Historical Survival

"Keeper of Secrets" is a mystery book set in London and the English countryside during the late 19th century. This captivating novel transports readers back in time, exploring the intersections of class, youth, and the timeless power of female resilience. The story is anchored by four orphaned sisters - each representing a unique thread in the intricate tapestry of life, love, and secrets. The Tale In the heart of the city to the quaint corners of rural England, Agatha, Gwendoline, Tina, and Elfrida navigate the tumultuous sea of life post the death of their beloved Aunt Mildred. In the ...

A single, shattering accident changes everything—transforming a peaceful Missouri home into a crucible of sorrow and determination. Grieving mother Charlotte Healy is reluctantly swept into a perilous westward expedition with her resolute husband, Samuel, whose pursuit of California’s promise borders on obsession. With each dusty mile, the ghosts of their past and the brutal challenges of the frontier press in: will their fragile hope withstand the crushing weight of loss, or will the unforgiving wilderness claim more than they ever dared imagine?

San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong—until disaster strikes.

A maritime adventure novel set in the unforgiving seas around Kerguelen predominantly during the late 19th century. To Hell from the Sea is a visceral narrative plumbing the depths of a dangerous nautical journey, the gritty life of sailors, and the machinations of high society. Following the lives of worldly seamen and aristocrats alike, this novel delivers hard-hitting truths about survival, human resilience, and enduring love, no matter the odds or societal norms. The heart of the story revolves around the lives onboard the Albatross, a vessel on a treacherous voyage. Axel, a grizzled ...

Thousands of Black cowpunchers drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War, but only Nat Love wrote about his experiences. Born to slaves in Davidson County, Tennessee, the newly freed Love struck out for Kansas after the war. He was 15 and already endowed with a reckless and romantic readiness. In wide-open Dodge City he joined up with an outfit from the Texas Panhandle to begin a career riding the range and fighting Indians, outlaws, and the elements. Years later he would say, “I had an unusually adventurous life.”

He fought and beheaded three Turkish adversaries in duels. He was sold into slavery and then murdered his master to escape. He was captured by pirates--twice--and marched to the gallows to be hanged, only to be reprieved seconds before the noose dropped over his head. And all this happened before he was thirty years old. This is Captain John Smith's life.

Two stories about William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army; two stories about amazing women aviators; and two true-to-life adventures!

In 1946, after five years as a prisoner - first as a Soviet POW in Nazi concentration camps, then as a deportee in the Arctic Gulag - 29-year-old Lev Mishchenko unexpectedly received a letter from Sveta, the sweetheart he had hardly dared hope was still alive. Amazingly, over the next eight years, the lovers managed to exchange more than 1,500 messages and even to smuggle Sveta herself into the camp for secret meetings. Their recently discovered correspondence is the only known real-time record of life in Stalin's Gulag.

A historical adventure book set in the rugged East Coast of Canada during the early 20th century."Ghost River" delves into the enthralling account of Jean Savage, a resolute Frenchman treacherously maneuvering the biting wilderness to secure sled dogs and later rescue his cherished, Julie Barnes. About the Novel:Jean Savage, dismissing superstitions about the demon-infested Windigo lands, commences a perilous mission to find sled dogs critical for survival during the unforgiving winters at Whale River. His journey takes him into the intimidating areas, a source of dreaded myths amongst the ...

In Louis L'Amour's frontier stories, the American West is the crucible in which character is tested, reputations are won or lost, and life always hangs in the balance. Struggling to survive against the elements, hostile Indians, or outlaws who prey upon the honest and hardworking, the men and women in these tales each come face-to-face with what they're made of - often in moments that explode with the violence of an avalanche or the speed of a drawn gun.

Young Nina Macciocco weds handsome Italian soldier Angelo Taglieri in an arranged marriage, and they move to Steubenville, Ohio. Angelo works in a steel mill, and Nina cares for their daughter. They live happily in a house on Seventh Street. Years later, Angelo dies.Steubenville is a rough town where Mafia don Vincenzo Santucci runs everything from bars to restaurants to brothels. His vast influence extends over some local doctors, lawyers, judges, and police. Vincenzo’s cousin, Vito Santucci, is also a Mafia don in Italy. Brothers Enzo and Bruno Pagano work for him. Everyone likes even-...

Harvey Bennett didn’t sign up for this Christmas adventure. When a small-town holiday festival turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse, Ben and Julie are thrust into a chilling mystery buried beneath the snow-covered streets of Hope, Alaska. At the center of it all is a legendary golden ornament—a piece of local history said to hold the key to a fortune in lost gold. But someone else wants that fortune, and they’ll stop at nothing to claim it. As a ruthless financier and his dangerous crew close in, Ben and Julie follow a trail of cryptic clues carved into tombstones and hidden in ...

A moving story, wrapped in humor, about love, loss, and hope in one of history’s darkest hours. 1933. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany marks the beginning of the end for the Jews of Europe. For little newborn Yaakov, this is only the beginning. Hungary, 1944. 11-year-old Yaakov and his parents and younger sister are forced out of their home into the unknown. They find themselves in the ghetto, living under impossible conditions, until they are banished by the Nazis to Bergen Belsen concentration camp through Austria, what might be their final destination.

Twelve-year-old Ann understands there is only one thing to be grateful for as a slave: having her family together. But when the master falls into debt, he plans to sell both Ann and her younger brother to two different owners. Ann is convinced her family must run away on the Underground Railroad. Will Ann's family survive the dangerous trip to their freedom in the North? This Girls Survive story is supported by a glossary, discussion questions, and nonfiction material on the Underground Railroad, making it a valuable resource for young listeners.

Neil Hansen began his aviation career as a pilot for Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa. He spent more than a decade in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War as a captain for Air America, the CIA's airline that operated there during the Vietnam era and the Secret War in Laos. Neil reveled in the risky flying that fed his adrenaline addiction. Upon returning to the States, ultimately unable to find work and unable to let go of the Air America exhilaration rush, he saw the profession he loved come to an end when his trajectory veered off course.

She wants no husband. He wants no wife. Jailed for crimes unbecoming a lady, Marie yearns for liberty even as she refuses the one choice that will set her free: An arranged marriage with a frontier stranger. Then a brawny ex-soldier offers a more dangerous proposal. Spend one winter as his wife in name only, and come spring he will set her free…

On March 20, 1822, the Missouri Republican published a notice addressed “to enterprising young men” in the St. Louis area. “The subscriber,” it said, “wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry…or of the subscriber near St. Louise.” The “subscriber” was General William H. Ashley, and among the “enterprising young men” who embarked with Major Henry less than a month later was 18-year-old James Bridger.

It is 1879. Jem’s Welsh family farm is flooded for the second year running and they can no longer stay. Father has turned to drink. One day, Father declares: “We are moving to New Zealand”. When Mama falls sick and Father is attacked by whalers, the children must live by their wits and instincts to survive in the wilds of what is now the Abel Tasman National Park. From sea adventure to new beginnings on the other side of the world, three 19th century children must survive the brutalities and wild beauty of a new country, far from home.

As a scout, I needed all my five senses and every faculty of my mind at highest efficiency at all times. There is nothing that sharpens a man’s senses so acutely as to know that bitter and determined enemies are in pursuit of him night and day. In many lines of endeavor, errors may be repeated without fatal results, but in an Indian or savage war, or in a bitter feud, one little slip entails the “absent” mark forever against a man’s name. Solitude intensifies the perceptions. The herd with a thousand eyes trusts itself to a solitary sentinel with only two.

Captain Kidd has gone down in history as America's most ruthless buccaneer. However, Captain William Kidd was no career cut-throat; he was a tough, successful New York sea captain who was hired to chase pirates. Across the oceans of the world, the pirate hunter, Kidd, pursued the pirate, Culliford. One man would hang in the harbor; the other would walk away with the treasure. The Pirate Hunter is both a masterpiece of historical detective work and a page-turner.