Inspirational Historical Fiction

Author Carol Umberger combines her love of history, romance, and God in a quartet of powerful stories set in 14th-century Scotland during the reign of Robert the Bruce, Scotland's great hero king.

All men are the same - smug, deceitful, and not worth her time or trust. Why should this one be any different? Life for a beautiful actress in a travelling gypsy caravan is not all glitter and roses. After the womanizing scoundrel that headlines the show toyed with her heart until it broke, Caitlyn learned that no one in this world is worth trusting. Now all she dreams of doing is leaving the caravan and escaping for a normal life - peaceful and debt-free.

Reverend Herbert F. Smith is a noted theologian, author, and scholar. Hidden Victory, an internationally best-selling novel, has been published in numerous countries around the world. For this work, Smith engaged in extensive research and lived in the Holy Land while he wrote the first draft. A historical novel of Jesus’ life, Hidden Victory can be approached as revelation, as history, and as adventure.

The New Mexico Territory is a long way from home, but when Grace Belle receives a one way train ticket to travel there for an arranged marriage, she takes the trip hoping to find her brother, Calvin, so the two of them may return to their life in Philadelphia. What she didn't expect was to fall in love with the sheriff she was sent to marry.

April 1913--Belle Newbold hasn't seen mountains for seven years--since her father died in a mining accident and her mother married oil and gas magnate, Shipley Newbold. But when her stepfather's business acquaintance, Henry Ford, invites the family on one of his famous Vagabonds camping tours, she is forced to face the hills once again--primarily in order to reunite with her future fiancé, owner of the land the Vagabonds are using for their campsite, a man she's only met once before.

The small town of Morgan Hill, Tennessee, is turned upside down in 1947 when the Turners become the only black family ever to move into the area. Nine-year-old Jane Gable first lays eyes on young Milo Turner the day that her trouble-making, alcoholic father is buried in the Morgan Falls cemetery. When the Turners begin work as sharecroppers on a local tobacco farm, their presence challenges the comfort of many in the close-knit town and Jane leans heavily on her best friend, 53-year-old general store owner Henry Walker, for guidance. Then tragedy strikes the Turner household

When former Congressman Mark Stedman throws in the towel on his presidential campaign, his only choice is to return to his home state and decide how to spend the rest of his life...until he meets Josiah Stoltzfus, an Amish farmer from Pennsylvania. Using his old campaign headquarters for a base, Mark Stedman determines to introduce a new candidate to America. He pledges to do everything in his power to make sure Josiah gets elected. But can a plain man of faith turn the tide of politics and become the leader of America? And what will he have to risk to do it?

Survival rests with Rachelle Macquinet, a beautiful young couturiere, and Marquis Fabien de Vendome, her dashing nobleman-husband, when Queen Mother Catherine de Medici unfolds her murderous scheme to preserve her reign. Faith in Christ must uphold them to escape the Queen's web of treachery.

No one expected Barley to have an encounter with the Messiah. He was homeless, hungry, and struggling to survive in first-century Jerusalem. Most surprisingly, he was a dog. But through Barley's eyes, the story of a teacher from Galilee comes alive in a way we've never experienced before.

Life has never been simple for Jennifer McBee. As if being shy and hard of hearing wasn’t enough, now Jennifer is faced with the humiliation of her failed wedding. Desperate to escape, Jennifer decides to leave heartbreak behind her and travels west to be with her brother, the pastor of a small Nebraska town called Daisy Creek. While her brother has hopes for her making some new friendships with the townsfolk of Daisy Creek, Jennifer still feels removed from the community of this close-knit town.

As the oddball in the family and the eldest daughter of a renowned doctor, Gina has always wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. The men around her refuse to accept her ambitions and hard-earned qualifications, and Gina knows she will never achieve her dream in a small-minded society like Richmond, Virginia.

In New York, Eloisa has her future entirely planned out for her. As a member of a well-off family, she is expected to marry, put aside her passion for writing, and live according to her parent’s expectations. Neither as charming nor as pretty as her older sister, shy Eloisa is resigned to her fate - that is until she finds an advertisement for a mail-order-bride, for a banker in the small town of Daisy Creek.

This story will resonate with women and men who are trying to navigate through real life with grace and honor. What follows is a romance story with a twist. Because of the harsh realities of her widowhood during the Victorian period in Baltimore, Abigail succumbs to a life of poverty. Determined to find a way out, she becomes a member of The Woman's Exchange and manages to gain the trust and admiration of Mrs. Harmon Brown, the founder of the Exchange. Abigail is offered a position on the board of directors. At the annual board meeting, Abigail reconnects with Bill Garrett.

Leonardo Da Vinci has a problem. A serious problem. He needs to finish a piece for the Pope - but doesn’t know how. Alas, figuring it out is no trivial task. In fact, nobody ever has. Of all the great and grand quests that humans have undertaken, none has been more attempted or elusive than gaining a comprehensive grasp of God. When seeking to know Him with the head rather than the heart, to rely on reason rather than faith, the obstacles appear insurmountable. Join Leonardo and the Archangel Gabriel as they survey and surmount these stumbling blocks.

In the port of Charleston, South Carolina, post-Revolutionary War passions reach fever pitch. There, Lilyan's past catches up with her. As a former patriot spy, she is charged with the murder of a British officer. Thrown into the "Exchange Building" and chained alongside prostitutes, thieves, and murderers, she seeks the courage to survive and the faith to believe she will find her missing child, Laurel. Determined to free his wife at any cost, Nicholas finds himself forced back into a life of violence.

Beyond the sea lies ancient, Celtic Ireland, a proud land where tradition is everything and travel through the wild can mean slavery or death. There the Roman evangelist, Saint Patrick, carries a message of love, hope, and salvation - a message that threatens kingdoms, rulers, and powerful druid advisors. When Taran mac Teague joins the fight, he promises his beloved Laurna he’ll return. But will he? Can he? Or will the realm of spiritual darkness prove too strong?

Jimmy Doyle has a good job and great prospects, but he has never known what it feels like to have a family. But as things around him begin to change, he wonders if he could be blessed to find love. But having never known what it feels like to belong, will he recognize true friendship and affection when it is offered him? Maddy Bryant lost her parents when she was only eight years old. She has been pushed from pillar to post ever since but finally found a stable position in the Kendall's Cambridge town house as a maid.

In the wake of World War I in the small, Southern town of Bellhaven, South Carolina, the town folk believe they've found a little slice of heaven in a mysterious chapel in the woods. But they soon realize that evil can come in the most beautiful of forms. The people of Bellhaven have always looked to Ellsworth Newberry for guidance, but after losing his wife and his future as a professional pitcher, he is moments away from testing his mortality once and for all. Until he finally takes notice of the changes in his town...and the cardinals that have returned.

Mahalia Jackson was known as the queen of gospel music. A close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s, she was also a civil rights activist who sang at the March on Washington. And she traveled the world, too! Experience all the inspiring moments in Mahalia's big life in this thrilling biography, packed with fun facts, like who invented rock and roll! Short and engaging chapters are interspersed with special lists and other information made to order to engage kids, whether they're already biography fans or "have to" write a report for school.

Carrie and her little brother, Jay, find a wounded soldier on their land after a battle which later became known as "The Battle Above the Clouds." Adam, a Union soldier, has been shot twice in the arm. Though Carrie is reluctant to take Adam to their cave where her family hides their livestock from both armies, she cannot turn her back on him. But her Aunt Lavinia, bitter over what Yankees have done to their land, urges Carrie to allow Adam to die. Carrie refuses, but cannot remove the bullets.