Historical Homes

When Clara Newton became house mother of Shilling Grange Orphanage, it was only supposed to be temporary, a job to help piece her life back together again after the war had torn it apart. But five years on, Shilling Grange is more than just a job, it’s her calling. The orphans have given her a reason to live again, as has her handsome war hero neighbor Ivor, who is now her dashing fiancé.

Assuming the Lord wants her to practice medicine in a remote African outpost, Astrid Bjorklund enrolls in a missionary training school. She prays her former sweetheart will one day understand. But when a family crisis calls her home, Astrid hears of a deadly measles outbreak on a nearby Indian reservation. Feeling inexplicably constrained to help, she wonders if God might be leading her to a “mission field” that’s much closer than she imagined.

The newest entry in the saga of the McCabes. Johnny returns to his boyhood home Pennsylvania for the first time in thirty years, bringing Bree and Eli with him. They find old enemies and new threats combine to stand against the family, and Eli must go on the run for a crime he didn't commit. Can a young man like Eli truly find justice? And are the enemies of the family ready for McCabe justice?

When Amy's chosen as part of a programme to resettle displaced children in Canada, her life changes tack. Her great sadness is having to say goodbye to Ruth and Ellen, the friends who became family to her during the dark days at the orphanage. As she steps on board the ship to Montreal, the promise of a new life lies ahead. But during the long crossing, Amy discovers a terrifying secret.

Everything has changed since the war started. Nanea had hoped that going back to school would make life seem normal again. But it hasn’t. There are still curfews and blackouts and constant reminders of war. Nanea’s dear friend Donna had to leave Hawaii, and Nanea’s big brother won’t stop talking about joining the Army. In the swirl of changes, Nanea turns to hula. Dancing makes her feel better, and soon she learns how much it lifts the spirits of the soldiers, too. When a surprising hula partner boosts everyone’s morale, Nanea gets a big idea.

In the 1950s, the alluring Rebecca Blaine ruled Long Island’s Gold Coast from Cadieux House, a gift of love from the brilliant architect Marius Cadieux. Today, as architect Wren Fontaine restores the house, she becomes immersed in a seventy-five-year-old murder, as well as fresh killings that echo it. To make it even more complicated, Cadieux was an important mentor to Wren’s father, who isn’t happy about Wren “fixing” the home. Wren must think back to her childhood, when the elderly Cadieux gave her a riddle. She knows she must solve it to understand the house—and stop the killings.

After waving her sweetheart Luke off to war, Nell Davenport encounters an unexpected entanglement that will change Hollywood forever. With combat raging across Europe and the Pacific, jobs of all kinds are now open to women on the home front. Nell sets her sights on the publicity department of the Warner Bros. movie studios as she develops a surprising bond with Humphrey Bogart. But when a captivating 19-year-old is cast opposite Bogie in To Have and Have Not, the newcomer’s arrival will alter the course of Nell’s blossoming friendship.

In early 1800s England, Jess Beauchene has spent most of her life in hiding and always on the move in an effort to leave her past far behind her. But when she learns the family she thought had died just might be alive and in danger, she knows her secrets can only stay buried for so long. Derek Thornbury loves the past, which has led him to become an expert in history and artifacts. He knows Jess has never liked him, but when she requests his help deciphering the clues laid out in an old family diary, he can't resist the urge to solve the puzzle.

1940, Great Paxford, Cheshire: In Britain's darkest hour, an extraordinary community of women strive to protect the Home Front. When a plane crashes in the village, every one of their lives will change forever. The women of Great Paxford are no strangers to hardship and the extraordinary power of what women can achieve when they work together. Can Frances, Sarah, Pat, Steph and the women of the WI survive their greatest challenge yet?

Alone and pregnant, she was following in the footsteps of more than a century’s worth of lost souls. Shunned by society for her sins and offered no comfort for her pain, Bridget gave birth to a boy, John, who died at the home in a horrendous state of neglect less than two years later. Her second child was once again delivered into the care of the nuns and was taken from her, never to be seen or heard from again.

Ellis Island, 1902. Francesca arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life than the one she left in Italy. That same day, aspiring linguist Alma reports to her first day of work at the immigrant processing center. Ellis, though, is not the refuge it first appears thanks to President Roosevelt's attempts to deter crime. Francesca and Alma will have to rely on each other to escape its corruption and claim the American dreams they were promised.

1940, Great Paxford, Cheshire: In Britain's darkest hour, an extraordinary community of women strive to protect the Home Front. When a plane crashes in the village, every one of their lives will change forever. The women of Great Paxford are no strangers to hardship and the extraordinary power of what women can achieve when they work together. Can Frances, Sarah, Pat, Steph and the women of the WI survive their greatest challenge yet?

When Louisiana Elefante's granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn't overly worried. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana's life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes.

An orphan boy named Billy performs with a traveling medicine show with Angus and Doctor C.F. Noble, Discoverer of the Elixir of the Incas. Billy is planning to run away when Doc is suddenly taken ill. Will Billy stay and help the Doc or run away?

Virginia, 1933: Lauren Greenwood was born to look pretty and land a rich husband. For her and her high-society family, it’s easy to forget that America is in the devastating grip of the Great Depression, where children run wild in the streets, endless queues for soup kitchens line sidewalks, and desperation hangs in the air. But when a young servant comes to Lauren, pregnant and begging for help, her world crumbles. Someone she loves is responsible, and when she finds out the shocking truth she must decide: Protect the Greenwood name or be cast out?

Clara Newton has dedicated her life to taking care of orphans who have nobody in the world but her. From affectionate Gladys, who desperately misses her older brothers, to traumatized Florrie, who longs for her father and refuses to eat, Clara loves each of the children like they are her own. But even though she has opened her heart to so many little ones, when brown-eyed war hero Ivor asks her to marry him, Clara is afraid to take a chance on love. Would married life prevent her from dedicating herself completely to her orphans?

When Clara Newton’s American pilot fiancé died during the war, she thought she might never heal. But now she has a new life looking after orphans in a children’s home named in his memory. Like wide-eyed, musical little Rita, who refuses to believe her mother died during the Blitz. With the Festival of Britain approaching, Clara is delighted to see the children singing and preparing to audition together. And with D-Day war hero and handyman Ivor living next door, she begins to open her heart once more.

When Charlie’s longed-for brother is born with a serious heart condition, Charlie’s world is turned upside down. Upset and afraid, Charlie flees the hospital and makes for the ancient forest on the edge of town. There Charlie finds a boy floating face-down in the stream, injured, but alive. But when Charlie sets off back to the hospital to fetch help, it seems the forest has changed. It’s become a place as strange and wild as the boy dressed in deerskins.

Award-winning Florida novelist Patrick Smith's first novel, The River Is Home, revolves around a Mississippi family's struggle to cope with changes in their rural environment. Poor in material possessions, Skeeter's kinfolk are rich in their appreciation of their beautiful natural surroundings. The river on which they live—with its food supply, steamboats, and floods—figures strongly in their lives as the source of life, change, and death. Though their life is a simple one, it's filled with friendship, loyalty, love, and compassion.

Almost Home is the story of the pilgrims' journey to America and of God's providence and provision. Several of the characters in the story - Mary Chilton, Constance Hopkins, and Elizabeth Tilley - were actual passengers on the Mayflower. Mary Chilton was a young girl when she left her home in Holland and traveled to America onboard the Mayflower with her parents. The journey was filled with trials, joys, and some surprises, but when she reached the New World, she experienced a new life, new freedom, and new home.