Saga World

Maria and Josef live with their children in a valley in westernmost Austria. When the First World War breaks out and Josef is drafted into the army, Maria is left to provide for her family alone. Every day is a struggle against starvation, the harsh alpine climate and the hostile nearby villagers who see Maria as little more than a beautiful temptress out for the men left behind. But when a red-haired stranger arrives in the village, Maria feels happiness seep back into her life and she faces a choice whose consequences will affect the lives of her family for generations to come.

Peace has finally been declared in the Far East, but for those living at Beach View Boarding House, the news brings mixed emotions. Peggy Reilly is devastated that her husband, Jim, will not be coming home for Christmas. And Sarah and Jane, who have lived at Beach View throughout much of the conflict, dread what they will find when they go back to Singapore. Life in Cliffehaven is in a whirlwind of change as the men return from the war and Peggy’s evacuee chicks begin to spread their wings and start new lives in different corners of the world.

Lady Alexandra Baldwyn is stifled by her claustrophobic life of privilege at Somerton Hall. She is desperate to escape the confines of her family's stately home and do her bit for the war effort like her brother, Charles, and his best friend, Freddie Chevalier. She pleads with her parents to let her become a nurse in France, but her father refuses to sign the necessary papers, and she must be content with driving ambulances in London.

Die Vergangenheit der Cherusker holt Thorag ein. Auja und Thusnelda, die Frauen der Etruskerfürsten, sind noch immer in der Gewalt der Römer. Die Suche nach den beiden führt Thorag nach Ravenna. Hier muss er gegen monströse Sumpfschlangen kämpfen, um Gaviana, die schöne Tochter des reichen Bürgers Apicius, zu retten. Dankbar nimmt dieser Thorag bei sich auf. Doch beunruhigende Ereignisse geschehen und Thorag wird in seinen Träumen von der Vergangenheit der Cherusker verfolgt. Immer wieder erscheint ihm ein Mann im Traum, Flavus der Einäugige, Bruder des Arminius. Thorag ahnt, dass er ihm bald begegnen wird.

Plus que des œuvres littéraires brillantes, ce sont des portraits en creux de la société russe du XIXème siècle. Ces tableaux de mœurs nous renseignent avec talent et sagacité sur une société, des tempéraments, l'évolution d'un peuple, d'un Empire, et brosse le portrait au quotidien des hommes et des femmes, tous ces personnages qui vivent et qui peuplent ces chefs d'œuvres. La littérature en langue russe proprement dite naît au cours du XVIIème siècle, tout d'abord avec la poésie et le théâtre, mais très tôt naît une très riche tradition romanesque.

Austria, 1938. Anne von Korvacs watches in horror as Hitler's tanks roll through the streets of Vienna, amid crowds of cheering supporters. Her embittered ex-husband, now a fervent member of the Nazi cause, is among the cavalcade - he is burning with hatred for Anne, seeing her as a symbol of the old Austrian empire he once served. A chance encounter with a British journalist leaves Anne with a secret that must be smuggled out of the country, and Anne knows that she must forsake her beloved Vienna and with her children flee to Britain.

England, 1941: Life has always been cruel to Ethel. Raised in an orphanage by a merciless mistress, she never knew the meaning of love. And now she has fallen for the one man who is forbidden to her - Karl, a German held captive in the local prisoner-of-war camp. He might be the enemy, but he has her heart. When Ethel discovers she’s pregnant, she is labelled a traitor and shunned by all. The love of her life is torn away from her, but she vows to protect their precious daughter. But the unthinkable happens....

"The Prince" is the most famous of Machiavelli's works; it gives very clear, precise and realistic instructions on how to gain and maintain power, fortune, and glory, sometimes at the expense of others. Written in 1513, it is one of the most feared and hated political treatises, taken to be the first work in which the effect the leader desires to achieve is taken as more important than any abstract ideal or ethical value that might prevent him from taking immoral action.

Society heiress Evelyn Brooke-Edwards is a skilled interrogator—her beauty making her a non-threat in the eyes of the prisoners. Farm girl Betty Connors may not be able to type as she claimed, but her crack analytical skills soon find her unearthing covert connections. German ex-pat Judith Stern never expected to find herself listening in to German POWs' whispered conversations, but the Nazis took her father from her, so she will do whatever it takes to help the Allies end this war.

