Historical Homes

Running from her abusive grandfather—broken and afraid—17-year-old Valentia Brocato flees her homeland, hoping for a brighter future in America. Little does she realize that America is about to enter its own conflict—The Great War.

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.

When America declared war on the German Empire in 1917, young men were drafted and thrown into the conflict on the Western Front. A group of young women decided to help the war effort by writing to the soldiers. As Matrice Hamilton corresponds with several young men, only one claims her heart. Will he come home to her if he survives the carnage on the frontlines? If so, can they find love and fulfillment together, or will the dark clouds of war overshadow them forever?

Tatianna Murray joins her best friends in writing to the men headed for Europe during World War I. Ryan’s letters stand out from the others. Two strangers find within the words something they both share: loneliness and the loss of their parents. As the correspondence continues, they find love, although they’ve never met. While in the horrific war, Ryan carries a bit of Tatianna with him, a golden cross. When Ryan’s letters stop, Tatianna worries. Is he wounded, dead, or imprisoned by the enemy?

To say Maeva Stewart is not a patient young woman is an understatement. Full of ideas, she meets life head on—usually with her best friend and neighbor, Ruby Risler. Aside from Ruby’s good qualities as a friend, she also has a brother, Leo. After giving cookies to the men leaving the train station for Camp Douglas, Maeva begins writing letters to those she doesn’t know. Then, drawing upon an untapped well of courage, she writes to tell Leo how she feels about him. A telegram changes everything when Leo is injured in France, and Maeva wants to go to him.

When an explosive conflict is determined to destroy lives the world over, Ruby Rose Risler undertakes her patriotic responsibility to the Doughboys being called to defend liberty “over there.” But Ruby’s civic duty becomes a labor of love when her newest pen pal sparks a sweet interest. Farm boy Earnest Steiner cannot fathom the scope of the task before him when he’s pulled from small town America and dropped into the trenches of France. But the touching letters he receives from a gentle young woman provide a lifeline during his time on the Western Front.

Nell and Cave Bear are safe in the company of the animal-loving Sea Clan. But when the Woodland Clan begin causing trouble, the two friends are separated. This time, the Woodland hunters are determined not to return home empty-handed. Can Nell and Cave Bear escape the greatest danger yet?

Meet the Prescott family: a bright and enigmatic mix of characters who struggle together and pick their way through the different perilous minefields of Flushing, Queens, during the Vietnam War era. At the center of this story is a boy becoming a man, simultaneously surrounded and set ablaze by his unstable and supportive family. Set in this tumultuous time of our nation's history and peppered with vivid atmospheric nods to both the time and place, this is the first installment of the War at Home series, a timeless family saga that will reverberate in spirit for generations to come.

Luke Valenti has never fit into his swaggering family of overbearing loudmouths. Even worse, the world is at war again and Uncle Sam has stamped his draft notice “4-F” - the ultimate rejection - because of a rare eye condition that has left Luke unable to see colors. So instead, he dreams of escaping Brooklyn for the beaches of Montauk. That is, until a stolen prop from "The Maltese Falcon" pitches him down a reluctant path to Hollywood. Luke is tasked with returning it to Warner Brothers.

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.

On a stormy night in March 1941, Maisie Rose Hawkins leaves her drunk husband, Stan, out in the rain - and he disappears. Detective Sergeant Bob Robbins and young PC Laurie Oliver are called out to investigate and discover that Stan’s small fishing boat is gone, the rope sawn through. As Bob searches for answers, it becomes apparent that in this small Cornish village where everyone knows everything about everybody, nobody quite knows the truth.

Mildred Crenshaw's latest match in the Westward Home and Hearts Mail-Order Brides series. The accident that kills her parents leaves Sookie Donaldson mute. She grasps at the chance to be a mail-order bride. The only catch is that she must also be able to teach school. Since Sookie taught school for a number of years that is no problem. Hopefully in Nebraska, people will welcome any trained teacher - even one who cannot speak. She fits all the requirements outlined by Milly Crenshaw, the matchmaker. The man in Nebraska is a perfect match. She hopes.

Journey with Jim through An Ambition to Belong, the second book of master novelist Jim Sniechowski’s Leaving Home trilogy. This is an astute and insightful psychological journey into the inner life of Jim, an adolescent in the midst of trying to forge his own identity....

His nightmares were real. Abandoned again - this time on a sinking ship. Running from his past - struggling to survive. Huddled in a dark secluded corner of the ship, Guy hugged his knees, shaking with fear and cold. Total darkness threatened to consume him. His eyes hurt from crying, his body ached from fighting. He jerked as another rat tried to seek refuge beneath his jacket. He was alone. Left to die on a sinking ship. Fourteen years have passed since seven siblings had to separate to survive after their drunken father abandoned them.

Lady Grace’s bargain with the devil guaranteed the life of the man she will always love, but the price was giving him up forever. Now Matthew has returned to England, and she finds it impossible to let him go. Freed from a hellish prison on the Continent, Matthew Stanford, Marquess of Harrington, retreats to his country manor. His days obsessed with thoughts of exacting revenge upon the man responsible for his captivity.

It's 1941, and the war rumbles on. Nowhere is immune to the effects of war, not even Ambridge. But in England's favourite village, something else is occupying the residents. When a prominent villager dies, the main beneficiary's name is a mystery, and no one knows who is set to inherit the estate, cottage and all. The name is hidden within a locked box, and the villagers much uncover the password to find out the name of the beneficiary.

In a sleepy Southern coastal town crowned the Hollywood of the East, worlds collide, and sparks fly when fate has two TV casting directors acting as accidental rivals. It’s not just that the town isn’t quite big enough for the two of them. Violet Davenport brings deep roots, local allies, and old-fashioned Southern charm to the table. Nate Fowler’s got deep pockets, tech knowhow, and a family that’s been in the biz since the silent film days.

Single mom Isabella York was a celebrity before she had her first kiss, her first date, or her first sip of alcohol. Playing the bad girl—both on and off the set—allowed her to make up for lost time. Back home in Boston, with her “checkered past” behind her, all she wants is to raise her little girl far away from the spotlight, because revealing her secrets could mean losing everything, or gaining more than she ever hoped.

1988 doesn’t end well for Jessica Abraham. In just one week, she turns 30, loses her day job, and loses the role of Ophelia to a younger actress. Rallying, she goes after a part at a theater outside of the city, but the director’s plan to hide her beauty behind hair, makeup, and wardrobe from Cosmo’s “Don't'' column shakes her confidence to the core. For the first time in her acting career, she won’t be able to rely on her carefully managed physical charms. Only her craft will count.