Other books that might interest you

• 

  Gracelin O'Malley

  Ann Moore

  • 1
  • 1
  • 0

  Set during Ireland’s devastating potato famine, a spellbinding novel of a young woman torn between love for her family and duty to her English husband. Patrick O’Malley names his newborn daughter Gracelin for the light of the sea that shines in her eyes. But when young Gracelin is only six years old, her mother’s untimely death drains joy and laughter from the O’Malley clan.   At fifteen, Gracelin saves her family from financial ruin by marrying Bram Donnelly, the son of a wealthy English landowner. But, even though Gracelin is Protestant, she is snubbed by English high society for marrying above her station. To temporarily appease her husband’s cruel nature, she intends to provide him with an heir—but that, too, will end in sorrow.   As famine sweeps Ireland, Gracelin openly defies her husband by feeding the desperate souls who come to their door. In secret, she also sides with the rebels who call themselves the Young Irelanders. Led by Morgan McDonagh and joined by Gracelin’s beloved brother, Sean, the Irelanders are determined to fight and free their homeland from the yoke of English rule.   A vivid chronicle of nineteenth-century Ireland, the first volume of Ann Moore’s popular trilogy introduces a courageous young heroine and movingly portrays an indomitable people as they struggle to survive the infamous famine and the brutal civil war that arrived in its wake. Fans of gripping historical fiction will love this “epic saga that sweeps you into the life of a remarkable woman” (Romantic Times).  

  Show book

• 

  The Four Books - A Novel

  Yan Lianke

  • 0
  • 2
  • 0

  From the Franz Kafka Prize–winning author of Lenin’s Kiss, a “stupendous and unforgettable” novel of Mao’s China (The Times, London).   In the ninety-ninth district of a re-education compound, freethinking artists and academics are detained to strengthen their loyalty to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholar, along with the Author and the Theologian, are subjected to grinding physical labor. They are also encouraged to inform on each other’s dissident behavior—for the prize of a chance at freedom.   Their preadolescent supervisor, the Child, delights in reward systems and excessive punishments. But when agricultural and industrial production quotas are raised to an unattainable level, the ninety-ninth district dissolves into lawlessness. As inclement weather and famine set in, the people are abandoned by the regime and left alone to survive.   Set inside a labor camp during Mao’s Great Leap Forward, Booklist calls The Four Books a “rich and complex novel,” from “China’s most heralded and censored modern writer” (The South China Morning Post).

  Show book

• 

  The White Company

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Set during the Hundred Years' War with France, The White Company tells the story of a young Saxon man who is learning what it is to be a knight. Raised by Cistercian Monks and rejected by a violent elder brother, Alleyn Edricson takes service with one of the foremost knights in the country. When Alleyn falls in love with the knight's daughter, he must prove himself to be a courageous and honourable knight before he can win her hand. Alleyn and his friends set forth with the other men-at-arms to join Prince Edward in Bordeaux, from where they will take part in the Prince's campaign into Spain. It is in Spain that Alleyn and others must prove themselves to be very valiant and hardy cavaliers. (Summary by Clive Catterall)

  Show book

• 

  Something Worth Doing - A Novel...

  Jane Kirkpatrick

  • 2
  • 6
  • 2

  In 1853, Abigail Scott was a 19-year-old school teacher in Oregon Territory when she married Ben Duniway. Marriage meant giving up on teaching, but Abigail always believed she was meant to be more than a good wife and mother. When financial mistakes and an injury force Ben to stop working, Abigail becomes the primary breadwinner for her growing family. What she sees as a working woman appalls her, and she devotes her life to fighting for the rights of women, including their right to vote. 
   
  Following Abigail as she bears six children, runs a millinery and a private school, helps on the farm, writes novels, gives speeches, and eventually runs a newspaper supporting women's suffrage, Something Worth Doing explores issues that will resonate strongly with modern women: the pull between career and family, finding one's place in the public sphere, and dealing with frustrations and prejudices women encounter when they compete in male-dominated spaces. Based on a true story of a pioneer for women's rights from award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick will inspire you to believe that some things are worth doing--even when the cost is great.

  Show book

• 

  Before The Fall - Centenary Edition

  Orna Ross

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  What happens when a woman is haunted by the sins of her foremothers--and the men who betrayed them?  
  Facing the birth of her child, and single motherhood, Jo Devereux has spent the last six months in Mucknamore, the small hometown that she ran from twenty years ago, investigating her family's troubled past. 
  A trunk of letters and diaries left by her grandmother and great- aunt reveals a heartbreaking legacy of bitter secrets - secrets that have haunted the women in her family for four generations.   
  Now she must find out the ultimate truth: Who really killed her great uncle? What secrets and lies lay under her mother's and grandmother's unshakeable silence?  
  And then there is Rory... her childhood love and the son of her family's sworn enemies. Could Jo's mission to uncover the truth be the key to a possible future together? Or will it be their undoing?  
  As she pieces together the poisonous fragments of the past, Jo must now face up to what knowing the truth means for her future-- or risk losing everything all over again. 
  Read this haunting, heartbreaking saga of love, loss, and secrets in a country and a family ravaged by all kinds of intimate war. 

  Show book

• 

  Langbourne's Legacy

  Alan P. Landau

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The conclusion to the Langbourne series.David, a much older man now, sits on his verandah with his old friend, Nguni, as they reminisce on the good old days. Not having seen each other in almost 50 years, there is much news to tell, many stories to laugh at, and some sorrows to reflect on. Based on an untold true story, this book brings the Langbourne family's saga to its conclusion. The book has a special feature on some of the actual people depicted in this series.

  Show book