Historical Family Saga

The path to progress is never smooth. Winkler is changing from a company-owned town to one with new private homes and businesses. Among these are a hospital, a newspaper, a movie theater, and the Eat and Sleep, now owned by May Rose and her husband, Barlow. But just as the town seems to be moving forward, May Rose’s eyes are opened to unjust practices she’s never thought about. To do what’s right, she’ll need the solidarity of friends both old and new. The Meaning of Us is the eighth book in the Mountain Women Series, bringing to life the struggles, triumphs, friendships and loves ...

For the sake of her daughter Belle, Harriet did something unspeakable never imagining the price her crime would exact. Now Belle is left fighting for what remains. In a busy lying in hospital, Harriet and her twenty year-old daughter Belle work side by side as midwives. With Belle’s father presumed dead, the women are dependent for employment on the goodwill of the smug and licentious Dr. Morrow. Harriet is guarding an unspeakable secret and is horrified to encounter the one person who could reveal everything, and force her, and Belle, onto the streets. But her own troubles are forgotten ...

***FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED*** Lily Webb was mean, tough and feared. It was the only possible way she could survive. Born to a poor but loving family, Lily’s life changed forever when a deadly disease took her family and Lily was sent away. Now alone and frightened in a wretched workhouse, Lily faces life with daily bullying and near starvation until she grows harsh and cold, rising to the most feared inmate. The only light in her life is the one small child Lily takes pity on. But when an act of revenge causes ravaging damage, Lily is thrust from her queenly position in the workhouse ...

Dashing French pirate Jean-Philippe Beauvisage revels in a life of complete freedom...until the night at a ball in Georgian London, when a Russian beauty quietly steals his heart. Heartbroken Antonia Varyshkova, who has lost her parents and her home in a St. Petersburg fire, stops in London en route to a new life with her brother in America. When her arrogant ship's captain, Tobias Ormond, insists that she attend a ball with him, Antonia reluctantly agrees.

1527: At seventeen, Thomasin Marwood is plunged into court society when a husband is found for her elder sister, Cecilia. But the mood at court is tense. It is split between the conservative Catholics, loyal to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and the fashionable Francophiles, enthralled by King Henry's mistress, Anne Boleyn. While her parents sympathize with the old queen and her faith, Thomasin cannot help but be drawn to the glamour and vitality Anne represents. And her head is soon turned by the tall, dark and handsome Rafe Danvers who seems equally entranced with her.

The timeline for Crucible is 1775 – 1778. I decided to split the Revolutionary War into two books, mainly because there is so much more action as opposed to The French & Indian War…and because as I was writing, my characters insisted on some scenes I hadn’t previously thought of.  The three Mallory siblings, Daniel, Liza, and Liam play important parts in CoR, but it is their children who begin to make their marks on the saga. Their youngest son, Ethan, and their daughter Abigail, of Daniel and Deborah travel with their parents to Boonesborough and reside there with Daniel Boone. ...

Betty Slight has never known such misery in the whole of her life. Losing both her parents in the same week, the landlord forces her from her home only days later. At just 17, and with nowhere to go and no hope for a future, she sets off to make her way to London where she prays she can find work, anything to survive now that she’s suddenly on her own. But Simon Bleath, a horrible and miserable man and the landlord’s partner, catches up to her outside the village and takes the last of her innocence in a vile act, leaving her beaten and broken inside and out. But Betty is a fighter. And ...

1528: Escaping from her family's scandalous involvement with Anne Boleyn's circle, Thomasin Marwood is beginning a new life in the service of Queen Catherine of Aragon. Thomasin is trying to forget Rafe Danvers, the man who stole her heart and then betrayed her, and when a group of Venetians arrive at court, she is drawn to the sophisticated Nico. But a great danger is lurking. The dreaded sweating sickness has returned, which claimed the life of Catherine's first husband, Prince Arthur, many years ago.

