Publisher: Alien Ebooks
When young gambler Jack Weston thwarts a senator's plot to rig the 1860 election in California, Weston must race against time and foes to ensure the truth arrives first. Battling Indians, rivals, and his own conflicted heart along the rugged Pony Express trail, Weston rides for justice and country, though each mile takes him farther from his beloved Molly.
Nala and Rajan, a young couple, begin their married life in 1946, on the eve of Ceylon’s independence from Britain. Arranged in marriage, they learn to love each other and protect their growing family, against the backdrop of increasing ethnic tension. As the country descends into a bloody civil war, Nala and Rajan must decide which path is best for their family; and live with the consequences of their mistakes. Over time, Nala and Rajan teach their family why some parts of their history and heritage are worth holding onto; and why some parts and people have to be left behind. Song of the Sun God spans three continents and three generations of a family that remains dedicated to its homeland, whilst learning to embrace its new home. Funny at times, warm and tender at others, we see Nala and Rajan’s family navigate war, migration, old loyalties and new beginnings, relying on the philosophy of their religion, their ancestors and each other. Song of the Sun God is about the wisdom, mistakes and sacrifices of our past that enable us to live more freely in the future. It is about finding home and forgiving family.Show book
Feeling stifled as a Jew living in a Moldovan shtetl, violinist Elazar just wants to find love and eventually succeed his father as conductor of the family band and hardware business. But that could take years, and in 1922 Kalarash, he's known all the girls his age since he was a child. He would love to move to Kishinev, Odesa, or Kyiv and become a musician, but it would kill his mama, and he'd feel guilty for the rest of his life. At his cousin's wedding, Elazar falls for Ita Kaplan, an heiress from Bolgrad, but she plans to move to Paris and become a painter. He's then taken by Mariam Gabashvili, the daughter of a local vintner, but is forbidden to marry her because she's not Jewish. History-the rise of Stalin, his brutal takeover of Ukraine, and later Hitler's invasion of the USSR-grants Elazar's wishes in ways he never dreams, sending he and his family on an epic flight to Uzbekistan, where they endure the war, and then back to Moldova, where they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. With cunning, class and determination, one violinist brings to life a turbulent era in the Soviet Union, where, while life was punishing and brutally unfair, he finds music in devastation and conducts his family-his orchestra-in such a way as to not let the horrors defeat them or hate to overcome them.Show book
Founded in 1866, The Frontier Overland Company was no ordinary stagecoach operation. To begin with, its founding partners met in a Wyoming saloon brawl. After a raucous burst of punching, cursing, and chair smashing, the last two men standing become friends for life. Two kindred souls with the same fighting spirit, Tucker Cobb and former Texas Ranger Butch Keeling agreed to launch a business together: a brand-new stagecoach line through the wilds of Wyoming . . . They called it the Frontier Overland Company. And a legend was born. Cobb and Keeling knew it wouldn't be easy. The nation was still healing from the War Between the States. Red Cloud's War—an armed alliance of Lakota, Northern Cheyennes, and Northern Apaho against the United States—was heating up fast. And wealthy railroad magnates were itching to lay track for their western expansion to the Pacific. But it was one ruthless businessman—King Charles Hagen—who posed the biggest danger of all. He saw Cobb and Keeling's fledging company as a direct threat to his growing shipping empire. And, unfortunately for them, he decided to squash their little stagecoach business while they're escorting a young woman to see her dying father, an army colonel, at a Wyoming fort. With Red Cloud on the warpath, Wyoming Territory is about to become hell on earth.Show book
This content is an independent and unofficial summary created for informational and educational purposes only. It is not affiliated with, authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the original author or publisher. All rights to the original work belong to its respective copyright holders. This summary is not intended to substitute the original book, but to offer a concise overview and interpretation of its main ideas. In the heart of the Pacific Northwest, a river carries more than water—it carries stories of loss, resilience, and the enduring quest for belonging. River Sing Me Home follows Rain, a young Black mother navigating the complexities of healing, motherhood, and identity in a town marked by both beauty and hardship. As she confronts her past, builds new connections, and faces unexpected challenges—including a devastating flood—Rain’s journey becomes a powerful testament to the human spirit’s ability to adapt, grow, and find home within and around us.Show book
Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author? The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. The Century moves on decade by decade. War once again scars Europe, in America wagons roll west. Social unrest continues even as conditions improve markedly for the few and only a little for the many. The list of problems and of challenges described by our authors is long and their stories once again full of valuable and telling insights. 01 - The Top 10 - The 1870's - The Men - An Introduction 02 - Bobok by Fyodor Dostevesky 03 - A Ghost Story by Mark Twain 04 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy 05 - Dickon the Devil by Sheridan Le Fanu 06 - The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller by Gustave Flaubert 07 - A Strange Story by Ivan Turgenev 08 - A Lonely Ride by Bret Harte 09 - Coward by Vsevolod Garshin 10 - The Man Without a Body by Edward Page Mitchell 11 - The Vampire by Jan NerudaShow book
“The House of Mirth” was the breakthrough novel for Edith Wharton and its immediate commercial and critical success put her on the American literary map. Based on Wharton’s own experiences among the elite of the New York City social set in the late 1890’s, “The House of Mirth” is both a fascinating glimpse into the upper-reaches of high society and a searing satire of the cruelties, frivolities and hypocrisy of the city’s ultra-rich. The story follows the romantic entanglements of twenty-nine year old Lily Bart, a beautiful socialite who has fallen on hard financial times and must secure a rich husband before the clock runs out and she is forever branded a spinster. An immediate success when it was first serialized and published in 1905, “The House of Mirth” launched Wharton’s extraordinary career and remains an American literary classic to this day. It is presented here in its original and unabridged format.Show book
