lost paradise and the fall of ancient civilizations.Meet Sophia, the first woman - one of strength, intelligence, willpower, and kindness. Sophia, the one who has given the world the gift of writing, is terribly in need of love. But her quest for the ideal partner takes a different turn, involving death, three millennia, and a rebirth as the Roman princess Julia Drusilla. However, the story goes beyond just a simple love tale. Sophia is thrown into the role of leading an epic battle between Good and Evil in her newfound existence. With the help of friends from many backgrounds, bold Drusilla unravels schemes and exposes the deceptions of the enemy. A fascinating cast of biblical and historical characters, such as Mary Magdalene, Seneca, and Boudicca, are introduced in the story.Julia Drusilla breaks the stereotype of suffragettes while honoring the feminine ideal. Her natural order and inner revolutionary spirit create a complex picture that defies simple labels. In addition to time travel, Anna Canic's book offers an in-depth look at love, bravery, and the never-ending conflict between good and evil as seen through the eyes of a wonderful woman throughout history.Trade ReviewAnna Canić has approached an era that is often overlooked—the post-Augustine Roman Empire—with a fresh approach that incorporates mythology, a dose of spirituality, and the very real reactions of characters that are well-drawn, three-dimensional and, in their own way, relatable to the modern reader."—Greg Fields, American writer and editor"I definitely recommend Anna’s novel as an escape from the long nights ahead—however, I can’t promise some sleep won’t be lost over those nights once you let Drusilla’s story consume you. Consider yourself warned." —Lucie Polok, Bookofeel UK

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn ancient Greece and across the Mediterranean, kingdoms strive for dominance. The great powers of Carthage and Egypt look on with avarice as the might of the Greeks is spent warring between themselves, oblivious to external dangers. Year in and year out, the people suffer at the hands of their rulers and the famine and pestilence that comes with conflict. The great rulers of the day are themselves helpless to end this cycle of destruction. While life on the battlefield is cheap, the slave trade flourishes through the years of interminable battle and death. Kings and queens pray to the gods and seek wisdom from the oracles, but the gods, it seems, prefer combat to diplomacy. At Olympia, the peace of the temple precinct is an island of calm in a sea of turmoil. Here on this sacred soil grows the seed of a better future, yet even here there lurks danger and deceit as the forces of destruction reach into the sanctuary of the gods. For this seed to thrive, it will take more than prayers and goodwill. Yet often hope springs from the most unlikely sources. There is one amongst the Greeks who sees light where others only perceive darkness. One who sees that there is another way to settle conflict ? with honor and courage. One who will set aflame a torch that will burn for thousands of years, down through the ages. In an epoch of chaos and strife, a new force for peace is born.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn a new novel in the League of Extraordinary Gentleman series, 15 years after the death of Captain Nemo, his daughter, Janni Dakkar, travels with Ishmael to the South Pole and gets drawn down below the Mountains of Madness, where time is broken and reality is not what it seems.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAbsorbing new telling of one of America's founding stories.The great success last year of Stacy Schiff's The Witches proves, once again, that abiding interest in the Salem Witch Trials remains high. Richard Francis's stunning novel Crane Pond is the story of Samuel Sewall, loving father and husband, anti-slavery advocate, defender of Native American rights, and presiding judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692, where he sentenced twenty innocent women to death. He was the only judge to later admit his terrible mistake, and ask for forgiveness. At once a searing view of the Trials from the inside out, an empathetic portrait of one of the period's most tragic and redemptive figures, and an indictment of the malevolent power of religious and political idealism, Crane Pond explores the inner life of a well-meaning man who did evil. It humanizes an unflinching portrait of political hysteria that is as relevant today as it was in the seve

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the opening epic novel of The Island of Sylt trilogy by bestselling author Ines Thorn, a young woman must choose between love and poverty, or thrilling adventure and tormented passion. The Island of Sylt, 1764 Life in the windswept village of Rantum in the North Sea is fraught with peril and hardship. Most families must rely on arranged marriage just to survive. But free-spirited Maren Luersen doesn’t care for riches—her heart belongs to handsome but poor Thies Heinen. He may not have prospects or fortune to offer, but Maren knows their intense love can overcome any obstacle, and she is determined to be his bride. The wealthy and mysterious Captain Rune Boyse has other plans. He shocks Maren with a startling marriage proposal, and even though he can give her family a better life, her love for Thies is too powerful to deny. But when tragedy strikes, she finds herself in debt to the captain and must set sail with him on a dangerous whale hunt—with no promise of a safe return. If Maren survives, will life be the same back on shore? Or will her heart change course somewhere over the icy swells of the Arctic Sea?

