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  Presidential Mission

  Upton Sinclair

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  America is at war, and Lanny Budd risks life and limb from North Africa to Moscow on behalf of the Allied cause in this “absorbing” historical novel (The New York Times). Members of the German high command believe that American art expert Lanny Budd is sympathetic to their cause, but since 1938 he has been an undercover agent working for President Franklin Roosevelt. Now, in 1941, the United States has been pulled into the fray by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Lanny’s services are required more than ever. In Algiers he must convince the French troops to stand with the Allies in advance of the Axis invasion. A meeting in Moscow, intended to sway Communist despot Joseph Stalin, precedes Hitler’s disastrous decision to invade Russia. Over the course of the next two years, Lanny faces death at virtually every turn as his important presidential missions carry him from the sands of the African desert to the bomb-blasted streets of Berlin.  Presidential Mission is the electrifying eighth chapter of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. An astonishing mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

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  Kin of Cain - A Bernicia Tale

  Matthew Harffy

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  AD 630. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical tale set in the world of The Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell. 
  Terror stalks the hills, moors and marshes of Bernicia. Livestock and men have been found ripped asunder, their bones gnawed, flesh gorged upon. People cower in their halls in fear of the monster that prowls the night. King Edwin sends his champions, Bassus, Octa and band of trusted thegns, to rid his people of this evil. Bassus leads the warriors into the chill wastes of the northern winter, and they soon question whether they are the hunters or the prey. Death follows them as they head deeper into the ice-rimed marshes, and there is ever only one ending for the mission: a welter of blood that will sow the seeds of a tale that will echo down through the ages.

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  The Porch

  Merrilee Franklin

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  Generations of family life and childhood fantasy intertwine on the front porch of an old house in this historical novel of mystery and memorabilia.Mike’s house has been in the family since it was built by his great-great grandfather Archibald in 1895. Its rich history is put on display every year on the Fourth of July, when the family memorabilia is laid out for their annual reunion. Each event is a time to add new items and remember times gone by. And for children, it’s time to play pretend out on the big front porch.Over the years, generations of children have imagined their futures on that porch. Sara pretends to nurse her Spanish-American war soldiers; Matt “flies” his Tinker Toy plane to Antarctica; and Jake loses himself in reading to escape the confines of his wheelchair. Then, using Jake’s ramp, Mike “surfs” around the world; Barry plots the football formations that will change his life; and Natalie consoles her young doll-patients. These children all enjoy the porch and the memorabilia stored in the treasure chests beneath it. But one very special treasure, a Japanese Puzzle Box, holds a mystery. And when it’s finally opened, young and old alike will marvel at what it reveals . . .

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  Count Belisarius

  Robert Graves

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  This “vigorous tale” by the acclaimed author of I, Claudius captures the sixth century fall of the Byzantine Empire as seen through the eyes of a servant (Kirkus Reviews).   Threatened by invaders on all sides, the Eastern Roman Empire of the sixth century fought to maintain its borders. Leading its defense was the Byzantine general Belisarius, a man who earned the grudging respect of his enemies, and who rose to become Emperor Justinian’s greatest military leader.   Loosely based on Procopius’s History of the Justinian Wars and Secret History, this novel tells the Belisarius’s story through the eyes of Eugenius, a eunuch and servant to the general’s wife. It presents a compelling portrait of a man bound by a strict code of honor and unrelenting loyalty to an emperor who is intelligent but flawed, and whose decisions bring him to a tragic end.   Eminent historical novelist and classicist Robert Graves presents a vivid account of a time in history both dissolute and violent, and demonstrates one again his mastery of this historical period.  “A brilliant piece of scholarship.” —Kirkus Reviews  “The scope of the book is massive—encompassing religious controversy and cultural developments as well as military history—yet, throughout, Graves succeeds in blending historical details with the development of his main characters.” —Historical Novel Society

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  On This Foundation (The...

  Lynn Austin

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  The Powerful Concluding Novel to The Restoration ChroniclesWhen news that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire, Nehemiah, Jewish cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Persia, seeks God's guidance. After fasting and prayer, he's given leave to travel to Jerusalem and rebuild the city wall, not anticipating all the dangers that await him on his arrival.The leaders of the surrounding nations become his fierce enemies, plotting to assassinate him and halt the work. A drought, meanwhile, has left the country impoverished, many families resorting to selling their children as bondservants just to keep from starving. Capturing the rebuilding of the wall through the eyes of a number of characters, On This Foundation is a powerful exploration of faith in the midst of oppression, and hope that, in spite of appearances, the gracious hand of God is upon those who believe.

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  The Dead - A Novel

  Christian Kracht

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  In The Dead, the follow-up to his acclaimed novel Imperium (a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year), Christian Kracht mines the feverish film culture of the 1930s to produce a Gothic tale of global conspiracy, personal loss, and historical entanglements large and small. 
  In Berlin, Germany, in the early 1930s, the acclaimed Swiss film director Emil Nägeli receives the assignment of a lifetime: travel to Japan and make a film to establish the dominance of Adolf Hitler's Nazi empire once and for all. But his handlers are unaware that Nägeli has colluded with the Jewish film critics to pursue an alternative objective—to create a monumental, modernist, allegorical spectacle to warn the world of the horror to come. 
  Meanwhile, in Japan, the film minister Masahiko Amakasu intends to counter Hollywood's growing influence and usher in a new golden age of Japanese cinema by exploiting his Swiss visitor. The arrival of Nägeli's film-star fiancée and a strangely thuggish, pistol-packing Charlie Chaplin—as well as the first stirrings of the winds of war—soon complicates both Amakasu's and Nägeli's plans, forcing them to face their demons . . . and their doom.

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