On a blistering day in the 26th year of Augustus Caesar's reign, a young chef, Thrasius, is acquired for the exorbitant price of 20,000 denarii. His purchaser is the infamous gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius, wealthy beyond measure, obsessed with a taste for fine meals from exotic places and a singular ambition: to serve as culinary adviser to Caesar, an honor that will cement his legacy as Rome's leading epicure.

She survived the wreck that claimed her father. Now she must face the lighthouse that holds both her refuge and her reckoning. When thirteen-year-old Lydia Rowe washes up on Cornwall's treacherous coast, the sole survivor of a devastating shipwreck, she finds herself at the mercy of the stern lighthouse keeper and his withdrawn son, Benedict. Offering to work for her keep, Lydia faces suspicion from the villagers and cold acceptance from her reluctant guardian. In quiet moments away from watchful eyes, Benedict secretly teaches her to read, kindling dreams of education and possibility. As ...

When sixteen-year-old Sally is evacuated to the English south coast, she is terrified by what lies ahead of her. All she knows are the sights and sounds of London's East End – but Sally swallows her tears as they leave the familiar landmarks behind, knowing that she has to be a Grown-Up Girl and play mother to her six-year-old brother Ernie. Playing mother is nothing new for Sally – their real mother Florrie, a good-time girl, hasn't even come to the station to wave them off and Ernie, crippled at an early age by polio, is used to depending on his older sister.

Caught in the middle... What begins as a quiet summer turns hectic and unsettling as May Rose is burdened by the troubles of the preacher, rivalries among friends, and the potential loss of dear ones. Though discontent and unhappiness abound, she’s uplifted by the blooming of other hearts and encouraged by the return of two people she never thought she’d see again. Hearts and Souls is the ninth book in the Mountain Women Series, bringing to life the struggles, triumphs, friendships and loves of women in a small West Virginia town in the early 1900s. ––––––––––––...

The year is 1915, and the war is raging on.... The war was not 'over by Christmas' after all, and as 1915 begins, the Hunters begin to settle into wartime life. Diana, the eldest Hunter daughter, sees her fiance off to the front but doesn't expect such coldness from her future mother-in-law. David's battalion is almost ready to be sent to the front, but how will Beattie's fragile peace of mind endure?

1914. For Paul, with love. Jewish silversmith Johann Blumenthal engraved those words on his most exquisite creation, a singing filigree bird inside a tiny ornamented box. He crafted this treasure for his young son before leaving to fight in a terrible war to honor his beloved country - a country that would soon turn against his own family. A half century later, Londoner Lilian Morrison inherits the box after the death of her parents. Though the silver is tarnished and dented, this much-loved treasure is also a link to an astonishing past.

Before the Reckoning, there was the Rising. In the wake of the Civil War, the prairie town of Coldwater, Kansas is still finding its shape—restless, divided, and perched on the edge of change. For Will Mertens, a quiet German immigrant carving a life from the unforgiving soil, the war never reached his doorstep—but its consequences are everywhere. When Mary Harper, the defiant daughter of a local matriarch, falls into his life, their union will challenge every unspoken rule of Coldwater’s rigid social order. As the years pass, Will and Mary build something rare: a family, a farm, a ...

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia. Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word about who he really is. 2008, the Aegean. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly.

A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets - including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died.

Elaine Littau is the best selling author of ten published books and many magazine and newspaper articles. She is a mentor/coach for other authors and enjoys teaching book marketing techniques as well as public speaking for groups. Many enjoy listening to her humorous take on life. Even the most simple activity takes on a life of it's own when Elaine is involved in the telling of it. Some of her favorite events have been speaking to young people about pursuing their dreams. She has been a church secretary, led women's groups, taught pre-school and Sunday school, and was a mentor for the ...

Desperate to escape their stepfather’s house, sisters Amy and Lillian stow away aboard a train full of children being evacuated from London and the threat of Hitler’s bombs. Arriving in the seaside town of Worthing, they are taken in by kindly Norah and her husband, Jim. With their future now entrusted to strangers, can the girls finally find a safe harbour in these dark days of war? And will they find the strength to confront what they have been running from, when their past finally catches up with them?