Historical Diaries

Emmaline MacKenzie, only daughter to the famed MacKenzie family that founded McLeary, Iowa, grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was groomed to be an asset to any man who was chosen by her father. Having graduated from finishing school in the early 1900s, Emmaline was the epitome of a well-behaved woman even though in her heart she leaned toward the values of the suffragettes who marched so that modern women could enjoy equality. It wasn’t long after the marriage to her father’s business partner that Emmaline found out the hard way that life was not a happily ever after fairytale.

After an unexpected heartbreak and a nasty accident on a busy Liverpool street, Lara Flynn is desperate to start afresh and leave painful memories behind her. She takes on a new job as a district nurse and midwife at a country practice, in the remote Lancashire village of Ingleside. But instead of the friendly rural idyll she pictures, Lara finds she must cycle vast distances to visit locals who harbour an innate suspicion of a newcomer from the city – as well as dealing with unpredictable livestock, an erratic senior doctor and often challenging medical cases.

This unique and gripping document contains the recently discovered diaries of a German businessman, John Rabe, who saved so many lives in the infamous siege of Nanking in 1937 that he is now being honored as the Oskar Schindler of China. As the Japanese army closed in and all foreigners were ordered to evacuate, Rabe mobilized the remaining Westerners in Nanking and organized an "International Safety Zone" which guaranteed safety to all unarmed Chinese by virtue of Germany's pact.

Margaret Dashwood learned from her older sisters - sensible Elinor and romantic Marianne - that the path of true love is rarely easy or smooth. And yet Margaret grew up dreaming of one day finding love and romance of her own. Now, smarting from the pain of a broken engagement, Margaret has traveled to stay with her now-married sisters in order to heal.

It’s 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man. Charles Ignatius Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse, and his main ally—a kindly duke who taught him to write—is dying. Sancho is desperate and utterly alone. So how does the same Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the king, write and play highly acclaimed music, become the first Black person to vote in Britain, and lead the fight to end slavery? Through every moment of this rich, exuberant tale, Sancho forges ahead to see how much he can achieve in one short life.

She was a longtime lover of JFK. She was the ex-wife of a CIA chief. She was the sister-in-law of the Washington Post’s Ben Bradlee. She believed in mind expansion and took LSD with Timothy Leary. She was a painter, a socialite, and a Bohemian in Georgetown during the Cold War. And she ended up dead in an unsolved murder a year after JFK’s assassination. The diary she kept was never found. Until now...

No one loves books more than Miss Mary Channing. Perhaps that's why she's reached the ripe old age of six-and-twenty without ever being kissed. Her future may be as bland as milk toast, but Mary is content to simply dream about the heroes and adventures she reads about in her books. That way she won't end up with a villain instead.

Vermont, 1850s. Bell's Star is a brown Morgan colt with a white star and two white stockings. He was bred for hard work, yet he longs to run free with his human friend, Katie, on his back. But when Star helps rescue a runaway slave girl, his ideas about freedom may change forever. Here is Star's story . . . in his own words.

It's been a decade since Kate and Cecelia foiled Napoleon's plot to reclaim the French crown. The cousins now have estates, children, and a place at the height of wizarding society. It is 1828, and though magic remains at the heart of the British Empire, a new power has begun to make itself felt across England: the steam engine. As iron tracks crisscross the countryside, the shaking of the locomotives begins to disrupt the workings of English magic, threatening the very foundations of the Empire.

Written with a lively pace, plenty of action without being bogged down. A deliciously fun read of adventure, insights into the human condition, full of sarcasm and wit. Have a look inside and come on this journey with a reluctant alien time traveller, imprisoned on Earth. I have been writing all my life, a fan of Douglas Adams, Tolkien and their ilk. This is my first novel, in short novel format, and I hope there will be many more. I would love your feedback.

This first installment of Historical Sketches, focuses on the organizational skills of the Chabad-Lubavitch leaders, describing their far-reaching efforts on behalf of the social and communal well-being of their brethren, beginning with the founder of the movement, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe.

In 1843, when Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, third Lubavitcher Rebbe, was called upon to join the government's Rabbinical Commission in Czarist Russia, the Rebbe showed unswerving determination in opposing any changes to Jewish practice and custom proposed by the Haskalah Movement. Penned by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskalah Movement presents the background and story of this critical period in Russian Jewish history.

A gripping thriller based on shocking true events. The Magdalene asylums ran from the 18th to the 19th century in Ireland. The asylums housed 'fallen women.' Over 30,000 women were confined to the Magdalene asylums in Ireland. In 1993 a mass grave which contained 155 corses was discovered on the grounds of one of the asylums, bringing media attention to what was going on in the Magdalene asylums. The final Magdalene asylum closed in 1996. Helena's life is turned upside down, when at sixteen she is sent to a strict Magdalene asylum, following the birth of her son. Abandoned by her family, ...

Iceland, circa AD 1000. Elska is a silver dapple Icelandic filly. She spends summers frisking about the countryside and winters in the farmyard, where the girl human Amma takes special care of her. But when a powerful neighbor notices Elska, her contented life suddenly changes. Here is Elska's story . . . in her own words.

A story bubbling with Jerome's wit and whimsy, this tale fully deserves its place in the sun.

Thus begins Mycroft Holmes’s valiant, if irregular, attempt to chronicle his doings. Rediscovered in 1976 and now fully translated from an obscure code, Mycroft’s diaries reveal that a brother’s lot is not always a happy one, especially when that brother happens to be London’s only consulting detective. In this humorous look at the world of Sherlock Holmes through Mycroft’s eyes, one question always remains: will Sherlock ever get a proper job?

In the wake of her father's death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a 16th-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William - a married man - and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction.

The never-before-published diaries of Alathea Fitzalan Howard - who spent her teenaged years living out World War II in Windsor Great Park with her close friends Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, the future queen of the United Kingdom - provide an extraordinary and intimate look at the British royal family.

In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of her life and times. Her name was Mrs Anne Sykes. Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album's pages. Piece by piece, she charts Anne's journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years.

As headmistress of the Scarfield Academy for Young Ladies, Miss Charlotte Boscastle is tasked with keeping her charges free from notoriety. But when Charlotte's diary goes missing, she can't imagine having her most intimate secrets fall into the wrong hands. Although the confessions in the diary he found spark his interest, the Duke of Wynfield has every intention of returning the journal. But when Gideon's encounter with Charlotte takes on an unexpectedly passionate nature, his indiscretion causes a scandal that only marriage can cure.