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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Historical fiction
A captivating treasure of a novel about Clemmie, a young Victorian Egyptologist, and her entanglement with the legend of the goddess, Nephthys. Quiet and reserved, Clemmie is happy in the background. Although her parents may overlook her talents, her ability to read hieroglyphs makes her invaluable at the Egyptian relic parties which have made her father the toast of Victorian society. But at one such party, the words Clemmie interprets from an unusual amulet strike fear into her heart. The beautiful and dangerous glyphs she holds in her hands will change her life forever. Five years later, Clemmie arrives in Egypt on a mission to save what remains of her family. The childhood game she used to play about the immortal sisters, Isis and Nephthys, has taken on a devastating resonance and it is only by following Nephthys' story that she can undo the mistakes of the past. On her journey up the Nile she will meet unexpected allies and enemies and, along with long-buried secrets and betrayals, Clemmie will be forced to step into the light.
In 1411, ten-year-old Elizabeth Courtenay, the intellectually precocious and lively daughter of the Earl of Devon, starts to keep a diary in a light-hearted fashion as a relief from household tasks and embroidery. Little does she realise then that as an adult she will go on, not only to record the difficult day-to-day life of a Lady of the Manor, but also an extraordinary series of misfortunes and disasters. From the moment she secretly marries William Bonville of Colcombe Castle, her long life becomes one of desperate love and grim endurance, interspersed with moments of beauty, hope and humour. Through her own family and that of her husband, Elizabeth becomes involved in a vicious local feud which leads into the ruthless bloody battles of the Wars of the Roses, culminating in a terrible personal tragedy.
Christmas with the Teashop Girls is a heartwarming and moving story of wartime love, bravery and hope, by the bestselling author of the Woolworths series, Elaine Everest. It is late 1940 and the war feels closer to home than ever for Rose Neville and her staff at the Lyon's Teashop in Margate. The worry of rationing hangs overhead as the Nippies do their best to provide a happy smile and a hot cup of tea for their customers. When a heavy bombing raid targets the Kent coastline, Lyon's is badly hit, throwing the future of the cafe into jeopardy. The light in Rose's life is her dashing fiance Capt. Ben Hargreaves and planning their Christmas Eve wedding. But she must also plan to take two new step-daughters into her life and get on the right side of her wealthy mother-in-law, Lady Diana. Is Rose ready to become a mother so soon? When Rose's half-sister Eileen makes contact, it seems that Rose's dreams of having a sibling are coming true at long last. But her friends begin to suspect that something is not right between Eileen and her husband: just what are they hiding? As the Christmas Eve wedding draws near, the bombings intensify in Kent and London, putting everything and everyone Rose loves in danger. Only one thing is for sure: it will be a Christmas she never forgets . . .
The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare. Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst? Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.
Carl Benz may be known as the "Father of the Automobile," but Bertha Benz was the woman behind the wheel driving the world into a new era. Woman at the Wheel is a gorgeous historical fiction novel that takes a peek under the hood, examining the life of a fascinating woman who refused to let men hit the brakes on her revolutionary machine Inspiring historical fiction based on the real life of Bertha Benz, whose husband built the first prototype automobile, which eventually evolved into the Mercedes-Benz marque. From a young age, Cäcilie Bertha Ringer is fascinated by her father's work as a master builder in Pforzheim, Germany. But those five words, which he wrote next to her name in the family Bible, haunt Bertha. Years later, Bertha meets Carl Benz and falls in love-with him and his extraordinary dream of building a horseless carriage. Bertha has such faith in him that she invests her dowry in his plans, a dicey move since they alone believe in the machine. When Carl's partners threaten to withdraw their support, he's ready to cut ties. Bertha knows the decision would ruin everything. Ignoring the cynics, she takes matters into her own hands, secretly planning a scheme that will either hasten the family's passage to absolute derision or prove their genius. What Bertha doesn't know is that Carl is on the cusp of making a deal with their nemesis. She's not only risking her marriage and their life's work, but is also up against the patriarchy, Carl's own self-doubt, and the clock. Like so many other women, Bertha lived largely in her husband's shadow, but her contributions are now celebrated in this inspiring story of perseverance, resilience, and love.
Mags Perry has fled a loveless marriage and returned from England to 1970s Ireland where she picks up what work she can find as a freelance journalist. Beautiful, intelligent and idealistic, her divorce has made her a pariah in traditional Irish society, but the burgeoning Women Movement offers her an opportunity to join in the fight for a better, fairer republic - and if possible, find a different kind of love along the way.
