Southern Historical Sagas

Abigail was the last keeper of the house, the last to know the Howland family's secrets. Now, in the name of all her brothers and sisters, she must take her bitter revenge on the small-minded Southern town that shamed them, persecuted them, but could never destroy them.

Some legacies are carved in stone. Others are soaked in oil, blood, and regret. Spanning five generations of the Chiswell family—from 1845 to the modern day—The Gospel According to Texas is a haunting, literary saga of land, sin, and redemption. When Elias Chiswell abandons everything to chase a new life on the Texas frontier, he believes he’s outrunning his past. But the land he claims has a voice—and a memory. Told in part by Texas itself, this Southern Gothic novel weaves journal entries, confessions, and mythic narration into a sweeping story of faith, failure, and family legacy...

Ray Midge is waiting for his credit card bill to arrive. His wife, Norma, has run off with her ex-husband, taking Ray’s cards, shotgun, and car. But from the receipts, Ray can track where they’ve gone. He takes off after them, as does an irritatingly tenacious bail bondsman, both following the romantic couple’s spending as far as Mexico.

During the Great Depression, labor camps crop up in remote areas throughout the American South. Destitute workers live under terrible conditions. Trapped in these isolated locations, workers are entirely dependent on the often greedy, abusive camp owners who provide food and housing at grossly inflated prices. But for the most desperate among America's vast unemployed, these camps are often the last and only option.

Ya'll, let me tell you my story!Glad you could find your way here, and I welcome you to the Sellers Plantation here in the deep south of Mobile, Alabama. I'm anxious to get started with my story tellin,' so, I'm sharin' a little bout the story that I be tellin' to ya'll down below. When I wuz born, I be given the name Gertrude Ida Rollins, but as I be growin' folks just be callin' me Ms. Gertie. I wuz born in Mobile, Alabama in the year eighteen and eighty-eight. Yes, that be a long time ago for most of ya'll, but I thinks it be good to be learnin' bout the history that be comin' before you...

Two strangers, young men from Pennsylvania and South Carolina, meet on the way to West Point.... Thus begins this brilliant novel of antebellum America, spanning three generations and chronicling the lives and loves of two great family dynasties. The Hazards and the Mains are brought together in bonds of friendship and affection that neither jealousy nor violence can shatter - until a storm of events sunders the nation and brings the cataclysm of war!

Neighborhood tensions reach a breaking point in the finale of New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe's captivating series that sweeps listeners back to 1930's Alabama and into the lives of two neighboring couples whose deceitful friendships and imperfect marriages are just the beginning of their troubles...

The Main and Hazard families clash on and off the Civil War’s battlefields as they grapple with the violent realities of a divided nation. America's master storyteller continues his reign with Love and War, a story steeped in passion and betrayal. With the Confederate and Union armies furiously fighting, the once-steadfast bond between the Main and Hazard families continues to be tested. From opposite sides of the conflict, they face heartache and triumph on the frontlines as they fight for the future of the nation and their loved ones.

1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. A free spirit, she refuses to be confined by societal norms and spends her days exploring the vast property, observing wildlife, and riding horses. But the Great War, coastal storms, and family turmoil bring unexpected challenges to Eliza, putting her on a collision course with the patriarchal traditions of a bygone era.

A mountain girl in the early 1900’s copes with a marriage arranged by her dad. Her story is titled from an old saying “I own my land, heaven-high and hell-deep.” “Your pa gave his consent for us to marry,” he said the words as though it was a simple matter. It wasn’t a romantic proposal of love and devotion. It wasn’t a proposal at all. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried again. “I don’t know your name,” I managed to say as I felt my chest constrict. There was a pain in me that started at my toes and went to the roots of my hair. Dad had come up with a ...

Southern Legacyby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a captivating mystery novel set in the Gulf States during the sweltering summer of 1888. This gripping tale weaves together elements of historical fiction, intrigue, and Southern Gothic tradition. In the heat of 1888, at a modest station where eastbound and westbound trains exchange a handful of passengers daily, two men meet whose lives will become deeply intertwined. Adley Witt Jr., a sociable and amiable gentleman, steps in to help a young woman named Kitty Palmer, setting off a chain of events that reveals the complexities of Southern life post-...

Chasing El Dorado: A Daring Quest in 16th-Century South America is a gripping historical exploration narrative set during the tumultuous era of European colonialism in South America. In this riveting tale, follow the exploits of Spanish adventurers driven by the promise of untold riches, leading them through perilous jungles, hostile territories, and intense cultural interactions. Discover the story of Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada, the determined explorer who, in his quest for the mythical city of gold, El Dorado, navigates through dense forests, combats sickness, and negotiates with native ...

In a house lined with silence and cedar, generations of women buried what they could not say. Spanning the cane fields and bayous of South Louisiana—from the Civil War to the present day—The Weight of Ash and Prayer traces a family’s legacy of memory, silence, and quiet resistance. When Sylvie Rose Broussard agrees to help her young niece with a school genealogy project, she expects a simple task. But what begins in church ledgers and courthouse archives slowly draws her back to the long-quiet house her family once inhabited—and into a story nearly lost to time. Among faded records ...

From America's master storyteller and writer of historical fiction comes the dramatic conclusion to the North and South saga. The Civil War has ended, but the Hazards and Mains have yet to face their greatest struggles. Even as the embers of old hatreds continue to burn in the heart of a nation torn apart by war, a new future in the West awaits a new generation of Americans seeking a life of their own - and a place to call their own.

Joseph Lazare grows up believing his black hair and olive skin come from a Spanish grandmother, and he’s shocked to learn she was an enslaved African. At 13, Joseph allows racial prejudice to limit his future and chooses the seminary. At 23, he is ordained “a priest forever”. When he meets Tessa Conley, a devout Irish immigrant who shares his passions for music and botany, Joseph’s ordered world cracks at its foundation. He must conceal his true feelings as Tessa marries another man—a plantation owner who treats her like property.

With mysterious serial murders putting peaceful Lexington, Alabama, on edge, Jessie and Hubert Wiggins’ steadfast calm and devotion to each other reassures everyone that faith will see them through. But Jessie and Hubert have paid a terrible hidden cost to maintain their devout facade and respectable standing. Nothing can allay the guilt they feel—or stop the growing distrust between them.

Some pasts are too painful to remember, but impossible to forget. In 1967, sixteen-year-old Jane flees her small town and her mother’s alcoholism, hitchhiking to California’s Summer of Love in search of a new life. She immerses herself in the counterculture, trying to outrun her past, but the trauma follows her, shaping her choices and relationships. Seventeen years later, in Austin, Texas, Jane has built a life that seems perfect on the surface: she’s married to a loving husband, pursuing graduate studies, and has achieved sobriety after her own battles with addiction. But beneath ...

Irish domestic worker Norah King's decision to ask her wealthy employer, Caroline Parker, for an elegant red coat that the Beacon Hill matriarch has marked for donation ignites a series of events that neither woman could have fathomed. The unlikely exchange will impact their respective daughters and families for generations to come, from the coat's original owner, marriage-minded collegian Cordelia Parker, to the determined and spirited King sisters of South Boston, Rosemary, Kay, and Rita.

The tie that bound the cousins, Cullen Smythe and Wade Montogmery, together has been strained and stretched to the breaking point, and there is nothing Josephine can do. The bond once shared, once so strong, has been lost in the turmoil surrounding their lives. The war will force the brothers to choose sides. Each will defend their beliefs and loyalties with courage and valor, but each will stand against each other. The world that once was will be no more.

When Margaret Hale moves with her father from the comfort of the south of England to the industrial north, she is at first repulsed by what she sees; and then when she discovers the conditions under which the workers are forced to live, she is outraged. But this throws her into direct conflict with the powerful young mill-owner, John Thornton. Using personal passions to explore deep social divisions, North and South is a great romance and one of Elizabeth Gaskell's finest works.