Historical Family Saga

BookFest Fall 2024 Winner of two First Place Medals (Historical Fiction War & Military) and one Second Place Medal (Multi-period Family Saga) Sometimes the wounds you can’t see leave the deepest scars… In the throes of World War II, Mary McGinn finds herself at the heart of a global conflict, not on the front lines, but in the quiet battlefields of her own home. Widowed and left to raise twelve children on her own, Mary's life becomes a tapestry woven with threads of love, sacrifice, and unwavering determination. As the McGinn men scatter across the globe to serve in various branches of...

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.

A patriot soldier in the ragtag Continental army, Philip Kent defies the rule of the British crown, fighting for the future of his adopted American homeland and the future of his wife and newborn son. And when Philip's heroism draws the attention of General George Washington, he is sent on an overwhelmingly risky mission vital to the success of the Revolution. But no sacrifice is too great for freedom . . .

A hidden past. A dangerous truth. A young knight’s fight for survival. Holy Land, 1097 At the tender age of twelve, Giles fitzAlain is forced to leave the only home he has ever known—a monastery in Normandy— to follow a father he has never met. Alain de Folliot, a battle-hardened knight in the service of Robert, Duke of Normandy, drags his son into the heart of the First Crusade, where the horrors of war are only the beginning of Giles’ struggles. As battles rage and loyalties are tested, Giles soon realizes that his father’s past is shrouded in dark secrets —secrets that pull ...

Occupied France, 1940. When the staff at a field hospital draw straws to find out who will join the evacuation from Dunkirk, Nurse Cate is left behind. But when the Nazis arrive to claim prisoners of war, she takes her chance and flees into the night, taking one patient with her. Fifty miles away, the surrendering soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment are shot dead by the advancing Germans. Beneath the pile of bodies two men survive, crawling to the safety of a nearby farmhouse, where sisters Elise and Adelaide risk their lives to take them in.

First published in 1944, The Building of Jalna is one of sixteen books in the Jalna series written by Canada's Mazo de la Roche. In The Building of Jalna, Adeline, an impulsive bride with an Irish temper, and her husband, Captain Whiteoak, select Lake Ontario as the site of their new home. De la Roche chronicles their trials and tribulations during the building of the house, the swimming and skating parties, and the jealousies and humourous events that arise.

For Vito Corleone, nothing is more important than his family's future. While his youngest children, Michael, Fredo, and Connie, are in school, unaware of their father's true occupation, and his adopted son Tom Hagen is a college student, he worries most about Sonny, his eldest child. Vito pushes Sonny to be a businessman, but Sonny - 17 years old, impatient, and reckless - wants something else: To follow in his father's footsteps and become a part of the real family business.

THE CHILD SHE NEVER SPOKE OF Book One in The Bowers Hill Saga Some secrets are buried so deep, only love can dig them up. Fourteen-year-old Caroline Calder's world crumbles the night her beloved father dies in a winter storm. When her grief-stricken mother remarries with shocking haste, Caroline suspects the charming Quentin Rawle is not the savior he appears to be. Her instincts prove devastatingly correct. Torn from everything she's ever known, Caroline finds herself fighting for survival in the harsh industrial mills of Leeds, desperate to protect her younger sisters at any cost. In this...

Greed took her family. Grief awakened her gift. Now she’s running for her life—and her freedom. Cassandra Wolfe was born with a gift she was told to hide - until tragedy forces her to embrace it. When gold is discovered on her family’s land, a wave of greed and violence shatters everything she holds dear. Widowed, hunted, and furious, she finally stops hiding. She fights back. Her escape to San Francisco is meant to be a new beginning - but fate has other plans. Dalton Rivers has a mission to complete and a family legacy to protect. But when he meets Cassandra, that mission shifts. ...

Mary Ellen’s father didn’t - exactly - trade her for a house. Marrying the wealthy and handsome Randall Coulson isn’t something she wants to do, but, being an obedient daughter, she agrees to the marriage. Randall Coulson wants Mary Ellen for one reason: to give him sons. He has no desire to form a bond of love or friendship with his young bride. His own heart is already taken. This bittersweet story of love, lies, and family secrets takes place during a turbulent period of American history, where the perception of women and their role in society changed during one lifetime.

Charles Repington is the third son of the Duke of Castborough. He's not in line to inherit a title, lands, or social standing. He is, however, a war hero. Beatrice Taltham is the daughter of a baron. She's also the daughter of a gambler. Her father is not present in her life much at all and she longs to get away from her terse and bossy mother. These two are a perfect match, but they're not meant to be together. There are too many hurdles for them to pursue a life together. Or can the obstacles be finally set aside?

Six children. Five brothers. One sister. The adventures they chose fit their personalities perfectly, though the path to love for each one was winding and uncertain. The Repington family was close, though they did have their disagreements from time to time. Headed by the Duke of Castborough, the family had responsibilities, difficulties, and camaraderie. The duke and his wife had six children. Headstrong and determined in their own ways, the children were similar but often vastly different. Though they struggled through troubles, they loved each other fiercely. This series has six parts - ...

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington, and Lady Virginia. Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy? Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy and can see no way out of her financial problems until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T. Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“War Can Ruin a Man, but Love Heals All Wounds” After Win returns from a German POW camp during the Great War, Josephine is shocked by how much he has changed. The joy they once shared together soon turns to loss and heartache. Josephine is crushed at the toll the war took on him—and their life together. When she learns that she is expecting a child, she begins to overcome the sadness she has endured. The little girl she has always prayed for is born in February of 1921, and Josephine names her Estelle. The household adores the precious child and life is once again filled with ...

Born on the ninth day of the ninth month in the year 1900, Kitty Deverill grows up in Castle Deverill, on the sunning green hills of West Cork, Ireland - the same place her ancestors have always dwelt. She isn't fully Irish, as the son of the local veterinarian likes to tease her; but this doesn't stop Kitty and Jack O'Leary from falling in love....

When Charlie Trumper inherits the barrow his grandfather used to peddle fruit and vegetables in turn-of-the-century Whitechapel, England, he inherits his enterprising spirit as well. Charlie's deeply held ambition to raise himself out of the poverty of London's East End is destined to be realized, but there are many obstacles to overcome, including a tour of duty at the front in World War I, where he encounters the man who will become his lifelong enemy.

When Edward de Salis travels to America after the death of his first wife, he is astonished to find himself falling in love with Marguerite, a young woman many years his junior. Full of hope for the future, he returns to his Irish estate, Cashelmara, but in 19th-century Ireland - a country racked by poverty and famine - his family eventually becomes trapped in a sinister spiral of violence that Edward could never have foreseen.

In the second book in number one New York Times best selling author Sandra Brown’s beloved Texas! trilogy, listeners meet another son of the troubled Tyler clan - Chase Tyler, a man hardened by life and desperately trying to outrun the sorrows of his past. Chase Tyler has been the object of Marcie Johns’s desire since grade school. But when it came time to settle down, the handsome, laconic cowboy chose another woman to be his bride. Life was good for Chase - until things took an abrupt and tragic turn.

France 1917 Agnès Gunarsson de Melancourt, now a qualified doctor, faces a critical decision. Her duty as a physician draws her back to Château de Dragancourt despite her earlier attempts to distance herself. As World War I rages in northern France, the chateau becomes a frontline hospital led by the once-charismatic Elle and Jacques. Agnès, with her friend Kat, navigates the chateau's makeshift operating room to save Allied soldiers. In this crucible of healing and sacrifice, Agnès encounters a transformed Elle and Jacques, now driven by duty over privilege. Can she offer Elle a ...

At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart.