Southern Historical Fiction

SOPHIE O’DAY IS TERRIFIED. A budding young nurse in Post Depression Southeast Missouri, Sophie fears repeating a tragic mistake—at the expense of another life. Sy Hawkins has given up all hope of a career in radio and moved to rural Missouri to care for his aging uncle and tend to the old fellow’s goat farm. Sy’s only focus is on this man to whom he feels he owes everything. When an accident occurs, and Uncle Joe’s life is in jeopardy, the elderly man makes a decision that will affect both Sophie and Sy. Can they pull together in a common quest to make his wish come true before ...

Sunset Jones has just killed her husband. Never mind that he was raping her. Pete Jones was constable of a small sawmill settlement called Camp Rapture where no woman refuses her husband. So everyone is angrily surprised when Sunset becomes the new constable and investigates murders in which her late husband might be implicated. Yet, no one is more surprised than Sunset when the murders lead her, not only to the conclusion of the case, but to a well of inner strength she never knew she had.

A Visceral tale of survival, with the soul of a love story. Not long after the first World War, an abandoned boy is rescued from a life on the streets of La Paz by a mysterious Spaniard. As the years pass, it becomes clear that he has become ensnared in a life of violence and crime. The boy grows into a man. He is young and handsome, fierce and loyal, and completely naive about the world that exists just beyond the boundaries of La Paz. Then he meets Gisele. Andalusian Legacy is a tale of forbidden love, betrayal and revenge, and a desperate escape to seek one's own unique destiny. It ...

Prepare to embark on a thrilling journey shrouded in mystery, where danger is in the shadows beneath the scorching sun and secrets lie hidden amidst the shifting sands. With its richly descriptive narrative and heart-pounding suspense, this unforgettable tale will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. In the arid and treacherous setting of the American Southwest, "Secret Mirage" paints a vivid portrait of a time long past. Set against the backdrop of the late 19th century, our story unfolds in a remote desert town, where trust is a rare commodity. As the blistering ...

When magistrate Patrick Colquhoun orders a habitual thief and ne'er-do-well transported to Botany Bay, he doesn't realize a 14-year-old boy has been left behind to follow in his father's footsteps - not until young John Pickett is hauled into Bow Street for stealing an apple from the produce market at Covent Garden. Feeling to some extent responsible for the boy, Mr. Colquhoun prevails upon Elias Granger, a prosperous coal merchant, to take him on as an apprentice.

It’s 1962, and Violet Romero, a young woman searching for peace after a horrible tragedy, finds herself in an unexpected place—managing funerals at Berwick, an antebellum mansion-turned-mortuary in Lexington, Kentucky. Her employer, Henry Pendleton, a botany-obsessed mortician, seems harmless, but Violet believes that he is hiding something. Following her instincts, Violet discovers a hidden room in Berwick that offers a glimpse into the mansion’s dark past. Violet soon understands that a reckoning is coming to Henry’s life, and she is caught in the rising tide of revenge.

Amiable but clueless young baronet Sir Harry Hawthorne thought he was making a marriage of convenience to a childhood friend...until his fiancée catches the eye of the dashing and dangerous Lord Mannerly. Suddenly, Sir Harry’s jealousy is roused to the point that he assumes the identity of his reclusive grandmother in order to keep the all-too-grown-up Miss Olivia Darby under his watchful eye.

In the fall of 1953, during the surface calm and prosperity of post-World War II America, the privileged West Texas Randolph family suffers a terrible blow. As a result, a disparate group of strangers become inextricably linked to the family, and to each other, for the four decades to follow. In the aftermath of their life-altering event, the deep-rooted Randolph clan is left vulnerable not only to threats from the outside, but to more sinister ones from within its own ranks.

—Southern Historical Fiction at Its Best... A Visit to the Rural South that will Bless Your Heart— —VOLUME 6 ANTHOLOGY (6 volumes in all). Faith & Family Friendly— - The Egg Wagon (novella 1): There are some things that just do not burn. Gold and silver, for instance. Fire and water only purify, and tumultuous earthquakes can just make these metals rise closer to the surface. Some human persons fit that description. Adversity and pain seem to peel away the chaff of life, leaving only the nucleolus of survival. Like being in a slippery simply refuse to die and manage to claw their ...