Read more less

Book SynopsisTo escape a lifetime of poverty, mercenary Sir Benedict Palmer agrees to one final, lucrative job: help King Henry II’s knights seize the traitor Archbishop Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. But what begins as a clandestine arrest ends in cold-blooded murder. And when Fitzurse, the knights’ ringleader, kidnaps Theodosia, a beautiful young nun who witnessed the crime, Palmer can sit silently by no longer. For not only is Theodosia’s virtue at stake, so too is the secret she unknowingly carries—a secret he knows Fitzurse will torture out of her. Now Palmer and Theodosia are on the run, strangers from different worlds forced to rely only on each other as they race to uncover the hidden motive behind Becket’s grisly murder—and the shocking truth that could destroy a kingdom.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in FictionOne of Vulture's Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of The Observer's Fiction to Look Out for in 2022One of MS Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2022An Indian Express Book to Look Out for in 2022'A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love' Alex Preston, Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2022'Vauhini Vara's lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel begins in India in the 1950s, following a young man born into a Dalit family of coconut farmers in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh. King Rao, as he comes to be known, later moves to the US, where he studies in Seattle, meeting the love of his life and his business partner, the smart and self-assured Margie. King Rao ultimately rises up through Silicon Valley to become the most famous tech CEO in the world and the leader of a powerful, corporate-owned global government. Yet he ultimately ends up living on a remote island off the coast of Washington state, an exile from the world which he has helped build.There, in a beautiful home on an otherwise deserted island, he brings up his brilliant daughter, Athena. Shielded from the world's glances, in many ways she has an idyllic childhood, but she will be forced to reexamine her father's past and take steps to try to decide her own future. She is unlike other girls, and she will find the outside world much more hostile than her father did when he left the coconut grove he called home.A profound and moving novel about technology, consciousness and revolution, The Immortal King Rao asks how we build the worlds in which we live, and whether we ever have the power to leave them?Trade ReviewA monumental achievement: beautiful and brilliant, heartbreaking and wise, but also pitiless, which may be controversial to list among its virtues but is in fact essential to its success. Vara respects her reader and herself too much to yield to the temptation to console us. How rare these days as a reader - and how bracing, in the finest way - to encounter a novel that refuses to treat you like a child or a studio audience. If that were the only thing to love about Rao, it would probably be enough. But as I've said, there's also everything else. * New York Times Book Review *A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love. -- Alex Preston * Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2022' *In this richly imagined saga spanning past, present, and future, Vara brings us a visionary who makes the world in his image, and the strong-willed daughter whose life could be his final legacy. Vara's brilliance is matched only by her heart, and this unforgettable debut will challenge what you think you know about genius, capitalism, consciousness, and what it means to be human. -- Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of OUTLAWEDA fully imagined world: propulsive, prophetic, dizzying. -- Jeet Thayil, author of NARCOPOLISUtterly, thrillingly brilliant. From the first unforgettable page to the last, The Immortal King Rao is a form-inventing, genre-exploding triumph. Vauhini Vara's bravura debut has reshaped my brain and expanded my heart. -- R.O. Kwon, author of THE INCENDIARIESVauhini Vara comes out the gate with a masterwork: a book that is three great novels in one: the tale of a thriving and chaotic Dalit clan in the first decades of independent India; an immigrant success story in '80s America; and a dystopian nightmare of the post-Trump future. -- Karan Mahajan, author of THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBSAn astonishing debut. An amazing imagination. Vara's voice is thrilling, original, dynamic and ever-surprising as her characters move from world to world, from the real to the fantastic, examining the myriad contradictory shapes in which love can appear. -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of THE LAST QUEENThe Immortal King Rao is an odyssey of the grandest scale, spanning over half a century and charting a Dalit immigrant's rise to world power. Vauhini Vara fuses intricate family lore with the history of tech solutionism and capitalist demagoguery, pointing forward to a dangerously likely future of corporate dominion; she writes with the meticulous clarity of a longform journalist, the explosive force of a Trident missile, and the ambition of her own brilliant protagonists. -- Tony Tulathimutte, author of PRIVATE CITIZENSVara's potent debut revolves around a global society run by a corporate board...This is not to be missed. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt's London, the swinging sixties, and by rights MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, in the wake of an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness has been posted to remote northern Finland in a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored by his work, with nothing to spy on, Wilderness finds another way to make money: smuggling vodka across the border into the USSR. He strikes a deal with old KGB pal Kostya, who explains to him there is a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union - but there is something fishy about Kostya's sudden appearance in Finland and intelligence from London points to a connection to cobalt mining in the region, a critical component in the casing of the atomic bomb. Wilderness's posting is getting more interesting by the minute, but more dangerous too.Moving from the no-man's-land of Cold War Finland to the wild days of the Prague Spring, and populated by old friends (including Inspector Troy) and old enemies alike, Hammer to Fall is a gripping tale of deception and skulduggery, of art and politics, a page-turning story of the always riveting life of the British spy.Trade ReviewThe thriller writer's thriller writer returns with one of his best: a dark tale of treachery and betrayal with a humdinger of an ending. * The i *It's a blast...all the elements coalesce for the superbly tense showdown * The Times *An entertaining read, with an intelligent backdrop of cold-war geopolitics. * Financial Times *Those of you who like your fiction based firmly in historical fact, with walk-on parts from the great and the good of the age, scattered with literary, political and cultural references and frequently hilarious to boot, are in for a real treat...This book and its predecessors are such a valuable tonic in these dark times. * Shots *A smart, tense thriller that harks back to [the] great Len Deighton. * The Sun *Possesses all the spy craft of a Le Carré [and] the realpolitik of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther but delivered with a delightful laugh-out-loud lightness of touch * Irish Independent *A delight. Lawton's ongoing recreation of Cold War chicanery is one of the great pleasures of modern spy fiction. -- Mick HerronJohn Lawton finds himself in the same boat as the late Patrick O'Brian - a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack but overlooked by too many readers for too long. * Daily Telegraph *John Lawton's books contain such a wealth of period detail, character description and background information that they are lifted out of any category. Every word is enriched by the author's sophistication and irreverent intelligence, by his meticulous research and his wit. * Literary Review *Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists. * Seattle Times *Lawton's up there with Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. Yes, he's that good. * The Sun *Once again Lawton confirms why, alongside with Mick Herron, he is a spy writer supreme...A wonderful addition to a growing and fascinating body of work. -- Maxim Jakubowski * Crime Time, Book of the Month *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA thrilling portrait of 1960s Berlin and Krushchev's Moscow, centring around the exchange of two spies - a Russian working for the KGB, and an unfortunate Englishman.Having shot someone in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Wilderness finds himself locked up with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go - although forever in Burne-Jones's service. When the Russians started building the Berlin wall in 1961, two 'Unfortunate Englishmen' were trapped on opposite sides. Geoffrey Masefield in the Lubyanka, and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov) in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965 there is a new plan. To exchange the prisoners, a swap upon Berlin's bridge of spies. But, as ever, Joe has something on the side, just to make it interesting, just to make it profitable...Trade ReviewEven reviewers have their favourites and John Lawton is one of mine. Nobody is better at using historical facts as the framework of a really good story... The crowded, complication story is enriched by glimpses of Kennedy and Krushchev, by pinpoint-precise period detail and by interesting, credible characters. * Literary Review *[A] cleverly misleading title, one of the many twists in John Lawton's constantly entertaining Cold War saga... The spying detail is well mixed with humour. * The Times *A complex and beautifully detailed tale, a full-blooded cold-war spy thriller * Irish Times *All these adventures arrive gift-wrapped in writing variously rich, inventive, surprising, informed, bawdy, cynical, heartbreaking and hilarious. However much you know about postwar Berlin, Lawton will take you deeper into its people, conflicts and courage... spy fiction at its best. * Washington Post *Lawton's gift for memorable atmosphere and characters, intelligent plotting and wry prose put him solidly at the top of anyone's A-list of contemporary spy novelists. * Seattle Times *Both books are meticulously researched, tautly plotted, historical thrillers in the moUld of World War II and Cold War fiction by novelists like Alan Furst, Philip Kerr, Eric Ambler, David Downing and Joseph Kanan. * Wall Street Journal on THE UNFORTUNATE ENGLISHMAN and THEN WE TAKE BERLIN *Intricate plotting, colourful characters, and a brilliant prose style put Lawton in the front rank of historical thriller writers. * Publishers Weekly *A sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack but overlooked by too many readers for too long. * Daily Telegraph on A LILY OF THE FIELD *Lawton's up there with Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. Yes, he's that good. * The Sun on THEN WE TAKE BERLIN *While Lawton's previous novels were distinguished by their precise and elegant prose, Then We Take Berlin offers, courtesy of its Cockney protagonist, a cruder but equally effective vernacular style underpinned by mordant black humour. * Irish Times on THEN WE TAKE BERLIN *Lawton builds a wonderfully convincing picture...writing with remarkable authority... as usual with Lawton's books, it's rather more than the sum of its parts. * Spectator on THEN WE TAKE BERLIN *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWritten by 'a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack'- Daily TelegraphThe Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.London, 1956.Khrushchev and Bulganin, leaders of the Soviet Union, are in Britain on an official visit. Chief Inspector Troy is assigned to be Khrushchev's bodyguard and to spy on him. Soon after, a Royal Navy diver is found dead and mutilated beyond recognition in Portsmouth Harbour. What was he doing under the hull of Khrushchev's ship, and who sent him there? Meanwhile, cold-blooded killings have started to follow Troy wherever he goes. Is it possible that the executioner is a fellow policeman, or, worse still, an old friend?Trade ReviewThis is a strange, thoughtful, quiet, intelligent spellbinder of a book, penetrating the very heart of betrayal. * Sunday Times *An early candidate for Thumping Good Thriller of the Year . . . No angst, no darkness, just the joy of a plot racing along in overdrive. * Time Out *A splash of Greene, a twist of Deighton, a small measure of history - Lawton has produced a thrilling cocktail. * The Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn April 1775 Abigail Lovell’s family is divided politically - while her father, who has for decades been schoolmaster at the prestigious Latin School, remains loyal to King George III, she and her two brothers engage in undercover activities designed to destabilize the British occupation of Boston. Her sickly older brother, James, operates the patriots’ spy ring, while Abigail acts as a courier, eluding increasingly aggressive British patrols, and her younger brother, Benjamin, slips out of the city to fight alongside Abigail’s love, Ezra, in the battles at Lexington and Concord.With the help of her friend, Rachel Revere, Abigail smuggles money and supplies out to her brother, Ezra, and Rachel’s husband, Paul. But when a British sergeant is found murdered, Abigail stands accused before a military tribunal, and on the eve of the British assault on Bunker Hill she and her brothers plot to influence the outcome of that pivotal battle. In the tradition of The Name of the Rose and Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Schoolmaster’s Daughter is the story of a family torn asunder by political strife and a determined young woman who makes courageous sacrifices for the patriot cause at the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBerlin, 1979. When the CIA’s most valuable spy is compromised, the Agency realizes it does not have the capability to bring him to safety. If he cannot evade the dreaded East German security service, the result will be chaos and a cascade of failures throughout the Agency’s worldwide operations.Master Sergeant Kim Becker lived through the hell of Vietnam as a member of the elite Studies and Operations Group. When he lost one of his best men in a pointless operation, he began to question his mission. Now, he is serving with an even more secretive Army Special Forces unit based in Berlin on the front line of the Cold War.The CIA turns to Becker’s team of unconventional warfare specialists to pull their bacon out of the fire. Becker and his men must devise a plan to get him out by whatever means possible. It's a race against time to prepare and execute the plan while, alone in East Berlin, the agent must avoid his nemesis and play for time inside the hostile secret service headquarters he has betrayed.One question remains - is the man worth the risk?Trade ReviewWhat's true and what's fiction? Former Special Forces Berlin soldier James Stejskal places you in a tense and thrilling story of a US Special Forces mission to East Germany. * Cold War Conversations Podcast *A Question of Time combines the intrigue of le Carré and the story-telling ability of Forsyth with the authenticity of Chris Ryan. An excellent cold-war thriller. * Matt Johnson, CWA Dagger nominated author, ex-soldier, Patron of Forces Online, and Co-chair Crime Cymru 04/06/2021 *Fiction that reads like fact. Boots on the ground, real-life drama, rich with details only an insider could write… an outstanding book. * John Stryker Meyer, MACV SOG Veteran and Author of Across The Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam *…the author is certainly qualified to write about the military, espionage and counter-terrorism […] This familiarity with weaponry, spy procedures and dynamics are evident