In August 1945 the Japanese in Malaya finally surrendered. The Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, who were largely Communist, emerged from the jungle to make claim on the promises given them by the British and Malayan authorities.They were to be disappointed. The pre-war ban on the Communist Party in Malaya continued and the promise of land and money in recognition of their brave service failed to be honoured.After three years of frustration they returned to the jungle now calling themselves the Malayan Races Liberation Army. They started to blow up bridges, ambush roads and abduct local businessmen, many of whom were murdered.In 1948, a state of emergency was declared and British and Commonwealth Troops entered the jungle to kill or capture their former allies. This proved no easy task, for their enemy had been well trained during the war by British instructors.The emergency or 'The Undeclared War' lasted until 1960, when the remnants of the terrorists finally accepted an amnesty.The novel 'Jungle Haven' is the sequel to that of 'Strange Alliance'. The story restarts in July 1952 as the book's two main characters, Royal Marines Sgt Major Jim Muir and Sgt Peter Blake, are coming to the end of their unit's two-year stint fighting the terrorists. They have just completed their last patrol and are about to prepare for the move to Singapore then onward to Malta in the troopship Dilwara.
For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its
provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor's ship embarks
upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess's Mountain.
In The Daughter of Rome, Calandra helps her father, a renowned
sculptor, complete the most significant commission of his illustrious
career. But then a catastrophic fire nearly destroys the imperial city,
leaving Calandra reliant on a group of Christians--unusual individuals
unlike any she has encountered before. Intrigued by their worship of
the Son of an invisible God, Calandra grapples with her mistrust, only
to find herself indebted to these believers as they help her rebuild
her shattered world.
'I implore our citizens and allies that when I shall have departed this life they will honor my deeds and name with their praise and kind remembrance.' Vain hope! In death, as in life, political intrigues, family hatreds and betrayals, and sexual passions and jealousies combine with a succession of personal tragedies to destroy the character and good name of Tiberius, the brilliant stepson and successor of the deified Augustus. The 'ablest of all the sovereigns the empire ever had' surges to life with all his stiff pride, mordant wit and penetrating intelligence in this adventure-packed tale of love, war, political double-dealing, partisan struggle and brazen treachery. The hand of fate lays waste all rivals, leaving Tiberius the reluctant Caesar, burdened by the twin griefs of having to give up the woman he loves in order to wed Augustus's licentious daughter, and the bitter humiliation of having been the choice of last resort to govern Rome. While his military prowess shields the empire, his reputation and political authority are under incessant assault and treachery, not only from enemies but even his most trusted lieutenant, Sejanus, in this epic novel of an age whose events often mirror those of the present. Tiberius - Reluctant Caesar depicts a world whose political duplicity, cynical manipulations, fanatical hatreds, public gullibility and sexual intrigues are difficult to distinguish from our own.
'Unspoken' charts the interlocking stories of a very different group of characters through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s in Ireland. It is an ambitious novel, rich in characterisation, which depicts a period integral to the story of modern Ireland.
The Secrets of the Lake is a gripping wartime novel, by the author of The Silk Weaver, Liz Trenow. 'Masterful storytelling, immersive locations, and characters that inhabit your heart from the first page' - Gill Paul, author of The Secret Wife. The war may be over, but for Molly life is still in turmoil. Uprooted from London after the death of her mother, Molly, her father and younger brother Jimmy are starting again in a quiet village in the countryside of Colchester. As summer sets in, the heat is almost as oppressive as the village gossip. Molly dreams of becoming a journalist, finding a voice in the world, but most of the time must act as Jimmy's carer. At just ten years old he is Molly's shadow, following her around the village as she falls under the spell of local boy Kit. Kit is clever, funny and a natural-born rebel. Rowing on the waters of the lake with him becomes Molly's escape from domestic duty. But there is something Kit is not telling Molly. As the village gossip starts building up with whispers against Molly's father over missing church funds, everything Molly thought she knew is turned upside down. And on one stormy night, when she sneaks out of the house to try to put things right, Jimmy vanishes. Never to be seen again. Decades later, Molly is an elderly woman in sheltered housing, still haunted by the disappearance of her brother. When two police officers arrive to say that the remains of a body have been found at the bottom of the lake, it seems like Molly will at long last have her answer . . .
The fiddler busking in the Columbus Circle subway station in 1965 is the Dekrepitzer Rebbe, the sole survivor of the obscure Dekrepitzer Hasidic sect known before the war for its rebbes' fiddling. The Last Dekrepitzer follows the life and spiritual quest of Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher a/k/a Sam Lightup, from his isolated shtetl in the mountains of southern Poland, where he is brought up to be the future rebbe, to the wharves in Naples, where he jams with Black soldiers waiting to ship home at the end of the war. Dressing him in the uniform and dog tags of an AWOL soldier, they smuggle him home to rural Mississippi. He lives for years among the Blacks, speaks Black English, preaches and plays the blues with the Brown Sugar Ramblers trio. His marriage to a Black woman, Lula Curtin, legal by Jewish law though forbidden under Mississippi law, results in a cross burning that forces them to flee to Manhattan. He plays on the streets of Harlem and Midtown with the Reverend Gary Davis, the great blind guitarist whose mission is saving souls for the next world. Shmuel Meir's devout wife, though she knows herself to be the Dekrepitzer Rebbitzen, is spurned by the Jewish community. Through it all, Shmuel Meir fiddles his prayers in defiance of God. But God gives the Dekrepitzer Rebbe no peace. |
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