Based on a true story, this debut Civil War novel follows a Southern plantation woman's journey of transforming her home into a hospital for the war. This debut novel is based on the true story of Carrie McGavock. During the Civil War's Battle of Franklin, a five-hour bloodbath with 9,200 casualties, McGavock's home was turned into a field hospital where four generals died. For 40 years she tended the private cemetery on her property where more than 1,000 were laid to rest.

Eve Mann arrives in Ideal, Georgia, in 1972 looking for answers about the mother who died giving her life. A mother named Mercy. A mother who for all of Eve’s 22 years has been a mystery and a quest. Eve’s search for her mother, and the father she never knew, is a mission to discover her identity, her name, her people, and her home. Eve’s questions and longing launch a multigenerational story that sprawls back to the turn of the 20th century.

Book three of the ongoing Big House saga erupts against the backdrop of the violent, strife-torn Arkansas Delta during the Great Depression. Terror, deception, and intrigue test Minnie's and her mother Nora's determination to return to the roots of their heritage. Though scorned by men of all classes who have the misguided notion that women cannot run a plantation, Minnie and Nora's grit is unyielding. Bound to the women's desire to save the land is their vow to settle the score against those who viciously attacked their family.

Set in 1940s Appalachia, The Secret Sense of Wildflower tells the story of Louisa May "Wildflower" McAllister whose life has been shaped around the recent death of her beloved father in a sawmill accident. While her mother hardens in her grief, Wildflower and her three sisters must cope with their loss themselves, as well as with the demands of daily survival. Despite these hardships, Wildflower has a resilience that is forged with humor, a love of the land, and an endless supply of questions to God.

Ellen, the narrator of Boyd's previous novel, The Revolution of Little Girls, this time pierces the heart of the sexual revolution in her quest to find a woman hero or - by default - to become one. Ferociously paced, Terminal Velocity delineates six wonderfully engaging characters: Artemis Foote, for whom being rich, talented, and beautiful is a kind of game; Jordan, a messianic fugitive who becomes Ellen's lover; Amethyst Woman, a Marxist/Leninist dentist; Ross, a red-diaper baby and now a columnist for Ramparts; and Pearl, an art history professor turned hippie.

Tired of living under her father's iron thumb of control, Jessie Wilcox decides to do the unthinkable: run away to Montana as a mail-order bride. The only obstacle in her way: the 100 miles between her home in Williamsburg County and the train depot in Charleston. Joel Cunningham is in utter disbelief when the girl he once loved beyond reason is on his front porch asking him to disobey her father's wishes and drive her to Charleston. Logic and reason scream no; his lips, however, say yes.

In 1941, when she was turned into an armed merchant cruiser, the SS Benbecula was already old. Yet even she was needed to protect the vital Atlantic sea lanes. Commander Lindsay, her new captain, had to work desperately to mould the ship’s company - raw recruits and old-timers - into a fighting force. And better than anyone, Lindsay knew this could be his last command, his last chance.

Josephine Buchanan Wright is forced apart from the man she loves. She has chosen the path of honor and duty, denying her heart its desire. Unaware of a growing threat against her, she strives to make her dying father's wish a reality. Cullen Smythe returns to Philadelphia and tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart...forget her and make a life for himself - alone. But fate has other plans for once more Josephine enters his world. Can their love be rekindled against the forces against them?

When Atlanta homicide detectives are called in to investigate the murder of a nineteen-year-old girl found dumped in historic Oakland Cemetery, they immediately begin working the case. But with no leads to follow, and their case log growing larger by the day, the murder quickly grows cold. Desperate to keep the investigation of her deceased sister going, Ginger Baines hires two novice sleuths to solve the case. Widowed, well into their seventies are new to the world of private investigating, Clara Samples and Iris Hadley aren’t your average private eyes. When a second body is found in a ...

A goddess in the making... or a demon reborn? In the remote mountain village where she was born, Mariarta dil Alicg lives the untroubled life of a peasant girl...until, soon after a mysterious stranger's arrival, she starts to hear voices in the wind. The voices whisper strange secrets in Mariarta's ears -- promising her the power to command the stormwind, hinting at an unknown, magical heritage, and prophesying a fate marvelous past all Mariarta's imaginings. Then a curse falls on Mariarta's village, shattering the lives of her family and friends.

An old traveler tells his grandchildren how he survived a harsh winter alone in the American Northwest during the gold rush of the 1800s, facing brutal cold and hungry wolves, and finding help from an unexpected source. This is a short story of about 3k words.