Historical Literary Fiction Saga

When we last saw Albert Schmidt Esq. (“Schmidtie” to all near and dear), he had been expelled from paradise: his love Carrie, the Puerto Rican waitress 40 years his junior, had taken up with a blond giant nearer her age and possibly the father of her baby - assuming it isn’t Schmidt. Meanwhile, his only confirmed child, Charlotte, had proposed a truce in their perennially strained relations, which Schmidt accepted, despite its obliging him to resume dealings with her repulsive husband and her mother-in-law-cum-psychiatrist, whose life’s work has been turning Charlotte decisively against Schmidt.

After his experiences as a young naval officer in battles off Okinawa, Philip Bowman returns to America and finds a position as a book editor. It is a time when publishing is still largely a private affair - a scattered family of small houses here and in Europe - a time of gatherings in fabled apartments and conversations that continue long into the night. In this world of dinners, deals, and literary careers, Bowman finds he fits in perfectly. But despite his success, love eludes him.

In 1944, 20-year-old Marlene visits her older cousin, Eva Braun - Adolf Hitler's mistress - at the Fuhrer's Bavarian mountain retreat. There, Marlene finds herself in a strange paradise. The two women skinny-dip in a nearby lake, watch films in a private cinema, and flirt with the SS officers at the dinner table. But soon a mission of mercy forces Marlene to question her allegiance to both her cousin and her country - and to face the chilling reality that exists outside her sheltered world.

Old-school lawyer Albert Schmidt has spent years carefully climbing the ladder of success. But now, at what should be the pinnacle of his career, his life is in chaos. Within months, he is widowed and forcibly retired from his firm. He harbors painfully mixed feelings about his ambitious daughter’s impending marriage. Suddenly, in the midst of this turmoil, a seductive young woman asks Smitty what he wants. Far from being a time of satisfaction and complacency, the middle age encountered by Begley’s hero is the beginning of a new journey—tantalizing, yet unnerving.

Que contient l'armoire allemande qui trône en bonne place au cœur de la demeure corrézienne des Delalande ? C'est la question qui hante Alexandrine depuis son enfance. Jusqu'à ce jour de l'été 1979 où elle hérite de la fameuse armoire et surtout des secrets qu'elle recèle. Les carnets d'Hélène, sa mère, projettent Alexandrine aux heures fiévreuses de la Libération, après que cette femme singulière, volage et insouciante, s'est trouvée emportée par une passion scandaleuse. La découverte de cette part d'ombre, soudain révélée, va à jamais bouleverser son existence.

1849. Léonie, fille de modestes résiniers, grandit blessée par le désamour de sa mère, qui, un jour, lui assène : "Tu n'es pas faite pour le bonheur, tout comme ta dernière fille". Elle deviendra ramasseuse de sangsues. Sa benjamine, Margot, refuse cette existence de labeur et de honte : à elle la Ville d'Hiver, à elle le choix d'une autre vie. Par amour, un homme bâtira pour elle la Maison du Cap... Se poursuit au fil des décennies et des tumultes de l'histoire une grande saga d'héroïnes.

In 1794, Johnny Watkins returns to America from Barbados, intent on becoming a great statesman. Even his hero, John Adams, believes the gifted boy will go far. There's just one catch: Johnny must learn to pass for white. He finds a spirited and lovely confidante in Kate, one of the few who knows that Johnny's father had been born a slave. But as he moves closer toward the new city of Washington, Johnny leaves Kate behind, falling instead for a prominent Maryland heiress who may not have his best interests at heart.

Based on the life of West Texas pioneer J.D. "Big John" Sanders, Generations is a celebration of Irish heritage, a story of indomitable spirit and unfailing vision, and of relentless pursuit of the American dream. After a whirlwind romance with the formidable Nora Brooks, Big John forges a cattle town in the rugged West Texas frontier during World War I. Thirty years later, Marion Kidd Sanders journeys to New York in pursuit of fame and fortune and brings the family name to new heights.

The Kades’ two older children, Elizabeth and James, are growing into young adults in the peaceful riverside town of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s. When traitors plot to murder the Prophet Joseph Smith, James learns of their plan. Danger and intrigue mount as James strives to shield the Prophet from assassination.

