Verlag: Alien Ebooks
Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen (1891 –1964) published just two novels and three short stories in her lifetime, but achieved lasting literary acclaim. Her novel Passing first appeared in 1929.
Bestselling author Deborah Challinor returns with a spellbinding novel about a woman living in Sydney's notorious King's Cross in 1964. Polly Manaia is living in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross, working as an exotic dancer. She's desperate to bring her young daughter to live with her, but beneath her brash confidence lie dark secrets which threaten to drag her under. Gina is excited to live with her mum again. She's mature for an eleven-year-old, but can this young girl cope with Polly's demons? Rhoda and Star, transgender performers and Polly's flatmates, bring stability to Polly and Gina's lives. Yet this unlikely little family will find themselves threatened in more ways than one. The Jacaranda House is a fascinating portrayal of a shifting society and a beautiful portrait of motherhood and identity. 'Australia's answer to Philippa Gregory' Brisbane Times 'A meticulously researched and compellingly readable story injected with heart and humour, From the Ashes is perfect for fans of Fiona McIntosh and Kate Furnivall. A five-star read' Better ReadingZum Buch
"The Keepers of Memory" tells the remarkable story of Lady Aelfwyn, an Anglo-Saxon widow whose world is shattered by the Norman Conquest of 1066. When her husband Thegn Aelred dies at the Battle of Hastings, Aelfwyn faces an impossible choice: flee into exile with her three children or submit to Norman rule and marry the foreign knight who has claimed her lands. Choosing survival over pride, Aelfwyn marries Sir Raoul de Montfort, a Norman lord who needs legitimacy through union with Anglo-Saxon nobility. But this marriage of necessity becomes the foundation for something far more significant—a quiet revolution of cultural preservation. While publicly embracing her role as a Norman lady, Aelfwyn secretly begins teaching her children the Anglo-Saxon heritage that the conquest threatens to erase. In hidden evening lessons, she passes down the ancient stories, songs, and customs of her people. Her eldest son Godwin struggles with his dual identity, torn between resentment and pragmatism. Her daughter Eadgyth becomes a natural bridge between cultures, while young Wulfric grows up truly bilingual and bicultural. Through patient persistence, Aelfwyn demonstrates that Anglo-Saxon traditions can coexist with Norman rule, gradually winning over even her initially skeptical husband. The family's greatest test comes when Archbishop Lanfranc arrives to investigate reports of their cultural preservation activities. Rather than deny her actions, Aelfwyn boldly argues that understanding Anglo-Saxon customs makes Norman lords more effective rulers. Her courage and wisdom not only save her family but help convince the Church hierarchy that transformation, rather than destruction, is the wisest approach to conquered peoples. The story culminates thirty-three years later, when Aelfwyn's youngest son Wulfric is commissioned by King Henry I to establish a school teaching both Norman and English customs to royal administrators.Zum Buch
“Our Gen is warm and smart, accessible yet meaningful, a beach read with strong writing and emotional heft.”—BookPage Residents of an active-living retirement community revert to lives of youthful indulgence, even as time-bomb secrets of their pasts tick toward explosion. The Gen—short for Sexagenarian—is an upscale fifty-five-plus community located in the bucolic suburbs of Philadelphia. Main character Cynthia befriends the Gen’s two other Black residents, Bloc and Tish, as well as Lavia, who everyone assumes is from India. They regularly convene to smoke weed, line dance, and debate politics and philosophy as the wine goes down like silk. Their camaraderie is exhilarating. But beneath the fun and froth, storms gather. With its walls of windows gushing light and air, the Gen becomes the catalyst for secrets to be exposed. Shifting the narrative between the characters’ pasts and the present day, Diane McKinney-Whetstone deftly builds suspense as she captures with insight, poignancy, and humor, the scars, tenderness, and swagger of those not yet old, but no longer young, coming to the mean acceptance that life is finite after all, who knew.Zum Buch
The Beast is about to be tamed by three determined ladies. When their father loses a card game to the local recluse, his three daughters step in to determine their own fate. The oldest, Lily, rolls up her sleeves to take the strange household in hand even if the house keeps moving the rooms. The youngest, Poppy, devours his books on magic while playing secretary. But it’s Rose, the middle daughter, who works magic in his forgotten garden. She could be the key to unraveling his curse, if he can recognize what’s real behind fairy magic. A Victorian England, 1890, Beauty and Beast fairytale retelling like you’ve never read before. A novella featuring a delightful, clean and sweet romance. Perfect for fans of historical romances who also like a fairytale fantasy with humor. An audio drama with multiple narrators, this novella is friendly for teens and adult readers.Zum Buch
There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. From their pens to your your ears.Zum Buch
2021 IPNE Finalist, Literary Fiction 2021 Women's Book Awards Sarton Finalist, Historical Fiction Alice George is a headstrong young British woman who finds herself living among the Tuareg, a tribe of nomadic warriors. While the outside world faces the catastrophe of World War I, the Tuareg continue to crisscross the Sahara as a matrilineal society in which the men are veiled, and the women hold property—a world in which anything can happen. It is a world well suited to eighteen-year-old Alice, who discovers a life she could never live in corseted England. In 1917, Alice returns home to a world completely alien to the one she left in the Sahara. Her silence about that life is finally broken sixty years later when she receives a telegram announcing Abu has died in the desert. "Who is Abu?" her husband asks. "My lover," she replies. Thus, begins a weeklong journey of revelation as Alice lays bare her secrets. Can Alice face her demons and open her heart more fully to the life she once lived in the Sahara—a life she has hidden from her husband and herself? Blue Desert is a story of exile, family secrets, and the power of love.Zum Buch
