historical fiction

"On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam built to create a man-made lake for America's wealthiest businessmen collapsed, unleashing twenty million tons of water onto the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, below; told in the voices of six children and many others this is the story of the ordinary people of the town, their losses and their survival--and of the bitter aftermath when those for whom the dam was built denied all responsibility for the shoddy dam and the unnatural disaster which it caused"--Provided by publisher.

Evie Grace Devlin grew up being forced to perform in vaudeville performances by her fame-obsessed mother, and at seventeen, she left that life behind to go to nursing school in Galveston, Texas. But when the school learns of her past, Evie isn't allowed to graduate and recieve her nursing certification. At the height of the Great Depression, Evie is in need of a job and finds one caring for a troupe of marathon dancers, and she soon becomes partners with the star of the show, Zave Cassidy. As Evie and Zave connect on and off the dance floor, Evie begins to fall for her partner, but she soon discovers a secret that could put them all in danger.

Svanhild is now one of King Harald?s wives and while her brother, Ragnvald, believes Harald will bring peace to Norway, he also knows success will be his downfall. When an old enemy of Ragnvald kidnaps his niece, he and Svanhild journey to Iceland, which offers a chance for a new life but also unexpected challenges.

When a young girl named Nell is sold to the ringmaster of Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders as a "leopard girl" because of the birthmarks that cover her body, she feels embarrassed and betrayed. But she soon finds a family in the other performers, and her role as the Queen of the Moon and Stars brings fame to the circus. Jasper sees it as a chance to make a name for himself and hopes to attract the attention of the Queen herself. But Jasper soon becomes jealous of Nell's popularity, and one night threatens to end everything they've built.

"Salimatu and her sister Fatmata are captured, sold to slavers, renamed and split apart. Forced to change their names to Sarah and Faith, they end up on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Faith is taken to America, where slavery is still legal and she is stripped of all rights. Sarah ends up in a Victorian England and as the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Can the two sisters reclaim their freedom and identity in a world that is trying to break them down? Will these once inseparable sisters survive without each other? And if they do find each other again, will they find the other changed beyond recognition?"--Provided by publisher.

World War II in Europe rages as librarian spies Ava and Elaine continue working for the Allies: the U.S. military brings Ava to Lisbon to pose as a librarian, but really to gather intelligence for them, while Elaine starts working for the Resistance in occupied France running a printing press the Nazis desperately want to shut down.

As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey Lovett has never lived on the right side of the law. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia and embarks on a mission for freedom.

As the whispers of revolution in Paris swirl around the port city of Marseille, Gilles Etienne, a clerk at the local soap factory, finds himself caught up in the furor for freedom. He and his friends soon plan to march to Paris to dethrone the monarchy, but everything changes when he meets Marie-Caroline Daubin, the beautiful daughter of the owner of the factory where he works. Marie-Caroline is a royalist, but the two begin to fall for one another even as they are on opposing sides. When Gilles catches Marie-Caroline in a dangerous secret that could cost her and her family their lives, and he starts to question the methods of his friends, the two soon find themselves in grave danger.

Five women's lives showcase the devastation of war and the consequences of their choices when D-Day arrives and they each must face what lies ahead. Mildred Gillars, "Axis Sally," forged a successful radio career as a Nazi propagandist, but now must face her treasonous actions; Theda, an aid worker for the queen, fights against sexism to forge a career for herself, even as she becomes overwhelmed with the number of injured and dead soldiers filling up her hospital; Emilia has used her looks to rise through the ranks of the Nazi regime to survive and now looks to betray them; Adelaide has only ever wanted to be a good mother, but recent estrangement from her daughter and German soldiers overtaking her home test her mettle; and Flora, a French resistance fighter, will do anything within her power to stop those she believes responsible for her parents' disappearance.

Addie Cowherd dreams of becoming a novelist, but the Great Depression forces her to take the only job available to her: delivering books to the impoverished Kentucky hill country of Boone's Hollow. There, the community is deeply suspicious of her and tries to sabotage the library program. She teams up with a college graduate named Emmett Tharp, who has returned home, to keep the library system going and win over the hearts of the community.