Historical Homes

Anna's father disappeared months ago. He had to flee the country because the cruel new Communist government wanted to arrest him. The Communists may have arrived like heroes at the end of World War II, saving Czechoslovakia from the Nazis - but since then, things have changed. Now Anna's whole family feels threatened and doesn't know whom to trust, so she and her mother and sister set out to escape, hoping to reunite with Papa.

There were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England…

Far and near. Lost and found. Four girls. Four generations. Georgia cannot figure out what's going on in her family. Her mother, Francie, is extremely overprotective. Her grandmother, Dana, and her great-grandmother, Abby, don't speak to each other. And Georgia's great-great-grandmother also had some secrets that nobody else knows about. Georgia knows this because she's found her great-great grandmother's diary hidden in a wall in the family's house in Maine.

Becky Nelson fled her childhood home and risked irreparable damage to her relationship with her only sister for an independent life in Kansas. The bookish bachelorette had no sooner settled in the Sunflower State when her path crossed with Henry, a ruggedly handsome farmer. The draft selects the seemingly untouchable Henry, and the couple rushes to make their union permanent before the war carries him to far-off lands. As the days turn to months, their letters give Becky and Henry the strength to go on as he serves his country, and she shares their home with an unlikely guest.

Growing up in Palmer Lake, Colorado, Jessica Lehman and Andy McCormick were practically inseparable. But when tragedy struck, their childhood friendship was torn apart. Now, more than a decade later, Jessie's search for the truth about her family has brought the two together again.

In Worship of Hollow Gods, James Sniechowski bears witness to the world of a sensitive nine-year-old boy, subjected to the underbelly of his Polish Catholic family in working-class Detroit. The year is 1950. The family gathers for a Friday night family poker/pinochle party. The outcome reveals a world no one ever talked about then and they are forbidden to talk about now - the unspoken, the impermissible, the reality beneath every family's practiced facade - and what lies beneath when the front has been ripped away.

English rose Eleanor Rigby has stared into the cold eyes of death more than once. To escape its icy grip, she flees as a mail-order bride to a new future with Samuel Johnson, a Western cowboy. But when a lost love returns from the grave to claim his broken bride, a fearful fight for Ellie's own life and sanity ensues. Can the bonds of true love bring her home, or will she be lost forever?

Endpapers excavates the extraordinary histories of the author's grandfather and father: the renowned publisher Kurt Wolff, dubbed "perhaps the 20th century's most discriminating publisher" by the New York Times Book Review, and his son Niko, who fought in the Wehrmacht during World War II before coming to America.

Isaac Liddle is keen to marry Emmie, and she knows she shouldn't hide her pregnancy from him any longer. But before she can tell him her secret, a widower friend asks the impossible of Emmie: Will she honor her promise to his dead wife by marrying him to care for the orphaned baby?

August, 1942 - Fresh from the successful completion of an undercover assignment, Regan is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Before returning home, she goes to Washington to offer her investigative skills to the Army. Now all Regan has to do is avoid Mark Harris who is still actively pursuing her and ignore the call of her own heart.

Join us on a fascinating ramble through the towns and villages of the British Isles during the last 400 years in the company of some of its most illustrious chroniclers, including Jane Austen, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, Sir Walter Scott, Virginia Woolf, Francis Kilvert, Celia Fiennes, Chips Channon, Fanny Burney and many others, told entirely in their own words.

Jack recalls 1974, when Henry Aaron was only one hit away from tying the great Babe Ruth for most career home runs and only two home runs away from breaking Ruth's record. Aaron's pursuit of the record has such a powerful influence on fans' imaginations that Jack thinks his best friend Joe hit a home run on a freight train. And just like with Aaron's home run (that is earning him death threats and has placed him under FBI protection), Joe's home run reveals deep-seated divisions among everyone in Jack's hometown, even his own family.

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.

It's summer and renowned actress, Dame Pamela Harcourt, has organized a treat: the first Purley Hall Jane Austen holiday - to the home of Mr. Darcy no less. With Katherine and Warwick, Robyn, Doris Norris and the rest of the gang, it's going to be a trip to remember.

Mary was born in New York City and due to the Spanish Influenza, her father realized she needed a special gift to distract her from loneliness. Mary cherished this gift, but it was tragically destroyed in an accident. Mary never forgot her favorite gift, and 80 years later, when she retired to Alabama, Mary experienced culture shock as well as a Christmas miracle. This is a humorous and sweet story that everyone in the family will love.

El cuerpo de un amigo destrozado por la metralla, la voz de un hombre que pide clemencia, la mano de una niña que asoma escarbando entre la basura para encontrar algo de comer...Hay imágenes que vuelven una y otra vez a la mente de Frank Money, un veterano de la guerra de Corea que ahora vuelve a Estados Unidos en busca de olvido y afecto. Corren los años cincuenta del siglo pasado y las heridas de Frank no son solo físicas: su patria es racista, su familia ha acumulado mucho odio, y el regreso parece más un camino hacia el infierno que una vuelta al hogar.

Vivianna Risler enjoys interacting with the young women of her daughter’s acquaintance. But when the girls form the Ladies Victory League undertake a letter writing campaign to the Doughboys, she supervises the activities with a mother’s eye toward propriety and protection.

Aria’s letter-writing campaign to the Doughboys was a kindness that turned into a journey of the heart. Corresponding with Donald, Joey, and the others became a part of her life. Until one unexpected soldier, Dakota Knox, changed her dreams of becoming a missionary. Instead, the young woman pleads for her new love’s safe return.

Chased from their life by scandal, Ilianna Winters and her mother desperately seek a new beginning. But tragedy continues to plague the Winters as they seek out a place to rebuild their lives. As the world totters on the brink of madness, Ilianna finds compassion among her companions in the Ladies Victory League. Still, social constraints and dark secrets hamper the young woman’s potential within high society—until she is blessed to find a kindred spirit amongst her correspondence.

In 1917 every man, woman, and child was called to civic duty as the “war to end all wars” encompassed the globe. When the patriotic call comes, Adella begins her campaign of encouragement by corresponding with the frightened and lonely soldiers. On the cusp of adulthood, the young woman is tired of living a cosseted life and hopes to gain her parents' support when she wants to volunteer her services to the war effort. Her mother worries for her safety, but Adella is more concerned for her heart.