Inspirational Historical Fiction

Author Carol Umberger combines her love of history, romance, and God in a quartet of powerful stories set in 14th-century Scotland during the reign of Robert the Bruce, Scotland's great hero king.

In the wake of WWII, a grieving fisherman submits a poem to a local newspaper: a rallying cry for hope, purpose...and rocks. When the poem spreads farther than he ever intended, Robert Bliss's humble words change the tide of a nation. Boxes of rocks inundate the tiny coastal Maine town, and he sets his calloused hands to work, but the building halts when tragedy strikes. Decades later, Annie Bliss is summoned back to Ansel-by-the-Sea when she learns her Great-Uncle Robert, the man who became her refuge during the hardest summer of her youth, is now the one in need of help.

Survival rests with Rachelle Macquinet, a beautiful young couturiere, and Marquis Fabien de Vendome, her dashing nobleman-husband, when Queen Mother Catherine de Medici unfolds her murderous scheme to preserve her reign. Faith in Christ must uphold them to escape the Queen's web of treachery.

Cynthia Kent is a burden. She's tried to help her sister and brother-in-law, but most of her efforts have ended up in disasters of varying degrees. She's depended on their charity for too long and it was high time she started taking care of herself. But how? Tyler Shelton is a widower with two young children. As the sheriff, raising two children alone while handling his important job has pushed him to the breaking point. He's taken everything one day at a time, but his family is suffering and they need help. Tyler is used to giving help to others, but not asking for it.

No one expected Barley to have an encounter with the Messiah. He was homeless, hungry, and struggling to survive in first-century Jerusalem. Most surprisingly, he was a dog. But through Barley's eyes, the story of a teacher from Galilee comes alive in a way we've never experienced before.

On January 18th, 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He'd been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.

Tennessee, 1950: a time and place that straddles the past and present. Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid by the town (though she’s only in her early 30s), and she takes that label with good humor and a grain of salt. Ever since her parents passed away, she has hidden her loneliness behind a fierce independence and a claim of not needing anyone. But when she realizes that someone has been stealing vegetables from her garden - a feral, dirty-faced boy who disappears into the hills - something about him haunts Ivorie.

Betrayed and left for dead, a soldier in 13th-century East Africa winds up in hiding as a monk in Roha (Lalibela). He soon gets romantically entangled with a wealthy heiress as he struggles to maintain his monastic vows. However, when old enemies resurface and threaten those he has come to care for, he secretly picks up the sword again, offering salvation by day with the Bible, but secretly exacting deadly vengeance and justice by night with the sword.

Author Carol Umberger combines her love of history, romance, and God in a quartet of powerful stories set in 14th-century Scotland during the reign of Robert the Bruce, Scotland's great hero king.

When everything you know and believe is telling you "no", do you have the strength to listen to the true voice of your heart? Far away in Iron Creek, stagecoach driver Nelson Gustavson is fighting his own loneliness and places an advert for a bride. As replies flood in, he begins to fear that he’ll have to settle for someone, or search hard to make a connection. That is, until he finds Bronwen’s letter, a blunt and honest reply that he feels compelled to respond to. As Bronwen and Nelson connect through their letters, she feels his warmth radiate through his honesty.

She thought God had forgotten her, until a pastor reached out from Wyoming and offered her a brand-new life. But can she let go of the memories she left behind to love again? Missy Stanton believes her life is over when her husband, Tommy, dies in a tragic work accident in the railyards of Boston. Alone in the city with no family and worse prospects, she turns to the Matrimonial Times in a moment of weakness. There, she meets Pastor Jack Tibsdale, who offers her a home in a place in Birch River, Wyoming, in return for her hand in marriage.

If you’re not willing to take a chance, you’ll never know what could have been. After losing his wife to a horrific forest fire, Landen Clayborn is looking to start over. So, when the mayor of Daisy Creek offers him the chance to start up a new restaurant in town, Landen is eager to accept. With sorrow behind him and his restaurant beginning to flourish, Landen is moving forward - and any ideas of love and remarrying are the furthest things from his mind.

As the newly appointed deputy, Seth Gibbons came to Green River with one purpose—to save the town from corruption. But when he arrives and discovers that things aren’t exactly as he’d been led to believe, Seth soon finds that his life in Green River has taken a completely different turn. Surprisingly, he is able to build a good life for himself in the quiet town, surrounded by many good people keen to help him, including the local doctor, Thomas Walters. Seth realizes that the only thing still missing from his life is someone to share it with.

This story will resonate with women and men who are trying to navigate through real life with grace and honor. What follows is a romance story with a twist. Because of the harsh realities of her widowhood during the Victorian period in Baltimore, Abigail succumbs to a life of poverty. Determined to find a way out, she becomes a member of The Woman's Exchange and manages to gain the trust and admiration of Mrs. Harmon Brown, the founder of the Exchange. Abigail is offered a position on the board of directors. At the annual board meeting, Abigail reconnects with Bill Garrett.

In the port of Charleston, South Carolina, post-Revolutionary War passions reach fever pitch. There, Lilyan's past catches up with her. As a former patriot spy, she is charged with the murder of a British officer. Thrown into the "Exchange Building" and chained alongside prostitutes, thieves, and murderers, she seeks the courage to survive and the faith to believe she will find her missing child, Laurel. Determined to free his wife at any cost, Nicholas finds himself forced back into a life of violence.

When former Congressman Mark Stedman throws in the towel on his presidential campaign, his only choice is to return to his home state and decide how to spend the rest of his life...until he meets Josiah Stoltzfus, an Amish farmer from Pennsylvania. Using his old campaign headquarters for a base, Mark Stedman determines to introduce a new candidate to America. He pledges to do everything in his power to make sure Josiah gets elected. But can a plain man of faith turn the tide of politics and become the leader of America? And what will he have to risk to do it?

It is 1943 - the height of the Second World War. With the men taken by the army, Berlin has become a city of women. And while her husband fights on the Eastern Front, Sigrid Schröder is, for all intents and purposes, the model soldier's wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime. But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman who dreams of her former Jewish lover.

Reverend Herbert F. Smith is a noted theologian, author, and scholar. Hidden Victory, an internationally best-selling novel, has been published in numerous countries around the world. For this work, Smith engaged in extensive research and lived in the Holy Land while he wrote the first draft. A historical novel of Jesus’ life, Hidden Victory can be approached as revelation, as history, and as adventure.

Life has never been simple for Jennifer McBee. As if being shy and hard of hearing wasn’t enough, now Jennifer is faced with the humiliation of her failed wedding. Desperate to escape, Jennifer decides to leave heartbreak behind her and travels west to be with her brother, the pastor of a small Nebraska town called Daisy Creek. While her brother has hopes for her making some new friendships with the townsfolk of Daisy Creek, Jennifer still feels removed from the community of this close-knit town.

As the oddball in the family and the eldest daughter of a renowned doctor, Gina has always wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. The men around her refuse to accept her ambitions and hard-earned qualifications, and Gina knows she will never achieve her dream in a small-minded society like Richmond, Virginia.