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  Shanty Gold

  Jeanne Charters

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  “Charters interweaves many important topics—immigration, civil rights, women’s rights—into her exciting novel . . . An evocative portrait of South Boston.” —Kirkus Reviews After the deaths of her mother and infant sister during Ireland’s Great Famine, thirteen-year-old Mary Boland makes her way to the Queenstown harbor and onto a coffin ship bound for America. But what happens during her transatlantic passage is enough to quash the strongest of dreams. After being assaulted by crewmembers, Mary thinks of ending her life—until a young Black slave named Kamua comes to her rescue . . . Forming a bond as strong as siblings, Mary and Kam reach Boston, determined to forge their own paths. No longer an innocent soul, Mary trusts no one, putting her faith in her own instincts. It is on the teeming streets of South Boston that she’ll find a new home and a new purpose as a midwife, helping poverty-stricken women survive their pregnancies. And it is in this city, full of possibility, where Mary’s heart will heal, and find the strength to survive the harsh choices she is forced to make, and grow into a woman true to herself . . . “The story of a young Irish girl’s struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice.” —Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series “To read Shanty Gold is to immerse oneself in a wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life. . . . A tale that will grab your heart and senses, with twists and turns along the way.” —Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

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  A Student of History - A Novel

  Nina Revoyr

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  Set in a modern-day Los Angeles that's both familiar and unknown, A Student of History is a story of uncrossable social lines, allegiance and betrayal, immeasurable power, and the ways the present is continually shaped by the past.Rick Nagano is a graduate student in the history department at USC, struggling to make rent on the South Los Angeles apartment near the neighborhood where his family once lived. When he lands a job as a research assistant for the elderly Mrs. W--, the heir to an oil fortune, he sees it at first simply as a source of extra cash. But as he grows closer to the iconoclastic, charming, and feisty Mrs. W--, he gets drawn into a world of privilege and wealth far different from his racially mixed, blue-collar beginnings.Putting aside his half-finished dissertation, Rick sets up office in Mrs. W--'s grand Bel Air mansion and begins to transcribe her journals — which document an old Los Angeles not described in his history books. He also accompanies Mrs. W-- to venues frequented by the descendants of the land and oil barons who built the city.One evening at an event, he meets Fiona Morgan — the elegant scion of an old steel family — who takes an interest in his studies. Irresistibly drawn to Fiona, he agrees to help her with a project of questionable merit in the hopes he'll win her favor.A Student of History explores both the beginnings of Los Angeles and present-day dynamics of race and class. It offers a window into the usually hidden world of high society and the influence of historic families on current events. Like Great Expectations and The Great Gatsby, it features, in Rick Nagano, a young man of modest means who is navigating a world where he doesn't belong.

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  Smuggled - A Novel

  Christina Shea

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  The harrowing yet hopeful life story of a Jewish girl’s escape from Nazis, growing up under communist oppression, and finally reclaiming her true identity.   In a narrative sweeping from WWII rural Romania to 1990s cosmopolitan Budapest, Christina Shea’s Smuggled tells the story of Eva Farkas, who loses her identity at five years old when she is spirited across the Hungarian border in a flour sack to escape the Nazis.   When Eva arrives in Romania, her aunt and uncle greet her with a startling proclamation: “Eva is dead.” Her new name is Anca Balaj and she must never speak another word of Hungarian. Living with a dangerous secret under Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romanian Communist Party, Anca meets others who are forced into hiding—an abortion doctor, a homosexual, another secret Jew. But when the Iron Curtain falls, Anca reclaims the name her mother gave her. She finally returns to Hungary, a country changing as fast as the price of bread, where her lifelong search for family and identity comes full circle.   An intimate look at the effects of history on an individual life, Smuggled is a raw and fearless account of transformation, and a viscerally reflective tale about the basic need for love without claims.

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  Surviving Dresden - A Novel...

  James Kirby Martin, Robert Burris

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  Surviving Dresden beautifully portrays the poignant and inspiring human struggle between good and evil in the search for peace during the last bloody days of World War II.On the ground that horrific night is a courageous young Jewish woman, Gisela Kauffmann. Having just received orders to be herded off to a concentration camp, Gisela will do anything to save herself and her family. In the air, RAF bomber Captain Wallace Campbell is torn between his sworn military duty to bomb an unarmed city crowded with refugees, and his growing conviction that total war is immoral.Surviving Dresden is told through the eyes of Gisela, Wallace, and a compelling cast of characters—a story of personal pain and suffering amid the hope, even as the bombs are falling, of restoring human sanity to a world torn apart.Masterfully sweeping, Surviving Dresden explores the depths of human courage in facing life and death, with human redemption triumphing.

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  The Children of Berlin

  Sharon Maas

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  Berlin, 1933. Leah and Magda have been inseparable for as long as they can remember, and one beautiful summer’s day in their courtyard, they vow nothing will ever come between their friendship. But Leah could never have predicted the darkness looming just around the corner… As Hitler comes to power and the Nazi Party gain even more influence, Magda proudly tells Leah she has decided to join the Hitler Youth. Leah’s blood runs cold before she begs Magda to change her mind—because Leah is Jewish. Magda refuses, and heartbroken Leah knows this will not only destroy their friendship but also put her life in mortal danger. Suddenly, the only light in her life is Magda’s brother Markus, who is furious at his sister and vows to do everything he can to keep Leah safe. As Magda becomes more entrenched in the Nazi Party, Leah’s life starts to shatter as the Gestapo raid her home, sending her beloved brother Aaron to a concentration camp. Devastated, Leah and her parents are forced to flee and hide. Desperate to save Leah, Markus decides the only way he can help stop the Nazis and his sister is to infiltrate the party as an undercover resistance fighter. But will Magda see through his lie, and how far will she go to prove her loyalty to her Führer? This powerful and heartbreaking novel about love, family, betrayal, and sacrifice perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The White Rose Network, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and The Nightingale.

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  Michael Strogoff

  Jules Verne

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  A courier of the Czar must be dispatched to warn the Governor-General of Sibera at once: Ivan Ogareff has allied himself with the fierce and ambitious Feofar-Khan. The Tartar chiefs are pouring their men into Siberia and fomenting rebellion. Should Ivan Ogareff and his allies succeed, the Siberian provinces will be wrested away from Russian control.No man is more capable of handling such a dangerous mission than Michael Strogoff. A native of Siberia, he knows the people and their languages, the challenging terrain, and how to survive the harsh winters. His great strength and courage are also matched by a kind and generous heart. Hunger, fatigue, capture, torture-nothing except death will stop him from completing his mission.

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