It is the year 1916, and pretty young Eithne Clay runs a shabby but genteel South London boarding house while her husband is off at war. Her 14-year old son Ralph dotes on his mother, but has adolescent thoughts he'd rather hide from her. Winnie, the young maid, is a homely, good-hearted country girl, rejected by Archie, the cheeky butcher's boy before he too is called up. And when the dreaded telegram arrives at the house, things turn from difficult to desperate for the two young women....

It is 1898, and groups of starving Puerto Ricans, los hambrientos, roam the parched countryside and dusty towns begging for food. Under the yoke of Spanish oppression, the Caribbean island is forced to prepare to wage war with the United States. Up in the mountainous coffee region of Utuado, Vicente Vega and Valentina Sanchez labor to keep their small farm from the creditors. When the Spanish-American War and the great San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899 bring devastating upheaval, the young couple is lured, along with thousands of others, to the sugar plantations of Hawaii.

Fourteen years after the end of slavery, Lord Henry Hardin and his wife, Lady Bertha, enjoy an entitled life in Union County, Arkansas. Until he faces a devastating reality: Bertha is unable to bear children. If Henry doesn't produce an heir, the American branch of his family name will die out. So Henry, desperate to preserve his aristocratic family lineage, does the unthinkable.

Lydia Dawson is living on the Illinois frontier when she hears an unusual doctrine preached by a traveling minister from Ohio. Lydia’s heart is stirred, but she is forbidden by her family to have anything to do with this new-found religion called Mormonism. In Independence, Missouri, Christian Kade is facing mounting persecution because of his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. How these two courageous people surmount their trials and come to share a triumphant love is the compelling story of riveting series of historical novels, The Kade Family Saga.

On the outer banks of the Carolinas in 1941, fishermen and a few lonely sailors constitute the human population. Dominating the rough yet beautiful landscape is the majestic Killakeet Lighthouse, run for generations by the Thurlow family. But Josh Thurlow, the lighthouse keeper's son, has...

À la Combe aux Oliviers, la famille Valentin - Ulysse, le père, Armide et Lucrèce, ses deux filles - vit au rythme des saisons. Tout comme son père, Lucrèce, la cadette, a la passion de l'olivier. Quand, au lendemain de la Grande Guerre, elle prend la direction du domaine, elle consacre sa vie à ses arbres, au nombre desquels Noé, le plus vieux, son confident des bons comme des mauvais jours. À l'aube d'une vie nouvelle, tout bascule. Veuve et mère d'une petite Aurélie, cette femme entière conquiert le droit de vivre de nouvelles amours, traverse la Seconde Guerre en résistante et surtout se bat pour sa fille, atteinte de la poliomyélite, autant que pour la survie de ses oliviers.

Paris, sous le Second Empire. Napoléon III confie au baron Haussmann la mission d'"assainir" la capitale en la quadrillant d'avenues et de boulevards - ce qu'il fait avec un zèle qui lui vaut le surnom d'Attila. Des quartiers entiers sont anéantis. Rue Childebert, Rose Bazelet mène une vie paisible. Jusqu'au jour où elle reçoit la lettre fatidique : sa maison doit à son tour être démolie. Mais Rose a fait à son mari disparu le serment de ne jamais quitter ce qui fut leur foyer : contre tous, elle va se battre pour sauver la demeure familiale, qui renferme un secret jalousement gardé.

Yankee transplant Daniel Musgrove can't seem to fit in at his Mississippi high school. When he meets fellow outsider Tim Cousins, things look up. But then the two boys' battles with a local bully escalate into a violent act that rocks the town.

Facing challenges in an increasingly colonial world, Chye Hoon, a rebellious young girl, must learn to embrace her mixed Malayan-Chinese identity as a Nyonya - and her destiny as a cook, rather than following her first dream of attending school like her brother. Amidst the smells of chillies and garlic frying, Chye Hoon begins to appreciate the richness of her traditions, eventually marrying Wong Peng Choon, a Chinese man. Together, they have ten children.

As the Civil War raged and goldfields beckoned, a gunman stalked the territories on a mission to kill American settlers. He would elude governors and armies, bounty hunters, and posses, until his demise at the climax of a fierce high-country manhunt. By then, Felipe Espinosa had claimed more than 30 lives to quietly become one of the nation's first serial killers and foreign terrorists.

In the early 1900s an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea, just as the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule. Orphaned by the sunk vessel are two sisters and their half-brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them. Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic.