Showing results for "becoming" in Historical Fiction

Raymond Bannister is a wealthy man living a secure life, but the day that he receives a single slipper in an envelope his world falls apart. He seeks out a place in the bad part of town—is he looking for his own demise? He is found slashed down in a dirty alleyway. The crime and the crime scene are inexplicable to Lestrade, and he seeks the help of his new consultant detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. This beginning will lead us back in time, to India, and it will lead us to the strange origin of a group of children that call themselves the Irregulars.

When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis - known as Jack - she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford professor and the beloved writer of The Chronicles of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters.

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference. When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists.

Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.

1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a 17-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it’s just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: “Where did Narnia come from?”

The prequel to the critically-acclaimed novel, The Conjurer, has arrived. The paths of three boys intertwine at an unlikely junction in this fantastic tale of treachery, hope, and power. When opportunity knocks for Mikalla to become The Conjurer’s assistant, he is quickly rivaled by Gobi, the jealous and talented apprentice. Gobi will do anything for a chance to rid Mikalla of his position. Meanwhile, the second prince of Idaza is a pudgy royal with not much to do and even less to be proud of.

The Trial Worlds do not forgive mistakes, and Kai will learn this through firsthand experience. He escaped death, but he lost a part of himself along the way. To get it back, he will have to overcome pain and suffering. But he knows it will be worth it. He is no longer a pawn in the world of cultivation. So far, he has been but one of the many participants in the unfolding events, but now it is time for him to become the ringleader.

From the best-selling author of Red Azalea, this extraordinary novel tells the stirring, erotically charged story of Madame Mao Zedong, the woman almost universally known as the 'white-boned demon,' whom many hold directly responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Bringing her lush psychological insight to bear on the facts of history, Min penetrates the myth surrounding this woman and provides a "convincing, nuanced portrait of a damaged personality" ( Entertainment Weekly) driven by ambition, betrayal, and a never-to-be-fulfilled need to be loved.

The year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children are dead. A father is sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son is destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women are reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent.

Ravenna, A.D. 408. Placidia is watching her family fall apart. When her emperor brother accuses their powerful foster father of treason, the naive imperial princess tries to reason with her sibling to no avail. And after her foster father is lured out of sanctuary and brutally executed, she flees the toxic court to avoid a forced marriage… but to dubious safety.

Perfect for fans of the best-selling Becoming Mrs. Lewis as well as anyone interested in the story behind the story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis. Includes additional podcast episodes, bonus chapters from Becoming Mrs. Lewis, and a special letter from author Patti Callahan to Joy Davidman.

Our perception of Victoria the Queen is coloured by portraits of her older, widowed self – her dour expression embodying the repressive morality propagated in her time. But Becoming Queen reveals an energetic and vibrant woman, determined to battle for power. It also documents the Byzantine machinations behind Victoria’s quest to occupy the throne, and shows how her struggles did not end when finally the crown was placed on her head.

Jemma Braithewaite is dealing with tragedy, injury, and a desire for a different life. She's forced to make a heartbreaking journey to the Idaho Territory to take care of her orphaned niece and nephew. Just when she needs a friend the most, God puts Janine Hewitt in her life. The two women bond on their train ride from Chicago to Cutter's Creek, Montana. An unexpected invitation to stop and visit the Hewitt family in Cutter's Creek gives Jemma some time to ease herself and the children into life together.

The Duke's bad-boy son makes her swoon, but Anna must marry his nauseating father. Anna has fallen from nobility. Working as a servant, she wants nothing more than to reunite with her daughter. She accepts an arranged proposal from an older Duke in an agreement to get her daughter back. After meeting the Duke's handsome and salacious son, she is overwhelmed with desire that she must ignore to safeguard her secret. Will Anna ever be able to forget the feelings that Alex evoked in her?

The once impoverished medical student Agnes Glock is now the fabulously wealthy Mrs Mulberry. Her estate in the mountains is magnificent, a haven for those too ravaged by the Great War to cope with the society that first condemned them to battle and which now shuns them. The War has, however, stolen Agnes's chance to graduate as a doctor, as well as the fiance she adored. Her husband, Douglas Mulberry, remains shellshocked and unable to speak. Their scandalous marriage is a farce, an act of kindness to keep Douglas's fortune from his uncle's grasp.

On June 20, 1815, rumors of Wellington's victory in what history would come to call the Battle of Waterloo reach London. Among the townspeople celebrating, first the rumor and then the confirmation of victory, are Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy (and their son, Fitzy) and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bingley, who live a few blocks apart in Mayfair in London. The news became bleak for the families, however, when they soon received a dispatch that Captain George Wickham had been valiantly killed in battle.

Violet's heart flutters from the scarlet fever she survived as a child, and it beats faster at the sight of John Smith, the man she plans to marry. America is entrenched in WWII, and when John enlists, Violet is certain she won't ever forgive him for dashing their dreams. As the realities of war slowly overtake her life, Violet's days are filled with uncertainty and grief. She struggles to maintain her faith in John as the world as she knows it crumbles around her.

Becoming a Woman of Substance finds Miriam Levine Butler at age 38, having had an epiphany. The Great Depression rages on and on in 1938. Her beloved son Aaron is in California, trying to be a screenwriter. She ventures out of her purgatory and goes back to her old haunt, Romany Marie’s café, where she hears about the Federal Theatre Project and its daunting director, Hallie Flanagan. This launches her new life as she returns to her early love of theater, but this time as a field investigator of drought victims in the growing fields of California.

Born into poverty on a winter’s night in 1900, Alfie Norrington spent his early years fighting to survive on the streets of London’s East End. He became a competent pickpocket and an accomplished thief. Young Alfie descends into stealing to survive. Fortunately, his older brother, Jack, notices his behavior and begins guiding and supporting Alfie, encouraging him to grow as a person and thrive. Alfie develops his values, which drive him to fight for the king and his country in the war to end all wars.

England, 1944. An American volunteers to copilot a plane carrying special agents to their drop spot over Normandy. Her personal mission: to find her brother, who is missing in action. Their plane is shot down, and only she and five agents survive. Now they are on the run for their lives. As they head to Paris, the beautiful aviatrix Velva Jean Hart becomes Clementine Roux, a daring woman on a mission with her team to capture an operative known only as Swan.