Suffolk, 1944. American pilot Charlie’s second tour is about to draw to a close, but his heart is forever changed when he meets Kitty, a local girl. As love blooms, the pair are all too aware that every perilous mission Charlie flies may well be his last. Suffolk, 2011. When Kitty’s granddaughter and ambitious tearoom owner Amy meets American tourist and photographer Jack, she agrees to show him around in exchange for his photographic talents. The deal quickly grows into an unexpected bond – but when long-buried secrets emerge, neither of their worlds will ever be the same again.

It's 1911, and Greta Goldbaum is forced to move from glittering Vienna to damp England to wed Albert, a distant cousin. The Goldbaum family are one of the wealthiest in the world, with palaces across Europe, but as Jews and perpetual outsiders, they know that strength lies in family. But World War I looms, and even the influential Goldbaums cannot alter its course. For the first time in 200 years, the family will find itself on opposing sides, and Greta will have to choose: the family she's created, or the one she left behind.

New York Times best-selling authors W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear present the third installment of their gripping chronicle of the earliest European settlers, as seen through the eyes of North American natives. Here Black Shell and his wife Pearl Hand emerge from exile and rededicate their lives to stopping de Soto and his Kristiano invaders. Taking a great gamble with his own life and those of his people, Black Shell crafts an elaborate plot that will change the course of history.

Sweeping from Russia to Jerusalem, from New York to Nazi-occupied Germany, and finally to Israel, this is the richly layered story of an extraordinary woman whose epic struggle mirrors the battle of an emerging nation to forge its own identity. Chavala Rabinsky is 16 when her mother dies and she becomes the caretaker of her five siblings. Beautiful and wise beyond her years, Chavala catches the eye of Dovid Landau, a poor cobbler whose dreams transform her life when he marries her.

When orphaned Daiyu leaves her home in the provinces to take shelter with her cousins in the Capital, she is drawn into a world of opulent splendor, presided over by the ruthless, scheming Xifeng and the prim, repressed Baochai. As she learns the secrets behind their glittering facades, she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue and hidden passions, reaching from the petty gossip of the servants' quarters all the way to the Imperial Palace.

Liverpool, 1940. When her childhood sweetheart, Johnny, is killed in action, Maxine Grey loses more than her husband - she loses her best friend. Desperate to make a difference in this awful war, Maxine takes a nursing job at London’s St Thomas’ hospital. She takes comfort in the attentions of a handsome surgeon, but Edwin Blake isn’t all he seems. And as the Blitz descends on the capital, Maxine faces more heartache. When she returns to Liverpool, she harbours a secret.

Argent Mettlebright knows how to keep a secret safe, but it's only a matter of time before someone notices that Hisoka Twineshaft has disappeared from the political arena. With tensions on the rise, the world needs his leadership more than ever. Nobody wants to help Sensei more than Isla Ward, but his door is barred against her. Right, then. She has a plan, and she has a co-writer. Maybe with their next book, her hopes will finally reach her mentor.

In the charnel house that was Europe in the Second World War, there were few instances of shining moral courage, let alone secular sainthood. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and Nazi resister, was the exception. This emblematic figure risked his life, and finally lost it, through his participation in a failed plot to assassinate Hitler and topple his regime.

In this unforgettable final chapter of the Immigrants series, Howard Fast follows the trials and joys of the wealthy Lavette matriarch, Barbara, whose life has been a selfless journey powered by an unshakable faith in the human spirit. Barbara now discovers the unexpected delights of finding love in her later years, even as she encounters the most daunting obstacle of her life.

München, 1923: Deutschland versinkt in den düsteren Tiefen der Wirtschaftskrise, und zwei Paare stehen an der Schwelle ihres Schicksals. Helga und Heinrich Goldmann kämpfen buchstäblich um ihr nacktes Überleben, während Edith und Julius Falkenstein zur Elite Deutschlands gehören. Als die schüchterne Edith Julius zum ersten Mal traf, war es Liebe auf den ersten Blick. Die Einheirat in die mächtige Falkenstein-Familie hat sie in die glitzernde Gesellschaft der oberen Zehntausend katapultiert. Doch ihre heile Welt gerät ins Wanken, als die Nazi-Partei immer mehr Macht und Einfluss gewinnt.

Following the death of their matriarch, the lives of Chye Hoon's family are turned upside down. Now that the British have fled and the Japanese have conquered, their once-benign world changes overnight. Amid the turmoil, Chye Hoon's daughter-in-law, Mei Foong, must fend for her family as her husband, Weng Yu, becomes increasingly embittered. Challenged in ways she never could have imagined and forced into hiding, Mei Foong finds a deep reservoir of resilience she did not know she had and soon draws the attentions of another man.