Publisher: Open Road Distribution
An epic novel of a woman caught in the turmoil and suffering of the Russian Revolution. With indomitable courage, she would survive the savage ordeal of the Siberian Ice March to find love and make a new life in a world utterly changed. East Lies the Sun was awarded the Gold Medal Award by the West Coast Review of Books.
This Fitzgeralds’ novel “is historical fiction at its best, imaginatively filling the gaps and bringing us intimately into a portrait of a marriage.”(Times Literary Supplement) In 1939 F. Scott Fitzgerald is living in Hollywood, a virulent alcoholic and deeply in debt. Despite his relationship with gossip columnist Sheila Graham, he remains fiercely loyal to his wife, Zelda, his soul mate and muse. In an attempt to fuse together their fractured marriage, Scott arranges a trip to Cuba, where, after a disastrous first night in Havana, the couple runs off to a beach resort outside the city. But even in paradise, Scott and Zelda cannot escape the dangerous intensity of their relationship. In Beautiful Fools, R. Clifton Spargo gives us a vivid, resplendent, and truly human portrait of the Fitzgeralds, and reveals the heartbreaking patterns and unexpected moments of tenderness that characterize a great romance in decline. “This approach to the Fitzgeralds’ story is the most successful of the bunch . . . With its contained arc and energetic plotting, Beautiful Fools takes the focus off more familiar episodes in the couple’s history.” —The New Yorker “In Spargo’s hands, the Fitzgeralds emerge as fully human, if crazed and ruined characters.” —The Washington Post “Beautiful Fools is the work of a genuine literary talent. . . . Spargo’s Fitzgeralds come alive.” —The Spectator “Spargo's book is richly imagined, and paints a delightfully detailed portrait of Cuba of 1939. It's a positively delicious travelogue.” —Chicago Tribune “Alternating between Scott’s and Zelda’s perspectives, Spargo describes the imperfect communion of two troubled souls who can’t quite let go of their past or each other.” —Boston GlobeShow book
The story of Moses, epically narrated by the awesome voice of Ron Garner, is the stuff of legend: A Hebrew infant slave slated for death is miraculously saved by an Egyptian queen and adopted into the royal court. One day, Moses discovers his roots as a Hebrew slave. In a botched attempt to come to a fellow Hebrew's aid, Prince Moses kills an Egyptian task master. Word of what he's done travels fast and he goes from prince to a renegade forced to flee into the hostile desert. There he meets a group of people called the Midians. He settles down with them and puts down new roots living as a shepherd. One day Moses encounters a mysterious presence in the desert that claims to be the God of his people. He is instructed to return to Egypt to spearhead the miraculous deliverance of the Hebrews. There will be a showdown of the gods: The Hebrew God "I AM!" versus the Egyptian gods and their representatives: Moses and Pharaoh. The clash takes place and cosmic disturbances bring Egypt into a state of chaos. Who will prevail?Fast forward thousands of years, cross the Atlantic Ocean and discover Harriet Tubman - a new leader born an African American slave in the mid 19th century. She too was chosen by the very same "I AM!" God to lead her people to freedom. What does this diminutive African American woman have in common with Moses? As it turns out, A LOT - that's why she was nicknamed 'Moses'!Harriet was a force to be reckoned with. She had a mystical connection to her God and she did what He wanted her to do with absolute confidence. Harriet had an exceptional combination of intelligence, courage and faith. She was was so good at leading slaves on the long and perilous journey to freedom that she never lost a single person under her care.The Great I AM is always looking for new leaders to use to set His people free. Who knows? Maybe He has plans for you!Show book
From Robyn Cadwallader, author of the internationally acclaimed novel The Anchoress, comes a deeply profound and moving novel of the importance of creativity and the power of connection, told through the story of the commissioning of a gorgeously decorated medieval manuscript, a Book of Hours. London, 1321: In a small shop in Paternoster Row, three people are drawn together around the creation of a magnificent book, an illuminated manuscript of prayers, a book of hours. Even though the commission seems to answer the aspirations of each one of them, their own desires and ambitions threaten its completion. As each struggles to see the book come into being, it will change everything they have understood about their place in the world. In many ways, this is a story about power - it is also a novel about the place of women in the roiling and turbulent world of the early fourteenth century; what power they have, how they wield it, and just how temporary and conditional it is. Rich, deep, sensuous and full of life, Book of Colours is also, most movingly, a profoundly beautiful story about creativity and connection, and our instinctive need to understand our world and communicate with others through the pages of a book. 'Robyn Cadwallader fashions words with the same delicate, colourful intensity that her 14th century illuminators brought to their illustrated manuscripts. Book of Colours brings alive a harsh but rich past, filled with the fantasies, fears, sly wit and tender longings of the medieval imagination.' Sarah Dunant 'Book of Colours shows the depth of possibility a book might hold - all the while shimmering with the beauty and fragility of an ancient gilded page.' Eleanor Limprecht 'Extraordinary ... a real sensory experience ... suffused with colours' ABC Radio National The Bookshelf Praise for The Anchoress: 'So beautiful, so rich, so strange, unexpected and thoughtful - also suspenseful. I loved this book.' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love 'Affecting ... finely drawn ... a considerable achievement.' Sarah Dunant, New York Times 'Elegant and eloquent' Irish Mail 'Cadwallader's writing evokes a heightened attention to the senses: you might never read a novel so sensuous yet unconcerned with romantic love. For this alone it is worth seeking out. But also because The Anchoress achieves what every historical novel attempts: reimagining the past while opening a new window - like a squint, perhaps - to our present lives.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A novel of page-turning grace' Newtown Review of BooksShow book
Young men who grow without the firm hand of a father can often become wild. James of Ecclestone is one such youth and when he runs away to become a billman fighting the Yorkist pretender, Lambert Simnel, he begins a journey that will shape him from a youth to a man, a wild child to a Tudor Warrior. Set against the backdrop of the early years of King Henry VIIth's reign this fast-moving novel takes us from the Battle of Bramham Moor to the siege of Boulogne. Beginning with the battle of Bosworth field and ending with the Skirmish of Glastonbury Tor we see an England changing from Yorkist to Lancastrian and James of Ecclestone becoming a warrior of renown.Show book
At the turn of the twentieth century, as he composes a treatise on melancholy, Jacov Reinhardt sets off from his small Croatian village in search of his hero and unwitting mentor, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who is rumored to have disappeared into the South American jungle-"not lost, mind you, but retired." Jacov's narcissistic preoccupation with melancholy consumes him, and as he desperately recounts the myth of his journey to his trusted but ailing scribe, hope for an encounter with the lost philosopher who holds the key to Jacov's obsession seems increasingly unlikely. From Croatia to Germany, Hungary to Russia, and finally to the Americas, Jacov and his companions grapple with the limits of art, colonialism, and escapism in this antic debut where dark satire and skewed history converge.Show book
An estranged brother is forced to return to his home and face up to his past. Malcolm Gage walked out of his brother’s life sixteen years ago when they both wanted to marry the same woman. Malcolm lost that battle, and he’s never forgiven his brother for it, preferring to live in poverty as a schoolmaster rather than swallow his pride and go home. But now an unusual condition in a will pushes him back into the family fold. If he can teach his nephew well enough to admit him to the Society of Gentleman Linguists, he will inherit a fortune and will never be poor again. The only catch — he has to stay under his brother’s roof for three months. But there’s an unexpected benefit to his return to Great Maeswood, in the delightful shape of Marie Fournier, a French lady’s maid. She speaks no English, and no one else in the village has bothered to get to know her. But Malcolm sees in her a kindred spirit, another outsider, and recruits her to help him with his teaching. As he gets to know her better, however, he begins to wonder if she’s all she seems to be… This is a complete story with a happy ever after. Book 2 of a 6 book series. A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom.Show book
