Historical Diaries

Sir Barnes Wallis CBE became a household name after the hit 1954 film The Dam Busters in which Michael Redgrave portrayed a shy, slightly abstracted genius at odds with bureaucracy. Yet this was a simplified picture of a complicated, mercurial man. Wallis' contribution to British aircrafts and weapons is legendary; from the R100 intercontinental airship and innovative aircrafts like the Wellesley and Wellington, to bombs that destroyed hitherto invulnerable targets, and variable-geometry aerodynes.

A fascinating look into the mind of one of America's first serial killers! Who was H. H. Holmes, the killer made famous in the Devil in the White City? Did he build a 'Murder Castle' to lure victims into secret rooms, vaults, and gas chambers and to prey on Chicago's World's Fair travelers? In Holmes' Own, you will discover: HH Holmes 1895 memoir written by Holmes while he awaited trial Moyamensing Prison diary Confession of twenty-seven murders of men, women, and children (1896) Judgement day with Holmes' death by hanging at Moyamensing Prison Unusual concrete burial at historic Holy ...

The deepest currents of passion seldom break the surface of literature. Romantic classics abound; but however skilled a writer may be in verbalising an emotional experience, he cannot publicly evoke the heat of blood, the yearning of soul, bared in perfect intimacy between two beings. But letters can do this, and songs never meant to be sung by any but the lover, or the beloved.

These letters were arranged in two volumes by Albert Bigelow Paine, Samuel L. Clemens's literary executor, as a supplement to Mark Twain, A Biography, which Paine wrote. They are, for the most part, every letter written by Clemens known to exist at the time of their publication in 1917. They begin with a fragment of a letter from teenaged Sam Clemens to his sister, Pamela, and conclude with a letter to his attorney two weeks before his death. These letters give us some degree of insight into the evolution of Twain's style of speech and prose over the period of his lifetime.

When an earthquake brings Annie Lark's Missouri house down on top of her, she finds herself pinned under the massive roof beam, facing certain death. Rescued by French fur trapper Jacques Ducharme, Annie learns to love the strong, brooding man and resolves to live out her days as his "River Wife". More than a century later, in 1930, Hedie Rails comes to Jacques' Landing to marry Clement Ducharme, a direct descendant of the fur trapper and river pirate.

It’s the exquisite, vintage green dress that grabs Izzy's attention. But it’s what’s underneath the dress, lying at the bottom of the dusty trunk, that captures her imagination. A diary, contained in fifteen leather-bound volumes, with entries beginning in 1919. Who was Grace, and what were her secrets? But as Grace’s story begins to unfold, Izzy suddenly finds her own story changing in a way that will alter her life forever. Add a new romance to the mix, and Izzy wonders how life can change so quickly.

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella and the glass slipper, but what happened to her after she married the Prince? Set in the late 1700s as Napoleon is rising to power, Cinderella embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to come to terms with her new life. Her journey leads her to find her long lost Fairy Godmother and aids her to solve the mystery behind her mother's death. Yet the Fey Lord, the Silver Fox, also takes notice in her, and suddenly her world is turned upside down....

Imagine opening a long-forgotten trunk to find diaries written by your foremothers. Four generations of thoughts, heartaches, challenges and triumphs. What lessons did they write inside the yellowed pages? What lessons could they gift you now? THE LEGACY OF BIRDIE BASSETT – Book Two of the Silver Cross Ranch Legacy Isabel is a shy child with spindly legs, earning her the nickname Birdie. Caring nothing for the ranch life her mother Rose thrives on, Birdie instead develops a love of nursing. She lies about her age and is assigned to Hospital 16 in France during the Great War. When the guns...

An unforgettable literary masterpiece written over 200 years ago by a remarkable woman during the struggle and fall of Europe's first attempt at a constitutional democracy. A coming-of-age story, love drama, and historical saga all in one, it unfolds more like a novel than an authentic memoir. Despite its epoch, the highs and lows of Countess Anna's journey reverberate with timeless issues that still affect us all today. This courageous young woman wrote down extraordinarily visceral details of the horrendous experiences she was living through between 1791 and 1795

Miss Savannah Winter leaves Georgia for the small town of Dovetail, Texas to be a mail order bride. This big step seems her best chance to find a husband. After all she is twenty-four and a schoolmarm on the fast track to spinsterhood. Wearing her best hat and her bravest face, she steps off the train expecting to find a respectable marriageable man waiting for her. Specifically she expects to be met by "a fine-looking bachelor rancher of twenty-six years of age in need of a cheerful, sturdy and well-mannered wife."

Discover the story of Australia in the Great War through the eyes and stories of John Murray - a would-be journalist, aspiring artist, and young soldier. John’s dairies capture the history, events, and experiences of Australians, as each instalment builds to tell the story of Australia’s journey from peacetime through to the war’s end. Share a young Australian’s hopes, his insights, and his pain, as war changes the fabric of his world and his family.

26th June,1963; President Kennedy arrives in Dublin. Nearby in Kildare, trouble brews at The Hall as Justin Montague, a handsome teenager, is forbidden by his wealthy father from seeing the charming daughter of a Montague estate worker, the one person who really loves him.

The road to adulthood is as rocky as the trail heading west. Asenath Wilcox was only a baby when her family was expelled from Nauvoo by vicious mobs. Now she is sixteen, and her family has since established a prosperous farm in Iowa. But being the only Latter-day Saints for miles and miles, their isolation has come at a cost. Asenath is certain she will die a spinster, especially with an overprotective older brother who chases away any suitors. When the first shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter, Asenath’s father finally decides to sell his farm and join a company of Saints ...

Charlotte Brontë is plunged into a perilous adventure and a passionate romance that leads her from the peaceful Yorkshire moors to the crime-infested streets of London, across the sea to the Continent, to the ports of Cornwall, the wilds of Scotland, and the palaces of Queen Victoria herself. Will Charlotte be able to stop a devious invisible villain whose schemes threaten her life, her family, and her country?

The real love story of Frankenstein! Released from a promise to keep portions of her journey secret, Mary Shelley lays her soul bare in the intimacy of love, loss, and betrayal, the search for a mother's validation, and inspiration as a woman artist discovering her voice.

Eva Reich never felt she had to choose between the worlds of her Jewish father and Christian mother. History chose for her. Poland, 1941. From the moment she stepped off the freight train that brought her family to Auschwitz, Eva Reich fought for her survival. From growing up surrounded by her Christian relatives in Berlin, she is thrown into the Jewish work camps of Nazi-occupied Poland. There, she experiences cruelty, intimidation, and hatred. But also kindness, fearlessness, and bravery--from the people she least expected.

Samuel Pepys kept a diary in which he wrote with astonishing candour about the life he saw around him in London in the 1660s, and about his private desires and ambitions. The diary was kept for fewer than 10 years of his long life: Claire Tomalin tells the whole story of the Fleet Street tailor's son who made himself rich and powerful, an MP and adviser to royalty.

A family secret might destroy a couple's hope for marriage.Elizabeth Canning discovers an awful secret in her estranged aunt’s diary. Believing her chances for a happy marriage are spoiled, she leaves her fiancé a letter and flees town. In hopes that distance will heal her broken heart, she takes refuge in her grandparents’ Pennsylvania home.Anticipating a Christmas Eve wedding with Elizabeth, David Stinner is confused by her letter and desperate to find her. Can David root out the truth? FInd out.

This Christmas, the only wish the lonely handsome cowboy has is for a bride, someone to be his everything. His advertisement in The Matrimony Messenger consists of his photograph and two words. Southern Belle Charlotte Baxter, the overindulged child of a widower, sees his ad. Something in Jett's eyes makes her believe he is the one for her and compels her to answer his ad. She is after adventure and romance on the wild frontier. He is seeking contentment and true love.

The war took him away. Is their love strong enough to bring him home? From family tragedy, the war, to undying love, this compelling story spans three generations.