Portsmouth, England,1760. Patricia Kelley, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Barbadian sugarcane planter, falls from her imagined place in the world when her absent father unexpectedly dies. Raised in a Wiltshire boarding school sixteen-year-old Patricia embarks on a desperate crossing on a merchantman bound for Barbados, where she was born, in a brash attempt to claim an unlikely inheritance. Aboard a merchantman under contract with the British Navy to deliver gunpowder to the West Indian forts, young Patricia finds herself pulled between two worlds -- and two identities -- as she charts her own course for survival in the war-torn 18th century.

It is November of 1864, Major General William T. Sherman is about to lead his army of sixty thousand veterans into the heart of the Confederacy. It is the final, excruciating year of a war turned increasingly brutal and desperate.

The men of the maligned and ill-fated Confederate regiment known as the Fiftieth North Carolina look alike. Their faces are dark with smoke, their ribs protrude like barn rafters, and their uniforms are an assortment of filthy rags indiscriminately liberated from Union and Confederate dead.

Among these soldiers are George Hawkins and his brother, Walsh, unwillingly caught in the midst of a brutal war. As the regiment begins a four-hundred-mile death march from Savannah, Georgia, to Bentonville, North Carolina, George finds himself caught between his sense of honor and duty and his knowledge that they are fighting for a cause that is all but lost. Still, he takes consolation in doing in his duty and in his love of a woman--a refugee he encounters during the chaos of the Confederate retreat.

Souls of Lions is a tale of uncommon courage, heroic sacrifice, and flawed humanity amid great suffering in the swamps of North Carolina as two indifferent Confederate soldiers are transformed into the last violent months of the Civil War.

A long-lost French novel in which three soldiers return home from an unpopular, unspeakable war
When "On Leave "was published in Paris in 1957, as France's engagement in Algeria became ever more bloody, it told people things they did not want to hear. It vividly described what it was like for soldiers to return home from an unpopular war in a faraway place. The book received a handful of reviews, it was never reprinted, it disappeared from view. With no outcome to the war in sight, its power to disturb was too much to bear.
Through David Bellos's translation, this lost classic has been rediscovered. Spare, forceful, and moving, it describes a week in the lives of a sergeant, a corporal, and an infantryman, each home on leave in Paris. What these soldiers have to say can't be heard, can't even be spoken; they find themselves strangers in their own city, unmoored from their lives. Full of sympathy and feeling, informed by the many hours Daniel Anselme spent talking to conscripts in Paris, "On Leave "is a timeless evocation of what the history books can never record: the shame and the terror felt by men returning home from war.

Fiction. THE WAR JOURNAL OF LILA ANN SMITH is based on a true story of the invasion and subsequent occupation of the Island of Attu by the Japanese during World War II. This action was followed by the removal of the occupants of Attu to another island near Japan. Irving Warner, after 25 years of research, after interviewing as many survivors as possible, developed this novel focusing on the single Caucasian woman who lived through this, a woman whose husband was killed during the invasion and who went to Japan with the native people. As the author writes in his foreword to this book: "I open this gate and invite you into the life and times of 44 real people on Attu Island, June 1942, all part of the historical record of World War II. I've changed all the names in THE WAR JOURNAL OF LILA ANN SMITH. I've altered some of the facts, especially that of the historical school teacher, who was not interred on Hokkaido Island, but on another island near Yokohama. But beyond this gate, the reader is visiting the spirit and times of the real story, and practically speaking, the events themselves. But I cannot own this story, no one can."

The Great Depression tore countless American lives, families, and dreams apart. As the country struggled to survive against unimaginable domestic challenges, tensions across the sea would soon draw the world into a war beyond imagination. The stories of bravery and sacrifice made by those who fought in that world war are familiar to us, but it is often in the smaller stories that aren't told that a new perspective can be found. The Quinn family of Illinois has suffered alongside their neighbors during the Great Depression, but unlike many, they have never lost sight of the promise of better times ahead. The Depression is showing signs of lifting, and the family risks it all for their own dream. Together for whatever the future might bring, the family moves into a primitive farmhouse on their newly acquired land, hoping for salvation and independence. Life is bleak in those first years, as no amount of hard work can create a profit from the unyielding land. Over his wife's objections, Milburn Quinn makes a bold decision to present his children with a gift. Although it is intended to keep them grounded and entertained, this gift comes with dire consequences for all. Set in a time when the world's norms are being turned upside down like the sod behind a plow, Fate Rode the Wind tells a story of one family's undying patriotism, unending trials, and unconditional love.

*** If you read The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul and enjoyed The Beekeeper of Aleppo, you will love The Stationery Shop of Tehran *** 1953, Tehran. In a small shop in a country on the brink of unrest, two people meet for the very first time. Roya loves nothing better than to while away the hours in the stationery shop run by Mr Fakhri. The store, stocked with fountain pens, shiny ink bottles, and thick wads of writing paper, also carries translations of literature from all over the world. Bahman, with his burning passion for justice, is like no one else she has ever met. But all around them, as their relationship blossoms, life in Tehran is changing. Suddenly, shockingly, violence erupts: a coup d'etat that forever changes their country's future, as well as their own. Marjan Kamali's beautiful novel explores themes of love and loss, and delivers an unforgettable ending. 'An enchanting romance' MY WEEKLY 'Simultaneously briskly paced and deeply moving, this will appeal to fans of Khaled Hosseini and should find a wide audience' BOOKLIST 'Evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful... This book broke my heart again and again' Whitney Scharer, author of THE AGE OF LIGHT 'What a pleasure - a novel that is all at once masterfully plotted, beautifully written, and populated by characters who are arresting, lovable and so real' Elinor Lipman, author of TURPENTINE LANE 'A beautiful and sensitive novel that I loved from the first page' Alyson Richman, international bestselling author of THE LOST WIFE 'A beautifully immersive tale ... brings to life a lost and complex world and the captivating characters who once called it home' Jasmin Darznik, New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD DAUGHTER and SONG OF A CAPTIVE BIRD 'A sweeping romantic tale of thwarted love' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'The unfurling stories... will stun readers... For those who enjoy getting caught up in romance while discovering unfamiliar history of another country' LIBRARY JOURNAL 'Grab your tissues' BOSTON MAGAZINE 'A tender story of enduring love.' MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE 'I! Am! Obsessed! With! This! Book!' COSMOPOLITAN.COM

The Last Dragon of Steeple Morden is an incredible story of survival. Chicago's Top Fighter Pilot in World War II is shot down, deep behind German lines, in the apocalyptic twilight of the war. What happens over the subsequent two weeks tests the young pilot's resolve to survive and affirms mankind's propensity for severe brutality as well as its overwhelming capacity for compassion in the face of death. One of the most fantastic aspects of this story is that it is all true.