Colonial Fiction

The Diary of Essie Lassiter was an authentic read, with a strong female narrator blazing a fiery path in a harsh new world. Her voice was as captivating as her journey, and the world created around her was vibrant with the sights, sounds and smells of colonial life. – Reedsy Discovery In the runup to the Revolutionary War, a young English midwife is unsuspectingly thrown into the London Debtor’s Prison. With no prospect of retiring her debt, she becomes indentured to Aquila Wright, a wealthy mill owner in the British colony of Maryland. After saving Aquila's life and earning his ...

When the Mayflower reaches Plymouth in 1620, survival—not romance—is on everyone's mind. Yet amid the brutal winter that claims half the settlers, an unexpected connection forms between John Alden, a skilled cooper with no family ties, and Priscilla Mullins, a merchant's daughter who loses everything. As spring brings new life to the struggling colony, their relationship blossoms—until cultural differences pull them apart. John clings to tradition while Priscilla explores the healing wisdom of their Wampanoag neighbors. With military leader Miles Standish also pursuing Priscilla, John...

A master gunsmith. A war that changes everything. Can one young man forge his own destiny in the fires of revolution? From the author of the smash-hit bestselling Sunlit Silence Series of WWII in the Air comes Frank A. Mason’s award-winning Journeyman Chronicles, an unforgettable historical adventure set in the turbulent years of the American Revolution. Will Yelverton is just nineteen, a skilled gunsmith with dreams of setting up his own shop on the Tennessee frontier. But when war erupts in the colonies, his future shatters. Drafted as the armorer for the North Carolina Militia, Will ...

Faulkner's victory came at a terrible price. Driving back the Da’al’s initial attack has left the Mantis destroyed and her crew scattered across space. All hope now seems lost. And with the arrival of their new battle fleet, it seems that the Da’al are determined to push humanity to the very brink of extinction. Desperate to turn the tide, the remaining Marines are dispatched to Tigris where the discovery of a long lost alien technology may well provide them with the advantage they’re looking for. But it may already be too late. R.L.Giddings’ Silver Fleet Series is a masterclass...

This fascinating audiobook is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time.

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Pennsylvania’s Juniata Valley, this sweeping narrative masterfully blends historical fiction and documented events to illuminate the early American frontier. Juniata: A Chronicle of Land, Legacy, and Witness traces the sacred bond between people and place—beginning with the spiritual worldview of pre-Columbian shamans, through the clash and co-existence of Lenape and Tuscarora tribes, to the arrival of Swiss Anabaptist settlers who sought peace in a land scarred by war. Anchored by the deeply human experiences of the Longacre, Varner, De Lancey, ...

1845, a village outside Sydney Town. Humble blacksmith Ian Steele struggles to support his widowed mother. All the while he dreams of a life in uniform, serving in Queen Victoria's army. 1845, Puketutu, New Zealand. Second Lieutenant Samuel Forbes, a young poet from an aristocratic English family, wants nothing more than to discard the officer's uniform he never sought. When the two men cross paths in the colony of New South Wales, they are struck by their brotherly resemblance and quickly hatch a plan for Ian to take Samuel's place in the British army.

It's December 16, 1773, and Boston is about to explode! King George has decided to tax the colonists' tea. The Patriots have had enough. Ethan, the printer's errand boy, is running through town to deliver a message about an important meeting. As he stops along his route - at the bakery, the schoolhouse, the tavern, and more - listeners learn about the occupations of colonial workers and their differing opinions about living under Britain's rule.

In 1766 Scotland, the laird of the clan, Angus McTern, has everything he wants in life. That is, until Edilean Talbot shows up. Breathtakingly beautiful and born of privilege, Edilean represents everything Angus despises. Still, she dazzles him, and when Angus can no longer hide his feelings, she rejects him, leaving him deeply wounded and humiliated. Soon, though, Edilean needs his help....

The Locket Saga began with When God Turned His Head where long ago, Kanter Thorton gave Drusilla a locket to symbolize his love for her, now, The Locket Saga continues when their daughter Elizabeth wears the locket. Despite Elizabeth’s patriotic loyalties, she falls in love with a British officer. As young children, Elizabeth Thorton and Philip Randolph met in the frontier of Western Pennsylvania in 1763. For years, the Atlantic Ocean separated them, but now years later, the conflict brewing between the British Empire and the American colonies brought them back together. What is it that ...

Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs’ depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861.

A Southern belle turned spy and a dashing blockade runner fight a hopeless battle against the British. When Anna Grace Laurens’s parents are murdered by the British and her Charles Town plantation burned, she seizes her only option for escape—a desperate leap into the Cooper River. She’ll do anything to survive…and get revenge. John Cooper Vargas is used to danger as he sails his sloop upriver through war-torn colonies, but seeing a woman plunge into the river amidst Tory gunfire is something he wouldn’t have thought possible. Until now. Rescuing her draws him into a web of ...

This is not a true story; I hope it never becomes one. In the summer of 1956, sixteen-year-old Marguerite Stearle, daughter of a housekeeper, falls in love with the squire of Mirelton’s nephew, Myles Featherstone. A delightful romance ensues, but in a class-conscious society, Myles has no choice but to end the liaison. With few prospects, a wretched Marguerite embarks on a new life in London, hoping her heart will mend. Unexpectedly, Marguerite is introduced to a tobacco farmer from the British colony of Rhodesia. Falling in love yet again, a new future beckons, one full of excitement as ...

In September 1883, a small town in the South Australian outback huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the entire community is caught up in the search for him. As they scour the desert and mountains for the lost child, the residents of Fairly—newlyweds, farmers, mothers, indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, artists, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen—confront their relationships, both with one another and with the land­scape they inhabit.

Moussane: The River’s Daughter (A prequel to Blood for Pearls and Beyond—The Door of No Return) Before the transatlantic slave trade changed the course of history, a woman in West Africa saw it coming. Senegal, 1500. In a peaceful pre-colonial village along the Gambia River, Moussane lives in harmony with the land, the spirits, and her family. A mother, healer, and spiritual seer, she carries new life within her—but also carries a heavy burden: visions of a distant island drenched in blood and sorrow. Its name is Gorée. As her ten-year-old son plays among the millet fields, Moussane ...

Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee...and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.

DARIUS FITZWILLIAM’s life is planned down to who he will marry and where he will live, but life has a way of saying, “You don’t get to choose.” When his marriage to his long-time betrothed Caroline Bradford falls through, Darius is forced to take a step back and to look upon a woman who enflames his blood with desire, but also engenders disbelief. Eliza Harris is everything that Darius never realized he wanted. ELIZA HARRIS is accustomed to doing as she pleases. Yet, despite being infuriated by his authoritative manner, when she meets the staunchly disciplined Captain Fitzwilliam, ...

A Legacy Written in Blood and Pearls… Blood for Pearls: 1498 – The First American Genocide is a powerful, emotionally searing historical novel based on real events that forever changed the Americas. Set during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus, this epic tale explores the brutal birth of the pearl trade in the Caribbean and the catastrophic consequences for the Indigenous and African peoples of the New World.In 1498, Columbus arrives on the fabled Pearl Coast—what is now Venezuela—and discovers the tiny island of Cubagua, glistening with untold riches beneath the sea. But ...

The author is contacted by a supposed descendant of Hernán Cortés and La Malinche to review and transcribe a family document of great historical importance. Thus begins this captivating historical novel based on the memoirs of Martín Cortés, the Mestizo. Set in the magnificent Spanish Golden Age, Martín finds himself immersed in the court of King Carlos I and his heir, the future King Felipe II, participating in pivotal events that shaped both the newly founded Viceroyalty of New Spain and the European continent. Immerse yourself in this fascinating biographical story that unravels the...

What was it like as a young girl growing up on a farm in 17th-century New England? Join the author and his family as they venture back in time exploring their Mayflower roots to learn how their family tree grew from the first settlers of Plymouth Colony. Abigail Little was born in 1634, the first generation of descendants from the original Plymouth Colony settlers. Granddaughter of Richard Warren, a well-to-do merchant who came over on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflower Compact, Abigail came of age while growing up with her large family on a farm during peaceful and prosperous times for...