Historical Sagas

In October 1947, after a summer-long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast, from Bar Harbor to Kittery, and are soon racing out of control from town to village. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort.

In this brilliantly written epic novel, Jeff Shaara traces the lives, passions, and careers of the great military leaders from the first gathering clouds of the Civil War.

At the end of The Last Kingdom, The Danes had been defeated at Cynuit, but the triumph of the English is not fated to last long. The Danish Vikings quickly invade and occupy three of England's four kingdoms - and all that remains of the once proud country is a small piece of marshland, where Alfred and his family live with a few soldiers and retainers, including Uhtred, the dispossessed English nobleman who was raised by Danes.

Tehran, Iran 1979: Simmering religious tensions explode and the Shah is forced to flee Iran. A British helicopter company—secretly owned by the Noble House of Hong Kong—with a fleet of helicopters registered in Iran faces bankruptcy if their copters are claimed or destroyed by the uprising. The pilots need to escape, but they’ve built lives in Iran, some even have families. Finnish pilot Erikki Yokkonen has married Azadeh, an Iranian woman of noble birth, whose family is caught up in the political situation exploding around them.

As the kingdoms prepare for war, unexpected visitors and a horrifying murder throw everyone’s plans into disarray. Amidst the chaos, Jael must find a way to lead her warriors to victory against King Haaron and his sons, watching as Eadmund drifts away from her, powerless to save him. In Hest, Jaeger Dragos has found the long-sought-after Book of Darkness, but he needs his father’s dreamer to unleash the dark magic trapped within.

France 1917 Agnès Gunarsson de Melancourt, now a qualified doctor, faces a critical decision. Her duty as a physician draws her back to Château de Dragancourt despite her earlier attempts to distance herself. As World War I rages in northern France, the chateau becomes a frontline hospital led by the once-charismatic Elle and Jacques. Agnès, with her friend Kat, navigates the chateau's makeshift operating room to save Allied soldiers. In this crucible of healing and sacrifice, Agnès encounters a transformed Elle and Jacques, now driven by duty over privilege. Can she offer Elle a ...

Maine, 2012. An old man is dying with the weight of a plundered necklace on his conscience. As an US Army Captain in 1946 Salburg, guarding the 'Hungarian Gold Train' full of looted Jewish treasure, he fell in love with camp survivor and helped her escape to Israel. Now, as his granddaughter sets out to repatriate the necklace, secrets buried in the past are uncovered, stories of love and deceit linked to that beautiful, peacock-shaped pendant and to a priceless, long-lost painting.

Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered. Granted shelter at the Villa delle Colombe, she seeks refuge in Francesca and Edoardo’s beautiful walled garden, hidden from the outside world, with an elaborate cypress maze at its heart. But Beatrice is not the only one seeking an escape here. Francesca has brought children to the safety of the house, as well as other adults, all of them seeking sanctuary on the estate with its mysterious maze.

It’s 1883, and the Wachsmann family is devastated by the tragic loss of their beloved matriarch, Sarah. Just as they are grappling with this heartache, Denise Wachsmann, a simple-minded woman who has faced challenges her entire life, goes missing during a routine trip to town. Her disappearance ignites a frantic search, plunging the family further into turmoil and uncertainty. As the search for Denise continues, Michael Wachsmann finds himself facing a life-altering event that forces him to confront the future he once envisioned. As the heir to the family farm, he knows that one day he ...

In The Highland Heir’s Castle, newly widowed Lady Catherine Harrington travels to the Scottish Highlands to claim an inherited estate—only to face Euan MacAlpin, a chieftain determined to reclaim his ancestral land. Trapped together during a storm, Catherine and Euan uncover secrets that tie their families—and hearts—closer than either expected. As passion ignites and loyalties clash, they must decide if love can overcome the past and forge a future between two proud, warring legacies.

On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan’s comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second child, a son she and her husband, Max, name Monya, the Soviets invade the Baltic state of Latvia and occupy the capital city of Riga, her home. Because the Talans are Jewish, the Soviets confiscate Max’s business and the family’s house and bank accounts, leaving them with nothing.

Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing - and the ones that follow - will brand the lives of three generations. At the root of it all is Asher Sikorsky, the ambitious and ruthless patriarch whose purchase of the hotel in 1931 set a haunting legacy into motion.

1915. May and Naomi are extended family, their grandmothers’ lives inseparably entwined on a Virginia plantation in the volatile time leading up to the Civil War. For both women, the twentieth century promises social transformation and equal opportunity. May, a young white woman, is on the brink of achieving the independent life she’s dreamed of since childhood. Naomi, a nurse, mother, and leader of the NAACP, has fulfilled her own dearest desire: buying a home for her family. But they both are about to learn that dreams can be destroyed in an instant.

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss.

London 1940. As the war rages in Europe, Rose Brown steps on board a ship bound for America, hoping to escape the danger. She's frightened, but her widowed mammy and three sisters in Ireland need the money she earns as nanny to the rich Townsend family. But while Rose plays with baby Sarah in the salty spray on deck, disaster strikes, and the ocean liner begins to sink. In the chaos, Rose and the baby are separated from the family.

Dottie Perks has forged a new life for herself in London, with a new job and a loving boyfriend. She's safe, happy and loved. What more could she ask for? But when Dottie visits her home in Brighton, the last person she expects to see is her first love, Ralph Bennett. As old feelings come rushing to the surface, Dottie struggles to deny the strong chemistry between them. She can't throw away everything to be with Ralph...can she?

A simple trip to town, a chance meeting with a pretty young woman, and a few words was all it took for Lucas Wirtz to flee his family farm and the abusive father who dominated it. Following Rachel McNally to the big city, he had no idea how much his life and the world around him would change. Chronicling the days leading up to World War I and the events that followed, Tinder Street is the first book in a saga that will take readers from rural farms to a major industrial city in the Midwest, across an ocean where German U-boats lurk waiting for a target to come within range of their deadly ...

San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.

Truth Will Prevail—the eagerly awaited third volume in the popular series The Work and the Glory—continues the gripping story of the fictional Steed family, a family acquainted with Joseph Smith and caught up in the grand events associated with the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. Covering the years 1836 to 1838, this volume finds the Steed involved in both remarkable and turbulent events in Church history. Nathan accompanies Parley P. Pratt on a challenging mission to Upper Canada. Jessica, Joshua's ex-wife, feels compelled to return to Missouri.

Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.