Historical Trees

Consie is home for a funeral when she stumbles upon a family letter sent from Germany in 1945, which contains staggering news: Consie's great-uncle Hermann, who was transported to Auschwitz with his wife and three daughters, might have escaped. This seems improbable to Consie. Did people escape from Auschwitz? Could her great-uncle have been among them? What happened to Hermann? Did anyone know? These questions are at the root of Consie's excavation of her family's history as she seeks, 70 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, to discover what happened to Hermann.

When 15-year-old Tisha Crowder gets caught shoplifting, Attorney Nolan Duffy tries to protect her from consequences that could rattle her already troubled life. His daughter, Jillian, feels like she's the one being punished instead - by having Tisha assigned to work with her on a backlog of genealogy files. Tisha doesn't seem interested in taking the job seriously, and Jillian's patience wears thin. Besides, everyone in Canyon Mines knows the Crowder family has experienced generations of brokenness. Then a sliver of hope turns up.

"Beneath the Olive Tree, A Journey of Survival" is a compelling historical fiction novel that delves into the intricate dynamics of family, loyalty, and survival amidst the backdrop of war and political upheaval. The story follows the Vassanas family, primarily through the eyes of young Joey Vassanas, as they navigate the rapidly changing societal landscape of the Mediterranean from the 1940s through the early communist era.

In the early 1920s, the accelerating destruction of the California redwoods is more than nature-loving Marion Baker can bear. After throwing herself headlong into the work of the Save the Redwoods League, she meets the handsome Frank Duncan—only to find out he’s the son of one of the area’s worst timber barons. Though deeply disappointed, she realizes she could have an opportunity to convince him to rescue her favorite grove of trees from his father’s greedy grasp. But as she grows to love Frank, will she be able to persuade him?

In the golden age of the Phoenicians, only the western reaches of the Great Sea remain uncharted. Kaly, a restless teenager from the ancient port of Tyre, escapes the clutches of her fiendish grandmother, high priestess of the Goddess. She flees west with her father, a famed helmsman and explorer. Together, they discover the fabled Pine Tree Island, where they build a new home with a motley crew of fellow adventurers.

The Christmas trees in Knightsbridge sparkle with festive joy, and there’s nothing more fun than Christmas cocktail parties to ring in the new year of 1922. Camille Divine, known as Lady Camille Divine, has decorated her little house in Birdcage Mews with glistening decorations and a beautiful Christmas tree, but she has more on her mind than the festive season.

It's 1969, and small-town girl Faith Taylor longs for the excitement of the city. Leaving her family home in Willow Tree Bend, Faith lands a job at The Angel - Melbourne's most infamous nightclub. While Faith relishes her newfound freedom, she can't help but notice that there are some things about the club that don't add up. So when a policeman shows her a shocking photograph and reveals that a former waitress was murdered, Faith realises she must help to bring down the shadowy owner behind the club's activities.

The bestselling author of National Jewish Book Award Finalist The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz is back with another powerful nonfiction book for young readers, this time spotlighting twin sisters whose worlds were turned upside down when Adolf Hitler assumed power. Through trials...

In book two of the Tree Street Kids series, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church’s summer camp. They’ll need them! Determined to find Ruthie’s lost cat and protect Jack’s new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they’ve cornered the “enemy”, the kids realize someone has gone missing. Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?

A winner of the Pura Belpré Award, now in Spanish! “We need books to break open our hearts, so that we might feel more deeply, so that we might be more human in these unkind times. This is a book doing work of the spirit in a time of darkness.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on...

Lovely Margaret Stewart was a proud and spirited young lady - too proud to accept the unwilling hospitality of her only living relative. But in strait-laced New Orleans early in the 19th century, there were few means for a respectable young woman to make her own way in the world - and that was why Margaret came, as governess to the forbiding Villars mansion. In her charge was a child who seem possessed by satanic evil. Invading her dreams was the darlky handsome, fierce-tempered man who employed her.

From the Edgar Award nominated author of What Happened to Rachel Riley? comes an engrossing, timely, and propulsive story of two girls in Paris—one living under Nazi rule in the 1940s; the other in present day—and the mysterious painting that unites them. Perfect for fans of The Bletchley...

Charles Ball was born into slavery in Calvert County, Maryland and served there under several owners until, at twenty-six, he was sold and taken to South Carolina as part of a fifty-person coffle. After nearly seven years of grueling and often intolerable treatment in South Carolina and Georgia, he fled Georgia and returned to Maryland. This creative rendering of Balls' 1837 autobiography closely follows the original narrative. It recounts his upbringing in Maryland, his forced march to the deep South, and his escape and journey back home.

Spring, 1096. Europe’s princes march their armies toward the Holy Land. They are accompanied by tens of thousands of pilgrims, led by a fiery preacher Peter the Hermit. Their destination is Jerusalem, the holiest of all Christian cities. Their goal is to conquer the Muslim occupation. History will call them the First Crusade. Among the pilgrims is Oderic of Rheims, a Benedictine monk from Eastern France. He's devoted to the cause, but the Crusade will test every vow he swore to the Church. His poverty will be challenged by greed, his obedience tempted by blood lust.

"Somebody’s daughter; Somebody’s sister; Somebody’s wife. Who am I in all of this?" She is Deborah, adopted daughter of a Jewish carpenter; sister to a crucified holy man and wife of Judah of Kerith—later to be known as Judas Iscariot. Those men are gone; their stories have been told. But Deborah’s destiny is just beginning to unfold. Where the men work openly, women work in secret. When it is made clear to her that there is no place for her in the new movement that heralds Christianity, Deborah leaves her native land for Alexandria with its great library and schools of mystical thought.

This is a tale of witches and wishes, tales and trees, stepmothers, spells and a girl who sleeps in the ashes by the fire.... But it's not the one you know.

Before the #MeToo movement, there was the 1970s and three girls - Tessa, Athena, Jenny – looking for love, friendship, and meaningful futures. In desiring to break traditional roles in gender and sexuality, they face challenges from family, church and society. With new freedoms, there are also dangers. This is a story of women's empowerment that has relevance today for women and men. For listeners aged 15+

When Eloise Blackburn finds a strange gentleman perched in the leafy branches of an ash tree, she has strong suspicions he is not who he says he is. After all, the neighboring Allen family has never mentioned a cousin named Crispin from the West Indies. And what's this he's saying about a missing inheritance and a secret passageway in Allen Abbey?

In recent years house histories have become the new frontier of popular, participatory history. People, many of whom have already embarked upon that great adventure of genealogical research, and who have encountered their ancestors in the archives and uncovered family secrets, are now turning to...

Having drawn comparisons to Gone with the Wind and Out of Africa, The Fever Tree is a page-turner of the very first order. Frances Irvine, left destitute in the wake of her father’s sudden death, has been forced to abandon her life of wealth and privilege in London and emigrate to the Southern...