Historical Homes

At the heart of Dover's Market Square lies the Castle's Café. A bustling, homely place run by the formidable Nellie Castle and her six children. Since the scandalous birth of her beloved son 10 years before, Marianne, Nellie's eldest daughter, has preferred to stay in the kitchen, hidden away from the town gossips. Overcome with shame, Marianne has never revealed the name of Donny's father - not even to her own mother. But with World War II just around the corner, Marianne's past catches up with her. And suddenly the lives of the Castle family become a lot more complicated.

May 1915. As zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German hysteria reaches fever pitch and attacks on German immigrants surge. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein's bespoke tailoring business comes under brutal attack, leaving his safe ransacked, his daughter, Ruth, raped and Jacob dead.

The summer of 1939 turned out to be the last summer of author Lucy Lipiner's childhood. On September 1, when she was six years old, her parents roused Lucy and her older sister from their beds, and with other relatives in tow fled their town of Sucha and the invasion by Nazi Germany.

Dedicated to keeping her home immaculate and organized, Evangeline Knapp runs a tight ship, with the Knapp family constantly on edge. Meanwhile, her husband Lester, a dreamer, drifts through his bookkeeping job. Both feel depressed and out of place. Suddenly, after a near-fatal accident, their roles are reversed: Lester is confined to home in a wheelchair and his wife must work to support the family. Evangeline dedicates herself to improvement and customer service, something she learned working in her father’s store as a child.

While other adolescent girls are listening to grunge rock or swooning over boy bands and movie stars, Loretta knows little of life beyond the Home for Wayward Girls, the secluded ranch where her parents run a program designed to “correct” teen girls’ “bad behavior.” Some new residents arrive with their moms and dads, while other are accompanied by transporters—people paid to forcibly deliver these “problem” teens—girls caught swearing, smoking, drinking, or kissing.

After a merciless winter, spring has sprung in 1880 Stockholm, and the city awaits the arrival of the SS Vega, the first ship to have sailed the Northeast Passage. Life is busy at the orphanage, but twelve-year-old Mika quickly notices that the older orphans are up to something—and it doesn’t look good. When Constable Hoff approaches her with information about thefts around the city, Mika becomes even more concerned about what the other kids are up to—and what they might be planning for the Vega celebration.

Joining the communal society of the Amana Colonies isn't what Jancey Rhoder planned for her future, but when unforeseen circumstances force her family to make some difficult decisions, she chooses to give up her teaching position in a Kansas City orphanage and move with her parents to Iowa. Her besotted suitor, Nathan Woodward, isn't at all happy about the move and is determined to get Jancey to change her mind.

When Kate Bishop walks into Boston’s famous Bull and Finch pub, all she’s looking for is one guy from her investment firm that she can trust to have her back - a tall order. With a salesman at her side, maybe stage fright won’t paralyze her completely when she presents her meticulously prepared research to clients. And maybe she can save her job. Romance is the last thing on her to-do list, but a meet-cute with a Shakespeare-quoting bartender has her speculating on the value of diversifying her life portfolio.

The United States has always been a nation of immigrants---never more so than in 1917 when the nation entered the First World War. Of the 2.5 million soldiers who fought with U.S. armed forces in the trenches of France and Belgium, some half a million---nearly one out of every five men---were immigrants. In The Long Way Home, David Laskin, author of the prizewinning history The Children's Blizzard, tells the stories of 12 of these immigrant heroes.

Irene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in southeastern Australia. Together they enter the Redex Trial, a brutal race around the ancient continent, over roads no car will ever quite survive. With them is their lanky, fair-haired navigator, Willie Bachhuber, a quiz show champion and failed schoolteacher who calls the turns and creeks crossings on a map that will remove them, without warning, from the white Australia they all know so well. This is a thrilling high-speed story that starts in one way and then takes you someplace else. It is often funny, more so as the world gets stranger, and always compelling, even as you learn a history these characters never knew themselves.

In the wake of heartbreaking loss, Roisin Reilly makes a promise to her granddaughter Bella that they will cross the Wye Valley and travel to Cliffehaven to find the family she left with no warning nearly fifty years ago. As the pair embark upon their journey, there's no telling who they will find – and whether they will be welcomed with open arms – when they get there.

Israel Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, was just eight years old when the camp was liberated in 1945. Descended from a 1,000-year unbroken chain of rabbis, he grew up to become Chief Rabbi of Israel--and like many of the great rabbis, Lau is a master storyteller. Out of the Depths is his harrowing, miraculous, and inspiring account of life in one of the Nazis' deadliest concentration camps, and how he managed to survive against all possible odds.

Jessica Layton left her Oregon hometown - and her longtime love - for medical school with one thing on her mind: saving lives. Her frontier dreams were filled with more than rural domestic life, even if that life was with the man she was supposed to marry.… Now, years later, Cole Braddock is not pleased to see Dr. Jessica Layton back in Powell Springs. He’s never forgiven her for choosing her career over him. Cole knows that Jess can save their town, but will he let her heal his heart?

London, Autumn 1916. When he slips out of a house in the early hours, Simon Wilder is too preoccupied to realise that he is being stalked. As he walks along the street, lights begin to dim as a warning that there's another Zeppelin attack. British aeroplanes attack the Zeppelin. Suddenly, it bursts into flame and lights up the whole sky. The crowds cheer as the great fireball drops slowly down and crashes in a field but the one person unable to watch is Simon Wilder.

MARCUS WELLSTON never expected to inherit his father's title. After all, he is the youngest of three sons. However, his eldest brother Trevor is judged incapable of meeting the title’s responsibilities, and his second brother Myles lost his life in an freak accident; therefore, Marcus has returned to Tweed Hall and the earldom. Having departed Northumberland years prior to escape his guilt in his sister’s death, Marcus has spent the previous six years in atonement with the Realm, a covert governmental group. Now, all he requires is a biddable wife with a pleasing personality. Neither of...

Etienne Gayneau doesn’t understand why the native peoples and colonists can’t get along in this land of abundant resources and opportunity. As war erupts between his Old World religious community and his New World friends, Etienne must find a way to end the violence, while protecting those he loves on both sides of the dispute. Etienne must learn to survive in this dangerous, exotic new world. He will learn new skills from his Native American friends and establish new friendships with old enemies.

Mary Bingham had failed her father many times, but she never imagined he would force her to marry a total stranger. Escape into the vast plains of Iowa, 1878…. When Mary carelessly burns down the family home, seriously injuring her littlest sister, the consequences are dire. Her Pa no longer trusts her with his two younger daughters. Mary is devastated when he takes her directly to the church and marries her off to a boy she barely knows. Carrying a burden of guilt, Mary is not surprised that her father doesn’t want her anymore, but she is unable to handle the sorrow and shame. So, she ...

Start to broaden your wine experience from simply drinking to truly appreciating with this beginner's guide to wine tasting. Written by Jasper Rhodes and narrated by Riley Pines, this audiobook simplifies the world of wine, making it more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Learn the fundamental principles of wine tasting through an approach that builds your knowledge from the ground up.

In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvery Marmion and Joe Keedy are assigned the task of finding the killer who so elusively fled in the dark. Before long, two more victims, of striking similarity but differing backgrounds, are found dead around the city. Meanwhile, miles from home, Marmion’s son Paul prepares for life on the front line as he marches towards the Battle of the Somme.

When a Roman ship is wrecked on the coast of Britain, Beric, the infant son of a Roman soldier, is the only survivor. Beric grows up with a Briton tribe, but to his foster people he remained an alien, one of the Red Crests. So when bad times come, the tribe holds him responsible and casts him out.