During the Orphan Trains Era, 1854 until 1929, an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, or homeless children and families were relocated from major metropolitan east coast cities to new homes in the "west" traveling aboard trains. Children relocated via

A Novelist's Fanciful Obsession with a Dark-Eyed Knight Becomes Reality in BEFORE I WAKE, a Historical Time-Travel Romance by Mary Ellen Johnson 13th Century England, Tintagel Castle Historical novelist Magdalena Moore is haunted by the black-haired, black-eyed knight she first encountered during a past life regression. Across a lifetime, Magdalena searches for the truth about Ranulf Navarre and Jane Dreigh. At Tintagel Castle, Magdalena is miraculously transported to thirteenth-century England, where she is Lady Jane, and Lord Navarre is her husband. But Ranulf is not the man of her imagination. Why is Ranulf so cold and Janey so erratic? What secrets are they hiding? When England plunges into civil war, Ranulf backs the wrong side. Knowing he is destined to die in battle, Magdalena tries desperately to cheat fate, save Ranulf, and finally find happiness. But secrets can ruin everything, and Magdelena's secret is too fantastical to be believed. Publisher's Note: Readers passionate about history will appreciate the author's penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man's timeless inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes with some vulgarity characteristic of the time. From the Author: I like to think BEFORE I WAKE is the life I might have lived—had I made a lot of unfortunate relationship choices and been transported back to thirteenth century Cornwall. The kernel of my tale is true. As a young wife and mother, I did undergo a past life regression, which I detail pretty much as it happened in BEFORE I WAKE. While I'd always been drawn to medieval England and had already started working on what would become my first historical romance, The Lion and the Leopard, that particular regression—whether real or simply a manifestation of my imagination—has stayed with me. THE TRAVELS ACROSS TIME SERIES Before I Wake Eternal Beloved THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order The Lion and the Leopard A Knight There Was Within A Forest Dark A Child Upon The Throne Lords Among the Ruins The Flames of Rebellion MEET MARY ELLEN JOHNSON Her passion for Medieval England sparked Mary Ellen Johnson's writing career. Her first medieval historical, The Lion and the Leopard, was followed by The Landlord's Black-Eyed Daughter, a historical novel based on the Alfred Noyes poem, "The Highwayman." (Published under the pseudonym, Mary Ellen Dennis.) Landlord was chosen as one of the top 100 historical romances of 2013. After taking a twenty-year detour in a quixotic quest to change the world—rather like Arthurian knights' quests to find the holy grail, which ended in similar failure—Mary Ellen has happily returned to historical fiction writing and her favorite time period, the tumultuous fourteenth century. Her six-book series, Knights of England, follows the fortunes of the characters (and their progeny) introduced in The Lion and the Leopard through the Black Death, the reign of that most gloriously medieval of monarchs, Edward III, the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and ends with the deposition and murder of Richard II in 1399. There is nothing Mary Ellen loves more than bringing Medieval England alive for the reader. She particularly enjoys researching battles, campaigns, the daily lives of both lord and peasant, and trying to figure out our ancestors' thought processes, particularly how they viewed their world. Oh, and did she mention the castles and cathedrals? Mary Ellen likes to say her favorite place in the world is standing before the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral. (Hyperbole, of course, since Mary Ellen is not that well-traveled and her favorite places are probably wherever her kids and grandkids reside.) However—and the very recounting gives her chills—a distant cousin recently shared the results of her years-long genealogical research on the family tree. When flipping back through the centuries, Mary Ellen began finding hauntingly familiar names—John of Gaunt, Edward the Black Prince, Edward II, Edward III, even Richard the Lionheart! All the historical characters she's spent a lifetime reading and writing about! How can that be? Genetic memory? Reincarnation? She has no idea, but you can bet she'll be exploring the possibilities in future novels!

Civil War Once Again Threatens England in the Medieval Historical, THE FLAMES OF REBELLION, by Mary Ellen Johnson 1397 to 1403. England, Tintagel, London, Shrewsbury, Conway Castle, Tower of London, Cumbria, Westminster Abbey, Wales and Scotland In the fourteenth century's waning days, the tyrannical Richard II is knocked from his throne, and Henry IV is crowned, despite a shaky claim to the throne. Knight Matthew Hart, now in his sixties, believes he can retire to a quiet life in the wilds of Cumbria while Lancelot and Janey's love remains more the stuff of Romances than reality. Yet, all too soon, England's lords grow restless, betrayal is in the air, and Matthew and his family must again ride into battle on behalf of their endangered king. The fates of all the characters who grace the Knights of England series, spanning a century-including some of the most vivid battles, events and historical characters in medieval history-are resolved. Publisher's Note: Readers with a passion for history will appreciate the author's penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man's timeless inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes and NO use of modern vulgarity. From the Author: There is nothing new under the sun. If we seek to understand today's events, history will always provide the answer. By 1398 the megalomaniacal Richard II had consolidated his power, executed or banished all his enemies and destroyed all those who might speak out in opposition to him. Two years later Richard was deposed, thrown into a dungeon in Pontefract Castle and starved to death. Lessons: We can never predict the future; actions always have unintended consequences; we sow the seeds of our own destruction and payback's a bitch! THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order The Lion and the Leopard A Knight There Was Within A Forest Dark A Child Upon The Throne Lords Among the Ruins The Flames of Rebellion

As the Fourteenth-Century Closes, So Does the Rule of England's Most Tyrannical Monarch in the Medieval Historical, LORDS AMONG THE RUINS, by Mary Ellen Johnson Medieval England from the Aftermath of 1381 Peasants' Revolt to the Deposition and Murder of Richard II on 14 Feb 1400 As the former boy king, Richard II, approaches his third decade, Matthew Hart and England's other great lords struggle to deflect his more destructive impulses, which increasingly threaten the kingdom. Amidst attempted assassinations, growing civil war and political intrigue, Matthew Hart, his beloved wife, Margery Watson, and their offspring live and love and war their way through the last years of the fourteenth century, seeing the deposition and murder of England's most tyrannical monarch. Publisher's Note: Readers with a passion for history will appreciate the author's penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man's timeless inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes and NO use of modern vulgarity. From the Author: There is nothing new under the sun. If we seek to understand today's events, history will always provide the answer. By 1398 the megalomaniacal Richard II had consolidated his power, executed or banished all his enemies and destroyed all those who might speak out in opposition to him. Two years later Richard was deposed, thrown into a dungeon in Pontefract Castle and starved to death. Lessons: We can never predict the future; actions always have unintended consequences; we sow the seeds of our own destruction and payback's a bitch! THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order The Lion and the Leopard A Knight There Was Within A Forest Dark A Child Upon The Throne Lords Among the Ruins

Love, Duty and Loyalty Collide in a Dramatic Fashion to Determine King Edward II's Future in the Medieval Historical Romance, The Lion and the Leopard, by Mary Ellen Johnson --Medieval England in the reign of Edward II, from 1307-1327-- Maria Rendell wants to be a dutiful wife to husband Phillip, but can't deny her attraction to their liege lord, Richard of Sussex. Loving Philip should be easy. She has married the knight of whom minstrels sing; the knight who saved Richard's life. But when Phillip abandons Maria to indulge his wanderlust, she turns to Richard, sparking a scandelous, passionate affair amidst the crumbling kingdom of Edward II. Meanwhile, Edward II's barons are rebelling, executing his favorites, while across the channel in France, Isabella, Edward II's wife--the She-Wolf of France—plans to invade England. Then King Edward is captured as Richard and Maria prepare to flee to safety, and Phillip returns to discover Maria's betrayal. The day of reckoning is now at hand--not only for Maria, Richard, and Phillip, but for that most unfortunate of Plantagenet kings, Edward II. From the Publisher: Readers with a passion for history will appreciate the author's penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with being authentic to the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man's inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes and NO use of modern vulgarity. Fans of Elizabeth Chadwick, Bernard Cornwell and Philippa Gregory as well as Tamara Leigh and Suzan Tisdale will not want to miss this series. "Author Mary Ellen Johnson strides through history with the reader in the front seat."~Karen Lausa ". . . it challenged my intellect as well as my heart."~Margaret Watkins, eBook Discovery Reviewer THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order The Lion and the Leopard A Knight There Was Within A Forest Dark A Child Upon The Throne Lords Among the Ruins