in the writing. This man knows his Glocks and/or sabotage devices, and this adds a convincing layer to the story. * Historical Novels Review *The action is described with just enough detail to make it believable and not so much that the story bogs down. The writing is clear and compelling and doesn’t get in the way of the telling. * Crime Fiction Lover *The tale Mr. Stejskal, a veteran of the US Army Special Forces, has woven is a taut, fast-moving, totally-plausible story of inter-agency cooperation at its finest. This is an excellent work of fiction. It is a story about a secret US Army Special Forces unit in Berlin that served throughout the Cold War, a unit that would have probably been wiped out if the Cold War had turned hot. The book is well-crafted, pays attention to detail, and gives long overdue credit to the men and women who were the tip of spear behind enemy lines in East Germany. Put this on your 'must read' list * Barry Broman, Former CIA Chief of Station, author of "Risk Taker, Spy Maker: Tales of a CIA Case Officer *James Stejskal’s A Question of Time will grab you, immerse you in the times, and leave you ready for the next installment. * LTG Charles Cleveland (US Army Retired) Commander *...a good read – action packed and evoking the atmosphere of the times. * Army Rumour Service *Stejskal brings a lively new twist to a familiar area… an intriguing debut… the tradecraft and operational planning are well-drawn and Stejskal takes us into the heart of the American spy set-up in Berlin… The plot feels authentic and Berlin is vividly detailed, right down to the Stasi’s secret door in the Wall. * Financial Times *A thrilling, riveting, and whip-smart novel that feels as though you are being served a slice of Cold War military history. * Love Reading *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn international bestseller with over one million readers. With war threatening to spread from Europe to England, the sleepy village of Crowmarsh Priors settles into a new sort of normal: Evacuees from London are billeted in local homes. Nightly air raids become grimly mundane. The tightening vice of rationing curtails every comfort. Men leave to fight and die. And five women forge an unlikely bond of friendship that will change their lives forever. Alice Osbourne, the stolid daughter of the late vicar, is reeling from the news that Richard Fairfax broke their engagement to marry Evangeline Fontaine, an American girl from the Deep South. Evangeline’s arrival causes a stir in the village—but not the chaos that would ensue if they knew her motives for being there. Scrappy Elsie Pigeon is among the poor of London who see the evacuations as a chance to escape a life of destitution. Another new arrival is Tanni Zayman, a young Jewish girl who fled the horrors of Europe and now waits with her newborn son, certain that the rest of her family is safe and bound to show up any day. And then there’s Frances Falconleigh, a madcap, fearless debutante whose father is determined to keep her in the countryside and out of the papers. As the war and its relentless hardships intensify around them, the same struggles that threaten to rip apart their lives also bring the five closer together. They draw strength from one another to defeat formidable enemies—hunger, falling bombs, the looming threat of a Nazi invasion, and a traitor in their midst—and find remarkable strength within themselves to help their friends. Theirs is a war-forged loyalty that will outlast the fiercest battle and endure years and distance. When four of the women return to Crowmarsh Priors for a VE Day celebration fifty years later, television cameras focus on the heartwarming story of these old women as war brides of a bygone age, but miss the more newsworthy angle. The women’s mission is not to commemorate or remember—they’ve returned to settle a score and avenge one of their own. Revised edition: This edition of War Brides includes editorial revisions.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr Siri Paiboun and his wife are leaving Laos for Moscow to watch the 1980 Olympic Games in this next book in a popular crime series

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisPast meets present in South Carolina. At first, Gillian Culkin, a research librarian in Columbia, South Carolina, feels only mildly perturbed by the protestors outside her office, arguing over the presence of the Confederate flag waving boldly over the State House. As a White Southerner, she hadn't given much thought to racial issues. But after meeting local preacher and Black televangelist Reverend Joe Pearl, who shares bits of history unknown to Gil, she realizes the flag represents far deeper, more entrenched issues of race and inequality. Meanwhile, her job requires transcribing the 19th-century diary of a South Carolina slave owner named William Medlin. A farmer who's an expert on Southern agricultural details, Medlin himself becomes a slaveholder. As he recounts (and Gil transcribes) the tragic journey he undertakes with his newly acquired slave, Medlin's views of slavery change. At the same time, Gil finds her own views on race evolving. The two narratives-one told in the present, the other in the past-provide a probing and insightful look at what it means to be human within an often inhumane system, and what responsibility each of us has to one another.

Read more less